My 11 year old lab was diagnosed with a malignant tumour in her ulna bone and the surrounding soft tissue. The operation to remove the ulna would have been difficult, so we opted for amputation, which happened last week.
She is managing to hobble in the house and garden, but still seems very subdued and sorry for herself. I trust that when the staples are removed next week she will start to perk up - the object of the exercise was to give her some more time of good quality life. I hope we have made the right decision - time will tell.

When I got home from hospital with my amputee, I sat on the settee to take off my boots.  He leaped up next to me!  This was 2 days after surgery.  I guess it is much easier for a toy breed to jump.  But I'm amazed that you say she is hobbling.  They told me that my dog would adapt to 3 legs within a day, and they were right.

I suppose like people, every dog reacts differently :-(

It's still early days, your girl is a little older so maybe taking a little longer for her muscles to adapt to the change. Maybe some gentle massage of the muscles getting the extra workout would be of help :)

I would get her pain meds checked and also try some arnica as that will help the healing process.

I would also look at joint supplements if you don't already give her anything as an 11 year old Lab wil need a bit of proactive support.

I use green lipped mussel extract and also fish oil tablets .

I am sure she will start to feel better soon

Well we're now one month post-op, and she is much brighter. I drive her to our local playing field, so she can enjoy a short walk and see a bit of the world.
We've bought her a ruffwear harness, which is a great help, particularly with helping her in and out of the car. I am hoping she will progress a bit more day by day. :-)

I'm so glad that you're seeing improvement.  May it continue.  :-)

Great to hear she is doing so well

Glad she is managing to get out and about and on the mend;

Sheila

Excellent news. You must be so pleased that you can see such positive progress. Long may it last.

Hello Ida. It's so reassuring to know that your lab is doing well. My 8 year old boxer may be facing the same treatment (I get the results of the biopsy tomorrow...).  There's so much to learn from other people's experiences.

Good news :)  One of my old Weimaraner girls was diagnosed with an osteosarcoma in her hock joint.  She was 7 at the time.  We had her chest xrayed and no metastasis was seen so we opted for amputation.  They gave us 3-6 months. She had no further treatment apart from pain meds.  She did have a few teething problems with swelling etc but once she turned the corner and was pain free, we never looked back.  A year went by, then another, and another and I had her for another 7 years, something that I thought would never happen in a million years.

Life went back to normal for her, up and down stairs, walks with my others, etc, the only thing she couldn't do was counter surf or open the back door to come in.  I made sure I kept her weight down so it didnt put added pressure on her other leg.  I lost her a couple of years ago but she had COPD and it was her chest that finally let her down.  At 12 she had a laryngeal tie back op too and got over that very well. 

I had my moments when I felt guilty for putting her through the op in the first few days but as soon as she started to improve and the bruising and swelling went down, I knew I'd made the right decision.  I could tell in her eyes, she wasn't ready to leave us.  My Vet was astounded how she just kept going on and on. :)

That's an amazing story, Justine, and a real encouragement to all of us who've had to make the difficult decision to amputate. Thank you for that :-)
Maggie-May is continuing to enjoy her life on three legs.

I think that posts such as this one are very helpful for others to read when researching their dogs problems.  This is a tale (or tail) to give hope to anyone.  And what a lovely long time to have her after the initial operation.  :-)

Aww its a pleasure. Just goes to show you there are always exceptions to the rule! I hope your dog carries on for a long time yet too! I had a few choice words with people who thought i'd done the wrong thing but as I said to them,  'its you with the problem about this, not my dog and certainly not me!!' And until you are put in the same situation,  you are in no position to judge! To watch my dog enjoying life, made me happy. I had nothing to lose by having the op because bad pain and risk of bone snapping gave her probably two weeks. And had she not coped on 3 legs, it would have been the same ending. But in my heart I knew she would cope and we went on to have her for all those extra years 😄😄

Hi Justine.  Great to read your post and how wonderful that your girl had so many years to enjoy following amputation.

We had the same op for our youngster last year.  Sadly, he didn't make it, but he had three very happy months on three legs (which did not bother him in the slightest!).  I do not regret our decision to amputate and reading your post reinforces that for me.  We just felt that , taking everything into consideration, we had to give him the chance.  As you say, until it happens to you, you don't know how you will feel - and every case is different.

At least we can feel that we did everything we could for him and he was happy until the last wag of his tail.

We were truly astonished by how well he adjusted to having three legs - almost immediately.  To say he 'coped' would be a huge understatement!

IMO as long as they still have a quality of life, thats the main thing isn't it :)  waggy tails speak volumes! x

Maggie continues to do well, and this morning managed the walk to the local park on her remaining three paws - three months post-amputation.:-) (Up to now, I've taken her there in the car.)

Aww great news :)  Long may it continue!

Well, she's now 6 months post amputation, and celebrating her 12th birthday today :-)
So, whatever the future holds, we're very glad we made the decision to go ahead with the surgery.

Lovely to hear she is doing so well and happy 12th birthday !

Great news. Happy birthday maggie.