We perform a surprisingly large number of leg amputations in cats and dogs at LRVSS.

When we recommend sacrificing a leg, it’s never for fun. It’s always to help a pet feel better, once the source of the pain is removed.

The biggest obstacle is most often in the pet owner’s mind. They are often terrified that amputation is cruel. I suspect that, subconsciously, they think of themselves as an amputee, walking on one leg, or having only one arm.

Yet, remember, pets will walk on 3 legs after amputation (and ironically, often before surgery, because of the pain). They typically adapt very well. In fact, most of them start walking a few hours after surgery!

They don’t even know they’re missing a leg. All they know if that they don’t feel the pain anymore.

Here are a few stories of patients who had amputations at LRVSS.

FAIR WARNING: while all stories have a happy ending, some pictures and X-rays are pretty impressive and not for the faint-of-heart.

Tri’s amputation story

Few pet owners would choose to do any surgery in their 16 year old pet.

Even fewer would decide to amputate their 16 year old cat’s leg.

So this is an unusual story of kitty love.

Tri, a 16 year old cat, had a mass growing on his right wrist.

That by itself wouldn’t be unusual.

Here is a picture of both of her front legs:

As you can see, the right front leg is much larger than the left.

Here is an X-ray of the leg from the side. The red arrow points to the mass.

And here is an X-ray of the leg from the top. The red arrow points to the mass.

The concern was that X-rays of the foot showed that the bone of the 5th toe, aka his “pinky,” was being eaten away.

The 2 green arrows point to 2 areas of the bone that are missing.

About a month later, a second set of X-rays were sent by Tri’s family vet.

Here is an X-ray of the leg from the side. The red arrow points to the mass, which looks bigger.

And here is an X-ray of the leg from the top. The red arrow points to the mass.

The concern was that X-rays of the foot showed that the bone of the 5th toe, aka his “pinky,” was being eaten away.

The 2 green arrows point to 2 areas of the bone that are missing.

Since we can’t just amputate a foot, the only reasonable option was to amputate the entire leg.

(if we amputated just the foot, the pet would use the rest of the leg as a pegleg and cause constant sores, pain and infections)

Tri’s blood work was pretty close to normal.

So her owner decided to go to surgery.

Tri did great through surgery. She recovered smoothly from anesthesia.  And she went home to rest and heal for 3 weeks.

One week later, her owner wrote: “Tri is doing well. She is just starting to demand to leave her crate but has otherwise been an excellent patient. (…) She is eating, drinking, and using the litter box. (…) I expect the next two weeks will be harder as she starts to feel better.”

Over 3 months after his first surgery, Tri was still doing great!

Odin’s amputation story

Odin, an 11 year old Rottie, was limping in a front leg.

X-rays of the leg showed a very impressive condition that was literally eating the bone away.

The red arrow points to the ulna, the small bone in the forearm. As you can see, a large segment of bone has simply vanished. There was a very strong suspicion of bone cancer.

Long story short, the owner eventually accepted the fact that the best way to help her dog, besides euthanasia, was to remove the leg – and the source of the pain.

Before surgery, chest X-rays showed that there was no obvious spreading of the presumed bone cancer to the lungs.

Odin went to surgery and his right front leg was amputated. Anesthesia and surgery were uneventful, and he recovered smoothly.

The next day, his owner wrote: “Odin is doing as well as can be expected 🙂.

He got up and was able to make it outside to go to the bathroom. (…) He ate breakfast like a champ.”

That’s almost always the hardest thing for pet owners to believe: that their amputated pet will feel more comfortable after amputation, and will walk on 3 legs.

About 10 days later, the biopsy confirmed bone cancer (osteosarcoma).

Odin recovered smoothly over the following 3 weeks.

His owner concluded: “Thank you for giving our boy a fighting chance.”

Toby’s amputation story

Toby, a 9 year old, 100 pound mixed breed dog, had a story similar to Odin’s, so I’m not going to go over it in great detail.

I would like to share the impressive X-ray of his bone, which also had bone cancer (osteosarcoma).

Again, after amputation, Toby did great.

Dixon’s amputation story

My last example is Dixon, a 12 year old terrier who needed an amputation because of bone cancer in the arm (humerus). Four months after surgery, he joined his “sister” Luna during agility! You can see a picture of Dixon below:

So, in answer to the question in the title:

“Can Amputation Lead to a Happy Pet?”

I would venture to say that Tri, Odin, Toby and Dixon were not happy campers before surgery.

However, thanks to the dedication of their owners, they were able to be comfortable and functional.
 
 

If you would like to learn how we can help your pet with safe surgery and anesthesia, please contact us through www.LRVSS.com

Phil Zeltzman, DVM, DACVS, CVJ, Fear Free Certified

www.LRVSS.com