boxer lost his leg today

[kristiqhall]

By baby was involved in a hit and run, he was hit by a car 2 days ago, we live on a county road in the middle of no where, i have a beauty shop one of my clients came threw my gate on my day off and didnt shut my gate back, another stray dog came into the yrd. and my boxer diesal chased him out right in frount of a car the car killed the other dog and hit my dog from the side they never even slowed down, i spent all day in pet hospital waiting to see if he was going to be ok, Xrays showed his front leg to be crushed after going to a specialist, they tried to piece the leg back together but the screws made the legs bone crumble, so after 5 hrs of surgery they came and told me that they had to take his leg, i have not seen him yet but am terrified on what he will look like and how he will do when i get him home, he is 60 pound male boxer who loves going to the lake swiming and rock climbing with me, we do alot of camping, i cannot quit crying...what can i exspect when i pick him up at noon today? I dont know what to do....Kristi

[GabrielDeafBlindPupFamily]

Dear Kristi & diesel,
Keep him quiet, in a very small area. Do you have a portable exercise pen that could be set up in your LR?

There are a lot of amputees in this forum, and please read some of their threads for what to expect. I am so sorry for you both, but promise that your diesel will take this whole thing a LOT BETTER t han you will.

[tessa]

kristi...i'm really sorry to hear what's happened to your baby boy.
i know it's scary...and you're going to have a few long nights. but you're going to be okay. you're both going to be okay.
he's still going to go camping and swimming with you. he might have to pass on the rock climbing, but his life will only change in small, managable ways.

here's a picture of my three legger swimming (she's lost her front right leg).
she swims just fine without the jacket (in fact, we had that jacket from long before the amputation) but i like to have the piece of mind for myself.

[kristiqhall]

Thanks for replying to my post, it was such a big help even the picture of your doggie in the lifejacket in the water, i went and got him one yesterday before i picked him up... I am going to go ahead and tell what happened yesterday just so when someone else goes threw this they will know its really gonna be ok even past the tears,
i went to Vet hospital yesterday to pick him up i had bad anxiety all the way there, had to stop by pets mart and get him some toys to chew on for his recovery in his kennel, which i can see will not be long now, anyway i went in and he was sitting there waiting on me, with his little nubby tail just awagghing, he walked out of the kennel, well almost ran out like nothing was wrong, they said he was doing great, we went outside to load up in the truck and he took off chasing a squarl, OMG he ran just as fast as he ever did, LOL he even tried to jump in back of my truck, which he loves to ride, i got him home and he tried to take off after a bird, i have to keep him on a leash because there is no slowing him down to let the leg heal together right...when we came home he even climbed the stairs on the deck like he had all 4 legs, i am so amazed how well he is already doing, i think mabe he wil even be able to climb those rocks when we go camping again!! i am just go glad to have my baby home and he is still perfect!!
thanks to you who responded i was so upset and scared!!! i will post a picture later today!!!

Kristi and Diesal

[tessa]

kristi...that is GREAT news!
of course, we knew it would be this way!...but it's hard to explain it. if it was US...we'd be in hospital, moaning about it, for weeks if not months....but dogs deal and move on within days.

look...you might want to re-consider thoughts of rock climbing.
i'm sure he could do it...but you're going to have to take really good care of that remaining front leg. if he were to twist his ankle, or break the leg...well...you can well imagine what that will end up meaning to him and to you.
i'd still take him on all the lower impact outings...like camping and swimming, but i'd steer away from the new dangers of sore/twisted/broken feet/wrists/leg.
i don't let xena jump in and out of the car anymore...tho she really wants to. but if she were to land wrong and damage her last front leg...well...i'm scared to even think about it.

try to keep diesal quiet until the stiches come out. he'll be pretty much 100% right by then. you'll also notice how much he improves on that day! stitches out is like taking a magic pill.

[Smokeypeil]

Thank you for your posting. My dog Smokey (retriver/aussi shep mix) is 5 years old, healthy, non-overweight dog. From what we can surmise, he jumped out of the yard. The only time he does this is if a neighbour dog comes over and I am the only one home. We initially got this dog after loosing another dog to cancer. My dalmatian spent a month moping, whining and crying after we lost our Misty girl, until we got Smokey. Actually Smokey chose us out of all the siblings he had. Anyways, back to the story, he obviously was hit by a car, a hit and run!!!!! I swear people have no compassion. Upon finding him he was just laying on the ground and would not move. Only obvious injury was a gash above his left eye. After doing a quick assesment of him, I decided he was hit by a car and not in a dog fight. There were some other areas of tuffs of hair gone and scrapes and abrasions. Lungs were great as well as his heart. He would "spaz" so I thought, but to find out later he was just trying to get up. Alas, although the only injury visible was above his eye all I could think of doing was covering him up to keep him warm, make him feel secure because I felt that his brain had been extremly scrambled. After an hour (I was calling around to find a vet to come out and assess and most likely put him down) I got help at the house so that I could go next door to find someone to help load my 85 pound dog into the car to take him to the vets office. Xrays showed that he had fractured the humerus. Well more like shattered. The xrays showed at least 3 fractures with one big chunk of the humerus completely detached. The vet we went to was not knowledgable enough in orthopaedic surgery to give us much help, so we ended up at our regular vets office (she was in surgery all day and initially was not able to see our dog). Our family opted to have his right front leg amputated. My parents have a dog that has had reconstructive leg surgery that has led to additional ones, this helped us make the decision to not go through with that procedure, plus the fact that we would have to travel over 120 miles one way to have the reconstruction done. Anywho, surgery is tomorrow and like the rest of the posters on here, I am stressed, anxious and not sure what to expect. The hardest thing for me is that he just doesn't understand what happened to him and why I took him to this odd place and left him there. Going to be a sleepless night, but heading out to our 24 hr Walmart to pick up a big doggie bed for him. He is used to sleeping next to my bed which sits on a hardwood floor, so I figured for the first few days I would sleep in the living room with him til he is more assure of himself. Thanks for reading and letting me ramble on........

[tessa]

wow. some really heart wrenching stories here lately. i have no doubt that your smokey will pull through this fine...but i also know that you will not rest until you see that for yourself.
there are some really common themes for all dog amputees. there is a thread called 'upcoming amputation, i have questions' that will be really helpful for you to read. i'll give that one a 'bump' so it rises to the top of the list.

also...i blogged my dog's experience of amputation and chemotherapy...there will probably be some useful and encouraging info in there for you as well.
i'll attach the link to it in the bottom of this post.
and while milo's mum has not blogged in almost a year (almost a year, karla!!!)...his blog will be helpful too. milo also lost his leg due to being hit by a car.
here's the link to his blog: http://miloshko.blogspot.com/

hang in there! this will all be behind you in less time than you'd think.

[kristiqhall]

Diesel is doing great today i am having to keep him on a leash because he wants to RUN, he has a huge bottle of pain meds do i need to finish them all? how do i know when to stop giving them to him? vet just said i would know, HA! he doesnt show any sign of discomfort. He is drinking ALOT of water mabe the meds make him thirsty? anyway just an update!! we r doing great...cannot seem to fiqure out how to post a picture on here, it said my picture is to big, not sure how to resize it
Kristi

[kristiqhall]

OOPS forgot to tell yall...I was gonna post the picture of my sign but cannot get it to post..i had a sign made it sayes whoever hit my dog, you know who you are, thanks for stopping and telling me! I put it where they hit him right on the side of my yard.
Kristi

[miloshko]

Hi Kristi,
Regarding the pain meds, you don't have to finish them, but (my personal opinion) if you want to keep him quiet during the night, you can give it to him for the first 3 or 4 nights, since they will also make him a little drowsy .
My dog still loves to swim and it's so amazing how he uses his tail too (looks like rowing). He also uses it for balance to be able to pee on 2 legs.
Karla

[critters]

I'm the WORST at sizing pics, as everybody that's been around awhile knows. Maybe somebody will volunteer to let you email the pics to them for resizing to bb-size, or even an avatar pic, if you want one. I'm hoping Picasa will cure my ineptness at pics, but I'm not holding my breath! Picasa's free, too, if you want to check it out.

I agree with Karla about the pain meds; you'll know if he's painful or if he's overdone it. Walking the new way might give him some muscle soreness for awhile, until he gets used to it, and using them at night is a good idea.

[CarolC]

My dog still loves to swim and it's so amazing how he uses his tail too (looks like rowing). He also uses it for balance to be able to pee on 2 legs.
Karla

Wish I could see a picture of this!

we r doing great...cannot seem to fiqure out how to post a picture on here, it said my picture is to big, not sure how to resize it

Hi Kristi--If you want to email me the pics I'll be glad to resize them for you, I do it all the time. Check your PMs (private messages).

Smokeypeil

[Smokeypeil]

Kristi and Diesel,

I think I am going to do the same thing as you by putting a sign up. I walked the street yesterday, stood, cried, pondered, trying to figure out where the point of impact was at and knowing that Smokey was hit on the right side I can somewhat figure out things, yet with hardly any blood, I can't seem to pinpoint it. Maybe when I am not so angry I will be able to figure it out. I just hope the jerk who did this will soon see my 3 legger running around.

So I sit here today as my dog is in surgery, yet not so confident as the vet called to let me know that he may die on the operating table.

I'll post and let you guys know.

[Smokeypeil]

UPDATE: I am heading to the vets office now, my Mom is taking me, I am a wreck. Things don't look good, so I at least hope they can stabalize him long enough for me to say goodbye. He has to see and/or hear me as the last thing. Why do I feel so horrible? I feel that he thinks I just dropped him off and abandoned him. Oh God, please, let me at least say goodbye, let him see me if you decide to take him from us. PLEASE!!

[Caroline]

So sorry to read about your boy, but not shocked Boxers are tuff and just awsome dogs.
How old is your Boxer?
Do keep us posted and Carol is just great about getting pictures on your post.
A three legged Boxer is better than no boxer at all he will do great.