boxer lost his leg today

[Smokeypeil]

My baby isn't a boxer, I had replied earlier to Disele and ended up here. Just got back from the vets, what a long surgery FIVE hours. Yes, it was quite a shock to see him the way he is now. He was amputated at the shoulder. The leg was beyond saving any stump of some sort. He still has a long, long road ahead of him. He is on so much medications he won't remember I was there. But he resonded to my voice and my touch after 30 mins of getting done. I left begfore he woke up more so as not to confuse, agitate, or depress him. The vet arrived back to spend the night with him. So I am off to bed to get some rest and will be down there all day tomorrow. What great perks having a great vet that you've gone to for over 20 years. I'll keep you guys posted, and hopefully get a picture on here. Because it is a shock of how they look afterwards, but probably more shocking to me for he is a very dense, furry dog that is now almost hairless.

Oh yea, side note, they found more injuries to him then first. He had torn his ear, has a huge abrasion under his belly and on his other left front leg. So he has stitches in his ear, above his eye, on top of his head, of course where his right leg was and several shaved areas that were treated. And he even got his nails cut, ears cleaned and teeth cleaned. If you guys live in Southern Oregon I have a great vet to recommend to you.

Still a ways to go for him, but I can breathe a bit better now.

[Smokeypeil]

Kristi,
You need to look up the laws in your state about hit and run accidents on animals. I just found out that in my state, that even if the dog/or animal is not on it's property, the person who hit him is to assist the animal and try to locate the owner, if they are unable to locate the owner they are to notify the police. So now my sign is going to offer a reward of any information leading to the arrest of the person. Because they didn't follow protocol they now can be arrested. It sure is nice having a family member that is a police officer. Kind of gives me some peace of mind now that someone is going to be paying in a far greater way then if they would of owned up to it. That is if we ever find them.

[kristiqhall]

Here is a picture of diesel after his surgery!!! (
thanks so much for resizing it for me!)

[Caroline]

Great picture of Diesel!!!!
I just love boxers I still would like to know how old he is.And is this your first Boxer?
I can't belive that he is not still all wrapped up from the vets he looks just as happy as can be.
Keep the faith

[Smokeypeil]

Diesel is absolutely adorable. I also can't believe he isn't still all bandaged up.

[tessa]

xena had no bandages either. they gave her back to us looking like a slab of meat...but assured us that the healing would be a lot quicker that way. it was quick, that's for sure. but nothing to compare it to, so not sure if it was 'quicker'.

he's gorgeous, kristi. and he looks like he's going to be just fine.
thanks for showing us his pic.

[kristiqhall]

Diesel is 3 and 1/2 yrs old, When i picked him up from vet he had no bandages just stitched up skin, although i think i would of liked bandages better i worry about him getting it dirty when he goes outside.
Well we took a good fall yesterday, he decided to run up our stairs on our deck, he "forgot" he was missing his leg and fell on his nub and landed with his head stuck between the stairs and just cried for a whike i picked him up layed him across my lap and we both cried, scared me 2 death, he is ok now i now stand at the stairs and make him walk. he pants alot does that mean he is uncomfortable???
Kristi

[Caroline]

Hi again,
Panting can mean pain, and you know how boxers try not to show pain.
Just give him an extra pill and make him rest when he gets like that after all it will take awhile for him to heal.
So he is 3 he is such a goodlooking boy.
Boxers are highly emotional dogs thats because there so smart lol.
Mine fell down pretty hard again yesterday and went and laid down on his doggie bed shaking right afterword, so I had to go after him and let him know that he was ok. He got upset and scared because he felt my energy and knows it upsets me when he falls. He just started walking on his own again less than a month ago, when I think back on what he went threw I don't blame him for wanting my approval at all times.
Keep the Faith

[Smokeypeil]

Kristi,
Yes I have come to realize that the panting is pain. I have pics I'll be posting soon. I can barely move right now he is afraid of me leaving him. But we are home .

We had to blanket wrap him to get him out of the vehicle, then pondered how to get him up the stairs. He figured it out for us, he just hopped right on up.

They gave him a shot of hyrdromorphone, a tramadol and metacam for the ride home and I was instructed to give him another tramadol when we got home.

Will write more later.

[kristiqhall]

i am so glad yall r home!! i know Diesel just hoped up the stairs to i was like O K keep me posted!!!
Kristi

[SydneyBeans Mom]

I'm so sorry to hear about the two doggies (in this thread) that have had to go through amputation surgery. What a sweet boxer dog. I hope to see photo's of the other one too (from Southern Oregon.) I too am in Southern Oregon and about a month ago someone hit my cat and obviously didn't try to find the owners. Luckily, Oliver managed to make it to one of my neighbors house and sought out her teenage son, who took it upon himself (along with the help of his friends) to locate my kitties owners and finally found me. At first I thought maybe he'd been in a cat fight or something got to him. His back right leg was injured so badly and if we were to try and have it repaired we would have had to go to a specialist 30 miles away and the cost would have been over $2,000 and that was no guarantee. I was so freaked out when we made the decision to have his leg amputated. After the amputation surgery, he had a complication and they found he had a diaphragmatic hernia. He had another surgery the next day and made it through that.
I had no idea how well animals can get around on three legs.
I read somewhere: "animals have three legs and a spare!"
The only thing that really gets me now is when he tries to itch his right ear and his poor little stump area is going through the motions:( I guess I need to show him what he can do with his front paw.
He too is quite the racer on the stairs!

Oliver on the stairs a couple weeks after his surgeries.

If you're worried about your doggies taking the stairs too fast when you aren't present, invest in a baby gate. I had to do that with my Italian Greyhound dog when she was a puppy. That breed is really prone to leg breaks and so far she has been lucky:)
I'm so glad I found this forum. I wish I had found it a month ago when I had so many questions. I found that taking it one day at a time and listening to my baby gave me answers.
Also, speaking of my dog, she's been put on notice by Oliver and he actually chases her around. She loves all her kitties:)
Take care!

[tessa]

kristi...i would talk to your vet first before i made any changes to the meds.
just give them a call, tell them what happened, that he's panting a lot...and then ask about the pain meds dosage. better safe than sorry.

yes...panting can mean pain...but think also what it would be like if you were to lose a leg and now had to hop everywhere. try to just go collect the mail or something, moving only by hopping. the amount of effort required is a shocker, and i'll bet you'd be panting in no time too! so i'd say, yes, keep an eye on the panting...but also...be aware of how recent any sort of activity has been so you know which panting is from effort, vs. which panting might be from pain.
it will take some time for him to improve his condition and stamina in the hopping department.

[Smokeypeil]

I know how it is to try and do without a limb that you are used to having. I went without my right arm for almost a year and I have endured 17 knee surgeries.

Keep us up to date on how Diesel is doing with his pain. My vet said that Smokey would be more sore than others who had legs amputated because of cancer. Have to think our doggies took the brunt of the hit on the leg, but there is concusive injuries, lots of soft tissue damage that will get better. The vet told me to make sure that our doggies don't gain to much weight because a dog uses their front legs 60% vs the back ones of only 40%. Also that there muscles will be painful and tight til about 6 months after the hit (and run) in our cases.

Thanks for all your help Tessa

kristi...i would talk to your vet first before i made any changes to the meds.
just give them a call, tell them what happened, that he's panting a lot...and then ask about the pain meds dosage. better safe than sorry.

yes...panting can mean pain...but think also what it would be like if you were to lose a leg and now had to hop everywhere. try to just go collect the mail or something, moving only by hopping. the amount of effort required is a shocker, and i'll bet you'd be panting in no time too! so i'd say, yes, keep an eye on the panting...but also...be aware of how recent any sort of activity has been so you know which panting is from effort, vs. which panting might be from pain.
it will take some time for him to improve his condition and stamina in the hopping department.

[Smokeypeil]

I have photos on my mypsace page it's at http://viewmorepics.myspace.com/index.c ... Id=1902432

I haven't figured out yet how to put them up here. More like I don't have the time right now.

Thanks for your tip on the baby gate, I might have to put that one to use. Smokey sure thinks he can do more than he should be.

Did you ever find out who hit your kitty? I am not sure if I ever will but we live off of Highland Avenue in Grants Pass on a little dead end lane. So I am hoping someone saw something, there is no way you can hit a 85 lb dog w/o knowing it.

Cute Kitty!

I'm so sorry to hear about the two doggies (in this thread) that have had to go through amputation surgery. What a sweet boxer dog. I hope to see photo's of the other one too (from Southern Oregon.) I too am in Southern Oregon and about a month ago someone hit my cat and obviously didn't try to find the owners. Luckily, Oliver managed to make it to one of my neighbors house and sought out her teenage son, who took it upon himself (along with the help of his friends) to locate my kitties owners and finally found me. At first I thought maybe he'd been in a cat fight or something got to him. His back right leg was injured so badly and if we were to try and have it repaired we would have had to go to a specialist 30 miles away and the cost would have been over $2,000 and that was no guarantee. I was so freaked out when we made the decision to have his leg amputated. After the amputation surgery, he had a complication and they found he had a diaphragmatic hernia. He had another surgery the next day and made it through that.
I had no idea how well animals can get around on three legs.
I read somewhere: "animals have three legs and a spare!"
The only thing that really gets me now is when he tries to itch his right ear and his poor little stump area is going through the motions:( I guess I need to show him what he can do with his front paw.
He too is quite the racer on the stairs!

mail.google.com.jpg

If you're worried about your doggies taking the stairs too fast when you aren't present, invest in a baby gate. I had to do that with my Italian Greyhound dog when she was a puppy. That breed is really prone to leg breaks and so far she has been lucky:)
I'm so glad I found this forum. I wish I had found it a month ago when I had so many questions. I found that taking it one day at a time and listening to my baby gave me answers.
Also, speaking of my dog, she's been put on notice by Oliver and he actually chases her around. She loves all her kitties:)
Take care!

[Smokeypeil]

I figured out how to put pics on here.....I also have a thread called "Pray for my doggie, he's in surgery today"

So I'll put a pic here as well.



We thought that by having his front leg amputated, that it would cure the "paw" thing.....guess again.