We received very sad news today that my dog has a spindle cell tumor in one of her rear legs. On Wednesday, she's going to have it amputated.

Have any of you had to do amptuations on your dogs? My vet keeps telling me that they do just fine after this type of surgery, but I'm having a hard time with it. She's a big dog (75ish lbs) so this is going to be a very steep learning curve for us all. If any of you have gone through this, any suggestions on how to ease the transition period?

Nothing constructive to say, just that I'm really sorry that she'll lose a leg.

A friend of my wife has a dog that was hit by a car and lost a front leg about a year ago. He's a bigger dog as well (not sure of his weight), and he's doing great after some adjustment. I'm not sure what the differences in behavior would be for a back leg vs. a front.

I'm sorry to hear that your dog is going to have to go through that, though. I always feel horrible when a pet has a major health event of any kind. It's got to be scary for them.

I've actually seen a three-legged dog once, and let me tell you, he was just fine. He walked with a slight limp (he was missing his right hind leg), but his demeanor and movement were as such that you wouldn't think he was missing a leg at all. He dug holes in the ground, rolled around in the grass and generally acted like the big puppy he was with a big goofy grin on his face. And he was a big dog, I'm talking hound-sized dog. In fact, if I remember rightly, that dog was actually a hound bred for hunting wild game and he lost his leg during one of the hunts.

Trust me, your dog won't be miserable. If anything else, after she recovers and gets used to walking on three legs, she'll be bouncing around on all three legs like nothing had ever happened.

That said, I'm sorry that's going to happen. I wish you and your dog all the best.

I haven't personally but I have seen dogs on tv do well even with only a couple of legs. As a Dog owner I have a feeling it's going to be rougher on you than "Her" it might be an a option to look into getting or building a canine wheelchair (to act as "training wheels") until she get's used to not having that extra bit of stability. (for the short time)

Sorry to hear about it.

When I was still very young maybe 2 or 3 years old our family dog was hit by a car and had to have a leg amputated and did well for some time but then he got cancer and my parents decided to put him out of his misery since he was already quite old by that time. I missed him since he was my partner in crime and we both liked to escape and went to the park or to the creek and just spent the day there.

Yeah.. this has been absolutely heart-breaking for me. This is my first dog and she's like my child (as far as attachment - I don't treat her like a human ). I have to take her back tomorrow for a final chest xray to be sure the cancer hasn't spread, but the vet seemed pretty confident that it shouldn't have (because of the type and how quickly I'm moving on all of this). I'm just so worried about how she's going to do with learning to walk with just 3-legs. I do know a guy who's dog lost a leg to a gator (completely serious) who's living life just fine, and he's even bigger than my dog, so I guess that's some comfort. I'm told that losing a back leg is better than a front, but it still deeply saddens me. However, if the worst that has to happen is her to lose this leg, I'm ready to move forward.

Thank you for the kind words!

The dogs do quite well with a little adjustment time. If you have any super slippery waxed floors, you might want to back off on that a bit. If you think she'll need a little help with stairs or accessing places you could consider something like this: http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?pcatid=8082 It is easier on the dog, and really saves your back, too. I had a large 70+ pound dog that had rather severe health problems toward the end, and she needed a hand with stairs and getting into the car because for her it was her back legs and hips.