I just made my first post summarizing the whirlwind of activity that has been the last 4 days- post osteosarcoma diagnosis.
Athena is a 6 1/2 year old female Rottweiler Mix that I adopted in October 2006 at about 3 1/2 months old. She has not had great luck with her health, present situation included. At one year old, she started showing lameness in her back legs. Walking stiffly and taking over one minute just to stand up from a laying position. The x-rays revealed mild hip displaysia and arthritis, but the cause of the pain was an Anterior Cruciate Ligament (ACL) tear in both rear legs. I was referred to the University of Georgia Teaching Hospital an hour away [I was living in GA for work at the time]. She had TPLO surgery on the right rear leg, essentially cutting the tibia and reattaching it at a new angle with a plate so the bone could regrow and heal.
Her recovery was excellent and really no other serious health problems, aside from the occassional arthritis stiffness. Now she is facing amputation of her left front leg from bone cancer…
Athena did you know that TPLO surgery recovery is actually harder than recovering from amputation surgery? If you can get through TPLO this will be a breeze! Really. Hang in there!
Jerry’s right. I had a rottie mix that tore her ACL. Her repair was not TPLO, but the recovery was harder than Dakota’s amputation. Picking only ease and speed of recovery, it would be amputation. Believe it or not!
Shari