I am very tired of telling the story of how I got to this place with my dog Devo. So here is a summery of the experiences and cost so if you are presented with a similar thing you can make an educated decision.
Devo had a lump on her front leg and went to get it removed. The surgery didn't go so hot and I chose amputation as an alternative to reconstructive surgery and chemotherapy. The cost of the initial sugery and post sugery treatments totaled $1200 in 4 days and 13 vet visits.
I was quoted $4000 for reconstructive surgery, $950 in visits for 3 weeks worth of rewrapping her origional wound and wasn't quoted chemotherapy which I estimate at another $3000 - $4000. I was also quoted $2000 for an amputation by the local emergency pet hospital.
So on 11/25/09 I had her front right leg removed by a very helpful animal shelter that I had volunteered at. Though I didn't qualify for any discounts or anything they were still 1/3 the cost of the local animal hospital and very capable of doing the surgery.
It has only been 10 hours since her surgery and she is on some morphine type patch and other pain meds and is more or less out of it. She whines occasionally but seems to be doing okay. After I picked her up she actually jumped into the car by herself. So she seems to be rebounding pretty good. Her pictures right after surgery are below:
I will keep the updates coming so if you end up with a tri-pod dog you can know what to expect from the surgery.
