Please help - need urgent advice re: greyhound and poss amputation

[Callisto]

Hi All,

my greyhound broke her leg this morning and I've just heard back from the vets. Our options are:

1. a vastly long, complicated and expensive operation that she may or may not come out of and may or may not work.
   
2. amputation
   
3. euthanasia.
   

I've never been one for long, distressing operations/treatment when it comes to animals so I'm realistically looking at options 2 or 3.

So my question is do any of you have any experience of greyhounds with only three legs, bearing in mind that she will lose a front leg? I just can't see it working as she is a big, lanky dog. I'm also worried about quality of life - she loves to run, in some ways it is her reason for living.

Any advice will be very gratefully received.

[RedwingWinter]

Callisto, I'm so sorry

[topbannana]

callisto I have just realised I had not read the whole thread. I am so sorry, my post must seem incredibly crass

[NotMostPeople]

Callisto I think I'd do the same, big hugs.

[CocoNutter]

DH's old dog lost a front leg a few years ago and you wouldn't know he wasn't born without it. He copes really well. Getting a little unsteady now that he's older but he has done brilliantly.

[CocoNutter]

So sorry, hadn't read the whole thread

[Goldrill]

Deepest sympathy Callisto: it's the worst decision you have to make, but you know your dog best and it will be the right one. Very un-mumsnetty hug from here.

[AwsomeMrsFox]

I'm so sorry Callisto. You knew your dog and you could make the best judgement as to how he would/wouldn't cope. These things are never clear cut and you have to follow your intuition. You did the right thing.

[Callisto]

Thanks so much everyone. There is a huge greyhound shaped hole in my life now.

[SpicyPear]

So sorry Callisto.

[mistlethrush]

We lost our last dog in October last year because of bone cancer - she went from limp to in too much pain to keep her going in 3 weeks. It does leave such a hole - and yours was such a sudden experience of it.

We got another dog just over two weeks' later. She will never replace our old dog - and I'm still sad about losing her, despite having a new one. She is occupying a different dog shaped space in our lives and we're adapting to make that fit work for us and the dog.

Don't be surprised at the level of your feeling - and don't expect non-dog owners to understand. In time you will be able to think of all of the good things and not the suddenness of her departure from your lives.

[Callisto]

Thanks Mistle. I lost Tana, my other greyhound last June (nearly a year to the day that my Mum died) to bone cancer. That was a shock but he was an old man, almost 14, so I was expecting it. Plus he died in his bed and in my arms.

My lovely Peach was only 5, I was expecting her to go on for years yet. At least my husband was with her at the end and she is buried in the garden next to her beloved Tana.

They really break your heart don't they.

[mistlethrush]

They do - but I wouldn't be without one in my life for long. It is one of the downsides to having one, but the upsides more than compensate.