I am fostering a one year old Great Pyrenees/Akbash cross who has ectrodactyly. Amputation is being considered, but I’ve been told that the giant breed dogs do very poorly with front leg amputation.
Does anyone have experience with front leg amputation in a giant breed dog?
Tressie
Welcome Tressie. We have many giant breed dogs here who do fine with front amputation. Many of them unfortunately are battling cancer so aren’t tripawds for a very long time. But I have a friend who has a 150 lb Anatolian Shepard who lost his front leg to cancer over 5 years ago! Cemil is doing well, but doesn’t go far these days. You should hop over to the forums to post there- many more people there to share experiences.
Karen and the Spirit Pug Girls
My Holly is a cane corso mastiff
Her left front leg was done over a month ago. She is doing great
Hi Tressie,
We’re glad you’re here. Our community has had LOTS of giant breed Tripawds, and they’ve done fine. As long as a dog doesn’t have serious pre-existing conditions and the ortho vet thinks it’s OK, they do just fine. Did you see our Size and Age Matters Discussion Forum?
http://tripawds.com/forums/size-and-age-matters/
Also, our member blogs have TONS of great examples, just search the blogs for breed names like “Dane” “Mastiff” “Saint” and so on.
http://tripawds.com/site-search/
Hop over to our Forums, you’ll find LOTS of input there. Please don’t make any decisions until you get at least two or even three opinions from board-certified orthopedic vets OK? And check out these OrthoPets videos, one talks about why we should “save the flipper!”
http://tripawds.com/tag/orthopets/
Hi Folks!
Thank you for the warm welcome and all of your comments. I am still trying to figure out how to navigate this site, so hoping you can all see my reply.
Some background on Bose, who is a young dog, only 15 mths old. I initially agreed to foster him as a foster to adopt arrangement because I was looking for a companion for my 2 1/2 year St. Bernard. She was having a lot of issues with limping in her front and back legs as well. I had adopted her from an animal shelter and she had been a stray so no history.
The orthopedic surgeon who examined her was certain it was osteosarcoma and she is the one who told me that a front leg amputation was not an option in these large breed dogs. Fortunately, x-rays ruled out osteosarcoma and it was decided that she had soft tissue injury, plus bad joints. She was put on NSAIDs and pain medication, it took 5 months but she is finally better, although my vet says her condition is not ‘fixable’ and she will have to be on medication for the rest of her life.
So I was looking for a senior male dog for her, but the Great Pyrenees rescue suggesded this youngster with the deformity. If I can figure out how, I will post a short video of him walking. Anyway I started doing research to see if he might be a candidate for a prosthetic device and came across Orthopets on the west coast. The owner (a veterinarian) has been in discussion with Bose’s vet, who had rescued him. The prosthesis is expensive but the rescue will pay for it if I agree to adopt him. But I am not certain the prosthesis is the best option for him, given his temperament as a livestock guardian dog. They are extremely independent minded. His vet is wondering the same thing.
The vet with Orthopets is asking for current x-rays because it may be that an amputation followed by a prosthesis might be a better option. That got to me thinking that he might do fine without a prosthesis and just an amputation. So I revisited the concept of researching to see whether anyone out there had a giant breed who had a front leg amputation, and that’s how I found Tripawds.
I will check out all the blogs and links everyone has suggested. This is very helpful advice.
Thank you!!
Tressie
Here is a link to a video of Bose: https://www.flickr.com/photos/22073940@N07/18315813298/in/album-72157654067373332/