Toby is going to lose his leg.

October

Great to hear Toby is doing so well.

ghost_ie

Great news about Toby. Hope he, you and your family have a happy Christmas

star-pants

I'm delighted to hear he's doing so well!
Of course it's heartbreaking to see him missing a leg, but you're doing the right thing by being upset away from him/Dougal, just so he's not worried somethings wrong with you.

Toby appears to be very able to adapt and as you said he found a way to eat his chew without the other paw. Things will be confusing for him/you guys for a while but ye will figure it out. He probably just wants some comfort now too (hence wanting out of his crate) and it's great you guys are staying home with him. (obviously I'm sure you're missing family etc, but right now he needs you and you need him )

I hope you all do have a great Christmas and I'm honestly so happy that Toby is doing ok and that he has such a wonderful family.

ISDW

Delighted he's home.

Its completely natural for you to be upset about his missing leg, I know that everytime I looked at Bramble when she came home with only 3 legs I would get upset, I felt that she kind of wasn't my Bramble anymore. BUt of course she was, it was just me and my emotions:rolleyes:

He'll soon adapt I'm sure, and he'll just be happy that he's at home with his beloved family, and that you cared enough to go through this with him.

iguana

My poor boy.

Btw, I realise the picture isn't fully 'pg' but he had been having a sleepy stretch just before I took the pic so not much is left to the imagination.;)

iguana

Just thought I'd give an update on Toby. He is doing really, really well. Much better than I could have imagined 6 days ago. (Although it's still horrific compared to how he was a week ago, it's amazing how life can just turn on a hairpin like that.) He gets a little bit better each day as he figures out new ways to do things. He's gotten so much quicker on his feet as he learns to redistribute his weight. He can get up, sit down and do a u-turn as fast as ever now.

I can honestly say that our number one problem with Toby is his determination to do everything he normally does before he is quite ready. On Xmas eve I was bringing his pillows upstairs to put them in his crate which we are keeping in our bedroom for now. He isn't usually allowed upstairs so he rarely tries to follow me up but obviously when he saw his pillows going up he knew he was sleeping up there and started to follow me. I panicked and told him to stay, planning to leave the pillows at the top and go back and carry him the rest of the way. Unfortunately I wasn't thinking like a dog, 'stay' when said to the dogs as they try to ascend the stairs doesn't mean 'stay where you are' it means 'go back downstairs and wait in the hall.' So Toby turned himself around and went back down. I nearly threw myself downstairs trying to catch him. Luckily he didn't hurt himself but while his shoulder is still a wound he can't attempt anything more than a step or two in the garden.

Every morning and night now is a battle of wits as he tries to figure out how to get himself up or down the stairs without being carried. Xmas morning he went right to the back of the crate and wouldn't come out for my husband. He decided to get some biscuits tempt Toby out, as soon as he opened the bedroom door Toby dashed out and sprinted for the stairs. Luckily he was caught before he reached them. Now at night we have to carry him up before we take up his pillows so he doesn't figure out it's bedtime.:D

star-pants

I'm delighted to hear he's doing well - gas how quickly they adapt and I hope he just keeps getting better!

Would you consider a child gate for the stairs? (even to borrow one for a while)
Or maybe a board large enough to block it?
We have a board we use to block the base of our stairs to stop the dogs going up if we don't want them to. Just it might save your nerves a little if you knew he couldn't go up or down.

ISDW

He sounds like he is adapting brilliantly. Life in your house certainly sounds like fun at the moment:D

Please keep the updates coming, great to hear how he's getting on.

iguana

It's not the exactly a celebratory anniversary but it's one year on and my little Toby is doing great. He had a bit of a bad patch in the Autumn when he hurt his shoulder stump and it seemed to throw him off balance a bit as he went through a period where he was constantly throwing himself down on walks. But after a week of rest, which was basically his decision (which was terrifying as a springer choosing to stay in bed instead of going on a walk is the stuff of bizzaroworld) he was back to running around, hopping in and out of the river and jumping over ditches.

Thanks to everyone who had kind words about Toby last year. It meant a lot and helped get us all through a very scary time.

lrushe

How's he handling the snowy conditions on 3 legs??

goat2

iguana wrote: »

It's not the exactly a celebratory anniversary but it's one year on and my little Toby is doing great. He had a bit of a bad patch in the Autumn when he hurt his shoulder stump and it seemed to throw him off balance a bit as he went through a period where he was constantly throwing himself down on walks. But after a week of rest, which was basically his decision (which was terrifying as a springer choosing to stay in bed instead of going on a walk is the stuff of bizzaroworld) he was back to running around, hopping in and out of the river and jumping over ditches.

Thanks to everyone who had kind words about Toby last year. It meant a lot and helped get us all through a very scary time.

great to hear good endings,hope you have a great christmas with toby and company

iguana

lrushe wrote: »

How's he handling the snowy conditions on 3 legs??

Not a bother, he loves the snow. This was him last year two weeks after his op, at the start of the year.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wFhv71dBW4c

tk123

Ah i'm glad he's ok!! And thanks for posting the update because it gives me some hope that our guy will be ok!!. He's had a set back this week (he had limb alignment on his back leg last month) and is lame the last few days so worrying times as we wait for news back on his xrays!!:( Can I ask - has anyone ever basically said you were cruel for getting the surgery for Toby? Somebody told me I was the other day in not so many words - ie he wasn't going to die from it so why bother wasting money on surgery when he was able to run around without it...it cost the €100 excess - they think insurance is a waste :rolleyes:

Orla K

I posted before telling you about my three legged cat and how she bossed about the 4 legged male cat. I just thought I'd say this because it's a little odd.

The three legged cat died (tumor, nothing to do with missing a leg) not too long after I first posted here, it was feburary when I decided to put her to sleep but in september the four legged male that I mentioned got hit by a car(lucky to be alive) but he lost a leg. I'm onto my second three legged cat:o(in one year too). The only problem Oscar has is jumping onto the windowsill because it's his back leg(I've a chair next to the window for him to climb up, other that that he's happy and barely notices it's gone.


It's not nice when it happens and for people that have never had an amptuee pet it can be a shock but they get on great. Oscars hardest week was after the operation, he got a little depressed, refused to move for anything and growled at everyone but me, after that all was good and he quickly learned to run*


*funnist thing I saw in a long time was him getting confused and running on just his two front paws with a paniced look across his face, he ended up running into the door frame. So awful but so funny too.

Dusty87

Dont get upset. Remember this little dude
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7f1ovurzU2s

dvet

tk123 wrote: »

Ah i'm glad he's ok!! And thanks for posting the update because it gives me some hope that our guy will be ok!!. He's had a set back this week (he had limb alignment on his back leg last month) and is lame the last few days so worrying times as we wait for news back on his xrays!!:( Can I ask - has anyone ever basically said you were cruel for getting the surgery for Toby? Somebody told me I was the other day in not so many words - ie he wasn't going to die from it so why bother wasting money on surgery when he was able to run around without it...it cost the €100 excess - they think insurance is a waste :rolleyes:

That's awful that somebody tried to make you feel guilty about trying to save your dog's leg! Of course loads of dogs do fantastically on 3 legs, but that still doesn't mean amputation is the first port of call. If an owner/vet has a chance of being able to save the leg, of course they're going to try!

I hope that your dog's setback is not too serious tk123, whatever the end result, you should feel justified that you're doing all you can to get the best outcome.

And iguana, I'm glad to see that Toby did so well after his op. That video is lovely!

x Purple Pawprints x

I'm so sorry to hear about your poor Toby... Fortunately dogs cope very very well with three legs so the only thing to do is really keep an eye on the wound and bring him for all of his post-op checks etc at your vets. Be sure to keep us all updated on Toby. Good luck xx

tk123

dvet wrote: »

I hope that your dog's setback is not too serious tk123, whatever the end result, you should feel justified that you're doing all you can to get the best outcome.

Thanks!! I think he may have just overdone it last weekend - he's bearing weight on the leg no probs again and we had an incident last night where he managed to get loose and run around the garden in the snow so I don't think he's in pain anymore! My heart lol:pac:

Di0genes

Toby is doing okay

See this video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qTEbKLu6MD4&feature=player_embedded

tk123

WOW!! The speed of him!!