Hi, my name is Beckett. I'm a 8 1/2 year old blue Doberman Pinscher. I lost my left front leg in November 2005 to osteosarcoma, a cancer that is highly metastatic and so my leg had to come off as soon as I was diagnosed.

Within three days of the surgery, my owner had to restrict me from running outside too much so I wouldn't pull my stitches out. They really were a bother and I couldn't wait to get back to chasing squirrels in the back yard.

I then underwent 3 months of chemotherapy (during which, I didn't lose any fur, just my whiskers). I only threw up twice so it wasn't all that bad.

Now, 6 months later, I don't remember why it was such a big deal. I can do everything I did before, especially running the fence line in the park barking at bicyclists. My favorite is getting chased by my owner. I plant and cut like a wide receiver and he can't catch me. Bipeds are so slow :)

Beckett
Friday May 19, 2006

UPDATE:

It is with a very heavy heart that I report that Beckett passed away on July 3, 2006. A spindle cell sarcoma, unrelated to his osteosarcoma, developed near a hind leg. It was misdiagnosed due to inaccuracy of a fine-needle aspirate test, and I relied on it because he had had 5 tumor surgeries prior, with 2 of them turning out to be unnecessary, and I wanted to eliminate the unnecessary surgeries if I could.

It turned out to be a fatal error. The tumor invaded his femur and destroyed the bone marrow, thereby destroying his red blood cell production. After 3 days of rapidly declining energy, culminating in the inability to walk across the room, his life-long veterinarian came to our home to ensure there was no protracted suffering.

Even at the end due to the spindle cell, his lungs remained clear of metastasis from the osteosarcoma.

He was there for me through some very rough times in life when I had no one else, and he is missed immensely.

Tom Lahti
Tuesday July 25, 2006

Hi,
Our little Pomeranian, Peanut, gave birth by C-section, to one puppy that we call Bitsy.

Bitsy would have been a total healthy little girl except the veteranarian who did the C-section cut her tissue circumferentially so bad that he had to amputate the front left paw.

We were devastated, to say the least, at his negligence.

I could go on as to how we feel about the vet, but the important thing is that we have decide to keep Bitsy and raise her with all of our love and support.

She was born one week ago and is a whopping 4 ounces now.

We don't know what we are headed for as to what to expect, so I found your website for support.

We have been told by our "real" vet that Bitsy may need a second amputation, in the event that the "bad vet" did not amputate it far enough up.

Awful, isn't it?

We love her so much already,
and her mother and father, Peanut and Corky, love her also.
We are not breeders.

In fact, this was going to be the one and only litter for us to keep.
We have had Peanut fixed now.

I hope we can feel encouraged by all of the cases listed in your web pages. I have attached her photo.

Susie Call
Friday May 26, 2006