Hi,
First, I have to say that you all will never know how much your website helped me and my husband make the difficult decision to amputate our baby Sugar Rae's leg.
We noticed back in November that she was limping quite a bit on her front right forelimb. As a puppy she had separated a growth plate and needed a cast on this same limb. Ever since that time she would limp periodically if she played too rough with our other 2 boxers.
It usually would subside and she would be back running and jumping in no time. But this time was different. It got to the point where she would no longer put any weight on it. We took numerous trips to the vet to have the leg put in a sling after sling, and went through 100's of anti-inflammatory pills, with no success.
We were finally sent to see an othropedic Vet in April when we noticed a lump at the first joint in her leg. We all thought it was a contracted muscle from her holding that limb up for so long, but soon found out that it was a Malignant Nerve Sheath Tumor, and our worst nightmare! The only way to be sure and get all the cancer is to do a complete amputation of the shoulder blade and complete limb.
So, after spending hours on the web researching, crying, and reading sites such as yours, we decided to have the amputation done on April 18, 2003, Good Friday! She is doing fantastic and runs, jumps and plays with our other dogs as if nothing ever happended.
It was discovered that the tumor was a high grade tumor with more likely of a chance of metastisis, so she is now undergoing Chemotherapy. Her prognosis is good, and with her only being 6 years old, we hope to have her with us for many more years to come. We have never second guessed our decision, and would do it all again!
Our baby Sugar lives life, loves life, and is a happy dog because her mom and dad love her so! Thanks again, for giving hope and help to those of us faced with this difficult decision! 3 legged dogs rule!!
P.S. The first photo is of Sugar Rae the day after surgery with Noosa, our 95 pound boxer, being Sugar's nurse maid! The second photo is of Romi, our 45 pound boxer, being Sug's napping buddy!
The other pictures are of her playing ball today, Friday 6/27/03! She just had her third of five total chemo treatments yesterday! She is as fast as ever, and happy as a lark!!!
Love and kisses to all the 3 leggers,
Kristen, Clark and Sugar Rae.
Please let us know when we are on the website. We want to tell all our friends and fabulous Vets!