Hello! I am very thankful for this website! It gave me a lot of hope before my dog's surgery! My fiance and I adopted our dog, Polly from an animal shelter just a few months ago. She is a 2 year old Australian Shepherd mix and is ALWAYS happy and wagging her tail. A short time after we adopted her, she started limping and we noticed a cyst on the bottom of her paw. We took her to the vet and had her treated for Lyme disease (because of the limping, and she tested a strong positive).

We were told that the cyst did not look cancerous; however, we were to keep an eye on it. About two weeks later, her limping got MUCH worse, she would put no weight on her leg and only used three legs to walk. We took her back to the vet and were informed that the cyst may be cancerous because of the rate it was growing, the color and size. Additionally, that our Polly would need her leg amputated. I almost cried hearing this news, as it was something that was very unexpected. So, two days later, I took Polly in for surgery. Got a call about an hour later, it was the vet. She told me she had good news..and bad news. Good news was that the cyst was not cancerous. Thank goodness! Bad news..she had been shot in the foot with a 22 caliber gun. I cannot tell you how angry it made me to hear that! What kind of a person shoots a dog?! Polly is so sweet and loving. Because of the bone deterioration, the vet told us that it had been 6 months to a year ago that she was shot, and it had been getting progressively worse. Her leg still had to be amputated. She had her surgery 5 days ago and is recovering wonderfully! Still always wagging her tail! I am very thankful that Polly is doing well, we love her so much and she is so strong! (I attached 1 before picture, and 1 after picture)

Amanda Kelley
Pennsylvania
Wednesday October 13, 2010

I first met Zachary when he was a puppy, and my mom had surprised my brother and me with him when we got home from school one day. She was standing at the door, with him in a Christmas stocking.

We had Zachary for only a short time before he lost his front leg. He was on his normal morning walk in the woods, when he ran off chasing a squirrel, typical Jack Russell behavior. He was hit a by van, and was found in terrible condition. My mom, luckily, works at an animal hospital and rushed him there. After trying everything, they decided Zach would need to go to a larger animal hospital. He was taken to the University of Penn Animal Hospital in PA. When I first saw my dog after he was home from the hospital, he looked like he should have been in pet cemetery. He was shaved and had cuts and stitches everywhere. Nothing like my hyper, yappy, playful, loving puppy he was before.

My mom had explained to us that Zach had nerve damage in his front leg and that if he did not re-gain feeling, he may have to lose his leg. If you knew Zach, this next part of the story would not be as surprising as it seems!
Zachary, though very small, has the spirit of a dog 100 times his size! He is a tough little guy, and would not allow anything to slow him down. One morning, Zach was found in my brothers bed, chewing his own numb paw off.

So, after chewing the majority of his toes off, Zachary had his leg amputated, the correct way! I decided to write this article because yesterday was Zach's 16th birthday. And although he has slowed down a lot in his old age, he still has the same spirit, and I know he will be with us for many more years!!

Katie Hill
Thursday October 14, 2010