My Husky Lost Her Leg (but shouldn’t have)

Roxy is a very important member of my family, and she just had to go through a very difficult experience. Because of a sarcoma (cancer) in her front right paw, and some questionable decision-making by the veterinary team, Roxy has lost her leg. She's an older dog and has been a member of our family for 12 years, so caring for her health can be tricky. I wanted to share this story not to give some love to my sweet girl, but also arm you with knowledge you can use to prevent the same fate from happening to your pup!

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Executive Producer: Doctor Mike
Production Director and Editor: Dan Owens
Managing Editor and Producer: Sam Bowers
Editor and Designer: Caroline Weigum

* Select photos/videos provided by Getty Images *

** The information in this video is not intended nor implied to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. All content, including text, graphics, images, and information, contained in this video is for general information purposes only and does not replace a consultation with your own doctor/health professional **

[happylife]

I’m a veterinarian and want to echo what Dr Mike said. Please ask questions! Every pet and owner is different, and one family may want to pursue things aggressively while another family may choose palliative care. Both are ok! Let your vet know your philosophy and goals. Get a second or third opinion if needed to help you decide what’s best for you and your family. I’m glad that Roxy is healing well and that’s an important reminder as well—dogs accept changes like this with incredible grace and resilience. Thanks for sharing her story Dr Mike!

[Saimeren]

8:03 She went to high five with her missing leg. You can see her muscles try to move it. But she's smart enough to know she can't and did it with her other one. What a good girl.

[JayantVermaYT]

Nothing hurts more than seeing your pet getting older or sick

[ways]

My cat just had surgery and the day after, I noticed that his arm was swollen and that the bandage for his IV was quite tight (and also still on) - I thought back to this video and rushed him back to the vet. They were mortified and were so happy that I caught it before it got bad. All he needs now is some massages and more love. Thank you so much for this video, it came flashing back to me and I knew exactly what I needed to do. 💜

[terilkinflamewood]

Roxy trying to high five with her missing paw broke my heart. You can see the muscles tense and the moment of realization on her face when she realizes "Oh. I need to use my other paw now". Poor baby. It's good to hear she's not having any psychological problems because of this though.

[Debbie]

General practitioner vet here. This seems like it was a perfect storm of problems and I’m sorry it happened. However, it is absolutely true that dogs do beautifully with three legs. Losing a front leg is much harder on them than losing a rear leg, because dogs carry 60% of their weight on their front legs. A big reason we remove the entire shoulder blade is so the dog is not having to carry that extra weight on the remaining front leg. I have no doubt she’ll do great!

[deeanna]

This is heartbreaking. I'm so sorry. As a veterinarian, my biggest fear is seriously harming a patient. I will never forget something my resident said to me when I was a student on my surgery rotation and learning to place bandages.
Him: What's the biggest possible complication from a bandage?
Me:Tissue necrosis resulting in amputation.
Him: Nope. Death from sepsis from a necrotic leg.
That had an impact on me that has lasted 22 years!

[niromanti]

Im glad you talked about quality of life vs length of life. I had a dog that passed away recently from Cushing's Disease, a disease that causes the adrenal gland to over produce cortisol which can lead to various life threatening conditions such as kidney failure, and diabetes. He was 14 when he was diagnosed and the vet said that a surgical procedure would be needed to treat him. However we decided not to do the operation, as he was already starting to lose weight and getting weaker. We were worried that a surgery would essentially kill him with how weak he was. We decided to put him on a medicine for cushings that did help slightly, and we just focused on keeping him comfortable. He went on to live another year and a half, with a decent quality of life until he passed away. I think we made the right choice, with how weak he was, i wasn't sure he'd be able to make it through a recovery from a surgery and felt that it would have badly affected his quality of life.

[bethlovesdevon]

As an vet student, I’m going to remember this video as I move forward.

[gbx]

Her little twitch on her stub when she went to give the high 5 with the missing paw 😭 wholesome

[krolltheknight]

I rescued a kitten with very smashed arm. Eventually had to decide whether to put it down or remove the arm. Surgery was astronomically expensive because she is a kitten. I ended up going through with the surgery with no regrets. Shout out to all the armless animals out there.

[letsgetreal]

Pets are everything. My heart just broke when I saw the photos of Roxy's leg and amputation, knowing mistakes were made and it needn't have happened.

[yaboiaintcarti]

8:03 The way she actually tried to give a high five with her missing leg . I'm so sorry this happened to her

[_vampiredisco]

I work as a tech in the surgery department at a very popular and gold standard hospital. Never once have I seen something like this happen, thank God. All of our surgeons are incredible, and the ones that weren't got fired. I am so sorry this happened, it shouldn't have. I agree the surgery should have never taken place.

[Spirit_wolf]

As a Vet Tech, I am truly sorry Roxy lost her leg. Sarcomas can be tricky, I think it’s reasonable to have removed the tumor since they could spread. The photo of the foot looked so bad and my gut says it was a bandage tightness issue. It’s so easy to put one on too tight and this is an outcome. Obviously, other complications are possible too. Hopefully she will continue to improve and still live a full life as a tripod, it’s just so unfortunate she had to be one from a “simple” mad removal 😢❤❤

[krisujiiye]

I’ve been a vet tech for over 22 years and currently work in oncology. Well said with everything. I’m sorry Roxy had complications, but super happy she is recovering now. Did the surgeon suggest a ct scan of the leg? Just curious.
Sending quick healing vibes to Roxy !

[Alex-zetp]

As a vet as well, I do want to reassure you that yes, dogs don't care emotionally about losing an eye or a limb. While prosthetic (both for limbs and eyes) do exist, they tend more to be for the benefits of the human than the pets. Unless the pet already had significant problems with their legs, they do extremely well with 3 legs. Keeping part of the limbs often result in pressure wound at the tip because pets will tend to put weight on them if any part if left. I've seen a few pet who had partially amputated limbs (Usually they were adopted like this, either following an old trauma they miraculously survived on their own without medical care or because they were born this way). Most of them end up having a full limb amputation eventually because of the wounds they develop over the partial limb.
Pets are also, for the most part (Huskies are indeed huge babies), WAY more resilient to surgery and pain than humans. Castrations and spay (which is often an ovariohysterectomy) is an in an out procedure in most clinics, and like 6 hours post op as their owner picks them up, many dogs will be jumping everywhere. In most cases, the owners struggles A LOT to keep their dogs on rest for even 1 week.
That being said. Yea, it seems to me that there should have been better discussion of the whole thing before the surgery. 'Technically', while it's true you'd theoretically want to remove any tumors...for a 12 years old husky, there is a whole discussion to have about the risks vs benefits. As sarcomas generally don't spread much, but are locally invasive and requires wide margin resection. So attempting surgery for a sarcoma on a leg ALWAYS come with a significant risk of amputation or local recurrences... But without being there, hard to say how much of this was discussed.
And any kind of bandages on pets are like the worst thing ever. We have to do them often for a various number of conditions, but they are horrible, are prone to just slip up or down due to the shape of the legs and complications are unfortunately frequent. (rarely on this scale, fortunately, but things like pressure wound or skin infection are frequent.

[blueleaf]

Roxie shouldn’t have lost her leg, but she seems like she’s going to be ok! 💪

[bpr]

With the high five you can tell she tried to lift the missing paw and was "oh yeah.. hold on" sweet girl.

[KayTee]

Veterinarian here. I am sorry about your experience with Roxy. I wonder if the tissue necrosis and lack of blood flow was more from the surgery itself though. With sarcomas on a limb there is such limited tissue in the region. It isn't like the scruff of the neck where there is lots of extra skin/tissue for closing up after. So one of the biggest risks with removing masses on limbs is that when you suture the wound closed it will create tension. If you create too much tension with your closure, you will actually cut blood supply to the region and get necrosis. In those cases putting in tension relieving incisions or just trying to heal the wound through second intention rather than closing it should be considered. I don't know how big the mass was that Roxy had or how much tension was present, but I wouldn't be surprised if that wasn't a big part of why the tissue died. It is a possible complication of the procedure and should be explained prior to surgery, with the warning that if that occurs, it could result in amputation of the limb.

So generally with a sarcoma like that you have 3 different options off the start:
1. Palliative, monitor it. Monitor its growth. It may never grow bigger or cause a problem before the pet has another life-threatening problem and it may. If it does grow bigger, these can get irritated and fairly awful. I have seen these break open and start bleeding and become infected. So it can become worse with time, but be aware that can happen and choose to monitor until that time comes. (I had one case where the tumor ruptured open and with that rupture it broke open an artery and the dog was spurting blood out and going into hypovolemic shock, this is very rare, only time I have seen that happen).
2. Attempt to remove the mass, making the owner aware of the above potential complication, also if you are going to bandage it make them aware of bandage complications.
3. Amputate from the start.

The dog's overall health, age, etc should be considered when deciding, but ultimately it is up to the owner to decide. I don't know what conversations were had between your dad and the vet, but sounds like if you had been able to discuss this with the vet yourself, you would have picked option 1. (If it were my personal pet, I also would have picked option 1). Thankfully, dogs do tend to do quite well with amputations and adapt insanely well. Glad to see she is doing well and healing up.