When I was told that the vet recommended Sparkle's leg be amputated, I was flummoxed! I've never heard of a fractured bone leading to amputation, especially in a dog, so I decided to take some time to think the decision through based on Sparkle's use of her leg.
When Sparkle first came into my family, she was limping almost all of the time, and carrying her leg high up when walking and running. I thought about what I might do to change that and decided to massage her leg and hip where the bone had been broken and healed without treatment. Sparkle liked the attention and stayed quite still while I was treating her, so I got in a good 15-minute massage each day, and some days, twice a day. I noticed that her holding her leg up wasn't the issue it was at first, and within a couple of weeks of the message, she was mostly walking on all four legs. She still held the broken leg up when she trotted or ran, so we had some work to do.
I've been massaging Sparkle's leg for about a month now, and she seldom holds it up, even when she's running. She has a nice firm stance and isn't favoring the leg at all. I'm convinced that there is no need for an amputation and will continue to massage her leg/hip until she uses the leg when she runs. She is such a joy in our lives and I want to do what's best for her, which seems to be helping her to regain complete use of her injured leg!
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