Siberian Husky Gets Prosthetic Paw
Family Friend Runs Over Dog
POSTED: 4:05 pm CST January 26, 2011
UPDATED: 6:59 pm CST January 26, 2011
A new procedure once just for people is now available for your pet. In the end, it isn't as expensive as one would think.
For the Swifts, it was one of those family nightmares: Friends were over for Christmas, and one friend accidentally ran over their dog. The family was faced with grim decisions.
There were three options for Polo, the 9-year-old Siberian husky: amputate the leg and become a three-legged dog, commit to multiple surgeries -- a minimum $5,000 bill and no guarantee of success -- or something relatively new: a fake paw, a dog prosthetic.
Let me just add a few things that I found issue with here. I have no problem with the dog getting a prosthetic. I'm not sure what the multiple surgeries are here but a leg amputation is NOT $5000, especially if done by a general small animal veterinarian versus a board certified veterinary surgeon. I love our boarded surgeons - don't get me wrong! - but this is a procedure MOST "regular" vets do. Also, I have personally seen LARGE dogs with 3 legs and they did wonderfully! I recall one Rottweiler who had been hit by a car and had her right front leg removed. She didn't take too long to get used to it. For some animals this thing could potentially be more "annoying" to them, cause bed- sore like lesions where the fake leg and the real leg meet and if they are taking it off the dog (I'm guessing) at times, some dogs will chew at the end of the injured paw creating more tissue damage, etc.
Oh yeah and I have a 3 legged animal. Granted it's small and a cat but Legolas does quite fine and in fact, is the ALPHA pet (yes that includes ruling over the dog) in our household.
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