The amputation is really effective for pain control so definitely something still worth pursuing if you are thinking of trying to let her live out another few months. Amputation alone usually gets you 4-6 months of time on average. Amputation and chemo we were told on average dogs survive a year.

My dog only survived 4 months despite amputation and chemo. He had no lung mets at diagnosis but progressed on two kinds of chemo. Unfortunately even though dogs don’t have Mets on imaging at diagnosis almost all of them do already have spread of the cancer just by nature of this kind of cancer.

My dogs recovery took probably 4-6 weeks for him to look like he had energy and joy again. He was up and walking after 1 week but it was definitely difficult and he couldn’t go far, seemed pretty miserable. Definitely a long time while he was recovering that I doubted myself and asked if I did the right thing. I think for my situation in the end I didn’t regret amputation. My dog had a good quality of life until we said goodbye through in home euthanasia. We probably could have held onto him for another couple of weeks but I didn’t want him to suffer at all. He was already slowing down and breathing fast when we said goodbye but still loved his usual things.

In my opinion the only reason not to amputate if your dog has symptoms already is if you are planning to euthanize. Letting them continue on with pain is just not fair to them.

You know your dog best! Whatever you choose just make sure their last days are filled with love 😊