I would agree, dogs rule. We have had dogs all our life.

hate to be a doggie downer.. We lost our 2nd border collie in 2 months. both had full lives and made it to 16+. We had them as pups. Here are pics of the two of them and my moms chiwawa (she passed last year at 17). On the fridge is a pic of my bothers pug. My moms chiwawa loved him.

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I think its interesting how people can be in denial about their pets and vets just enable them. my brother put the border collie through massive surgery to gain 3 months. After the surgery vet told him that she would have maybe 2 - 4 months more. 2 weeks ago my brother goes to the vet to have her checked for coughing. more xrays and pills and now the dog is a zombie. Vet says a few weeks more and she would end up coughing blood. I told my brother last monday she was suffering and struggling to breath he should put her down. He thinks she is fighting. Come thursday evening, I tell him its time to schedule an appointment. He says no. Friday evening she is really gasping and he takes her to be put down at 1am.

I really don't know if his vets are just evil as I was not part of the conversation with them. But I doubt they would tell him don't do it. I think it was cruel to have the surgery, but it was not my call. But if your dog makes it to 90% life expectancy and it has cancer, don't make it suffer.

we still have 2 border collies who are getting to 14. Both are daughters of the one who died last month. she passed really quickly. So that was a blessing. The father died when he was 4. That one was weird. He was lying by my brother at the computer and all of a sudden he jumped up ran down the hall about 20 feet and before he could get to the door dropped down dead. I think it had to be an aneurysm.

have anyone had a dog that had its rear leg amputated? my brothers border collie is 12+ and she now has a mass about the size a kiwi by her ankle. It currently does not bother her. the vet says its not dangerous for her. the option is another surgery(She had one about 2 years ago to remove a similar size mass I think in the same spot) or amputate.

I think it would be cruel to take a dogs rear leg so late in its life. my brother is thinking longer term in that if she needed another surgery in about 3 years, she would not survive it. Any opinions?

My brother says the vet says its a spindle cell tumor. The vet says they grow faster as time goes on and surgery cant keep it from coming back. I was wrong about how fast its growing back. Its been about 18 months. The mass currently is about 1.5-2x larger than the previous mass. The previous mass was about golfball size and was more of a free mass. this one looks like its growing right up against the bone.

thanks for the info. Its my brothers call, and he and his vet favor amputate. She is healthy. Maybe a little overweight. My brother is working on her weight and waiting until it seems to bother her or something forces it to happen. But probably will get done in the next month or two.

They took her leg on thursday. My brother was going to wait as long as possible, but she tore her skin on tuesday and fortunately she had an appointment with the vet anyways on thursday. By Saturday she was able to get up on her own. Hopefully she gets used to it or added strength as her endurance now is about 100 ft. Must be sad for an active dog to not being able to run. Personally, I would never do it to a dog.