Doomsday’s Leg Amputation

Hello everyone!

Our names are Jeremy and Rebecca, and our dog Doomsday had to have his leg amputated.

Here's our long story short...

We boarded Doomsday at our regular boarding facility over the holidays. We dropped him off on December 20th, with the plan to pick him up on December 29th. We received a text from the owner of the facility on the night of December 28th just before midnight saying that Doomsday had injured his leg, but that we had "nothing to worry about." We picked him up the next morning and were met with a back left leg that was twice its normal size from hip to toe. His injury was clearly more severe than the owner had led us to believe, so we took him into our vet ASAP to get x-rays. The x-rays showed no fracture, break, or any other structural damage. The vet said it must have been a severe contusion, and that we should see the swelling go down in a few days or so. Over the next few days, the swelling got worse and his hair began to fall out in certain areas from the inside of his leg. We took him to the vet again, and they believed the hair loss to be from severe swelling. They took a culture from his leg to test for infection, he was placed on multiple pain medications and antibiotics, and we went home.

Over the next few days we watched as his hair continued to fall out, and his skin, from his toes to his upper-inner thigh, began to turn black and start separating from his leg. This is when things took a turn for the worse.

We went back to the vet on January 4th. With the way the injury had progressed, our vet told us that she was fairly certain that Doomsday had been bitten by a highly venomous spider. Luckily, it didn't take his life. He had to be fully anesthetized so they could remove all of the dead skin and bandage it. She told us the wound would need to be treated like a severe burn wound, and that treatment would be long and painful. We were going to have to bring Doomsday back to the vet every Monday-Saturday for the foreseeable future to be sedated and have his wound cleaned and bandage changed. This treatment was going to cost $300 a day for potentially months. We had already spent almost $3,000 on vet visits and medications up to this point.

On January 7th, the vet called and informed us that the bacterial culture from a week before had tested positive for MRSP (the equivalent of MRSA in humans). With the added factor of MRSP, his treatment plan had to change, which took his daily wound care from $300 to $500 a day. We had been accepted by CareCredit for a $6,500 limit, but didn't have much beyond that. Our vet told us that it was going to be significantly more than $6,500 to pursue the treatment he needed to save his leg, and that it wasn't guaranteed to work. Our other option was amputation, which would be about $3-4,000 total.

We wanted so badly for him to keep his leg, but we were facing a treatment plan far beyond what we could afford, a dog in visible pain, and no clear end in sight. Amputation was the only decision that made sense.

His leg was amputated the night of January 8th. We got him home the next morning. We are writing this on January 16th, a little over a week since his amputation. He is adjusting well. We are too. Losing a back leg is much better for dogs than losing a front leg. He's hopping around successfully, and while definitely in some pain, he is no longer suffering.

Unfortunately, this traumatic incident, clouded in mystery by the boarding facility, has left us with 1 less leg and almost $9,000 in debt. I won't speak too much on it here, but the boarding facility has been the opposite of helpful. They have not accepted any responsibility for what happened to Doomsday while in their care, and have not been willing to help pay for any of the vet bills. We will also need to take him for postop exams and to physical therapy to build strength in his remaining back leg, so our spending isn't over yet. You should not have to foot our bill, and we do not expect anything from anyone. Those of you who know Doomsday know just how special of a boy he is, and we all could use your help. Anything is greatly appreciated.

Thank you for reading our story.

Jeremy, Rebecca, Doomsday