The Days Leading Up to the Surgery

Maya’s surgery to remove her leg was coming up. I knew she was going to be okay, but unfortunately she did not. Even being on the strong antibiotics her leg infection got worse. I cleaned it and changed the bandages every day to help but it did not. Here is a gruesome picture of her infected tumor at it’s worse. It breaks my heart to see that it had gotten this bad.

It was the smell that was the worst part. Of course she smelled it too, as did our other dog Misty. Maya’s behavior began to change. She got very quiet and sad. Dogs know what that smell means. Maya knew she was dying and so did Misty. She even stopped eating completely and would let Misty eat all of her food. Not eating could have been in part due to the strong antibiotics, but she seemed to have lost the light in her eyes. It was so sad to watch. I told her every day that she was going to be fine. I wish she could’ve understood me. Here’s her on the last walk I took her on with four legs.

Here is Maya the morning of her surgery, somber and quiet.

We dropped her off at the animal hospital and said our goodbyes. The vets already planned on keeping her there for the first night. I was scared for her but I knew the only way to save her life was to take the leg. It was life or limb and we definitely chose life! She is a strong girl and I knew she’d run again, pain free, as a cute lil tripawd!