Magnum Hound

About two months ago, Magnum fractured his left front leg for the fourth time in his life.  Yes, fourth.  Quick run down of his history - the leg broke with his original owner and a metal plate was put on it, when Jill got him, the plate got infected and had to be removed.  Shortly after we got him from Jill, the leg broke for a 2nd time.  He went through 4 months of rehab with an external fixator in his leg and less than a week after the fixator was removed, the leg broke again.  This time, we had a specialist put another metal plate on the bone.  He was getting around great until last February when a hole in his skin near the plate started opening up.  We kept the leg wrapped and it would get worse and then better and then worse and then better -- rinse and repeat.  The vet specialist x-rayed the leg and told us the bone was weak and could possibly break again sometime.  Fast forward a year and, that brings us to the most recent fracture.  The story doesn't need to get told on the how of things...all we need to know is that it was broken again....and there was no good solution for fixing it.  After pain medication and anti-inflammatory medicine didn't work, and the wound on the leg still opening up, and the fractured area looking worse and worse, we opted to have his leg amputated.  It was not an easy choice to make, and if I'm honest, I still struggle with knowing if it was the right one.  It was really hard to see Magnum heavily sedated on pain medication, hobbling around from place to place. Nearly a month later, he moves around easily and seems to be in little to no pain.  We have had some setbacks post-surgery - a small infection and the incision site opening up - but we are taking care of that with laser treatments every few days.

And, now, some Magnum pictures:

➹ About to get a laser treatment! ➹

➹ I love it when he gets wrapped with a pretty decoration on it! ➹

He is our million dollar dog for sure, and we are just happy that he continues to love us unconditionally despite the poking and prodding he gets from us.