From Bev Farmer of Podenco Friends.

‘Blanca has severe arthritis in her elbow. We have kept her comfortable with meds but it’s now affecting her wrist. We looked into the option of having the elbow joint replaced with an artificial joint. A specialist clinic here in Spain was able to do the procedure. However with all the MRIs needed including one to map out an accurate image of the joint for the surgery, manufacture of the joint in the USA, 3 months post care surgery, the cost was in the region of 8,000 Euros. With no guarantee it would work.

She does use the leg especially when she is running but more and more she is holding it up. It’s never going to get better and the pain management meds are now becoming less effective.

So sadly we made the decision to amputate her front leg to give her a pain free life. It was a difficult decision for me to make, its the first time we ever had to do this. In the past we have been able to restore functionality to our Podencos with some very complicated orthopedic issues but for Blanca this is not possible. No surgery will help her condition.

Amputation is always a hard surgery on dogs, she will stay overnight at our vets for observation. I hated having to do this but once fully recovered from her surgery she will no longer have pain.

2 days later, on our way home, Blanca was standing up and I was ready to lift her up but she decided she wasn’t waiting and just jumped into the crate in the van.

So now gentle exercise plenty of rest and if no complications can return to a regular life in a couple of weeks ..

2 days later…Yet again she amazes me and she coping so well after her surgery. If given the chance she would be out in the paddock running. She has some fluid build up below the incision but no infection so doing compresses to reduce the swelling. She’s eating well and lots of tail wagging like she hasn’t gone through a major surgery!

NB In my 15 years in galgo and podenco rescue I have come across a lot of tripods and they are amazing, having 3 legs doesn’t affect their life very much atall! On my very first rescue trip into Spain in 2007 we brought out Caramelo with 3 legs.