Buddy's Road to Recovery

Hello all! I am new to this group and greatly in need of your advice. Four days ago, my 2.5 year old Eskipoo (poodle mix) named Buddy had his front left leg amputated. The circumstances surrounding the amputation baffle me. Perhaps your advice and input can help me to gain clarity. The surrounding circumstances are as follows:

-Two years ago, Buddy was placed at an in-home LLC kennel for the weekend. His leg was broken, and the owners could not tell us how it happened. However, the kennel assumed all responsibility/liability and paid for the plating surgery to remedy the broken leg.
-After two years, the leg rejected the plate due to infection. (Not due to activity of the dog.) Plate had to be surgically removed. The leg was then splinted for ten days until surgeon removed the splint.
-Within two days of removing the splint, the dog rebroke the leg. (He jumped from a short distance and landed funny.) The surgeon warned us this was a possibility due to leg’s weakness from screw holes the (missing) plate created. However, there was no other option but to remove the plate.
-Leg was in cast/splint for six weeks. Further infection ensued and broken leg did not heal. (Ends of bone rounded. Non-union.) We were told further surgery/replating did not guarantee a positive outcome. Highly likely that further breakage/infection would occur in the future.
-This gave us no other option but to have the leg amputated. Cost to us was almost three times greater than kennel’s initial surgery; pet insurance will not cover due to the preexisting condition the kennel created.

Questions for you:

1) What would you have done in this situation?

2) Would you pursue legal action against the kennel responsible for the initial break?

3) How should Buddy be acting four days after surgery? He seems highly depressed and in a lot of pain. He is eating well but not drinking. Therefore, he does not have urine output. I am extremely worried about him.

4) How can I improve his quality of life as an amputee going forward?

5) Any other questions, thoughts or advice pertaining to this horrible situation?

I feel like the life has been taken from my Buddy and me. Words cannot express how angry and how sad that I truly am. All of this over a silly broken leg! Any and all input is greatly appreciated. Thank you!

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