Zeus, the largest dog in the world, had his front leg amputated
Zeus, the Great Dane who set the Guinness World Record for largest living male dog last year, had his front leg amputated on Friday to save his life, according to his owners.
The 3-foot-5-inch dog — who stands over 7 feet on his hind legs — is recovering from successful surgery to remove his entire front right leg due to cancer, said large dog mother Brittany Davis.
His leg weighed 11 pounds.
“The doctor said it couldn’t have gone better. He did so well!” she wrote on a GoFundMe page update. “He is awake from the anesthesia and a series of painkillers. He will be staying for the weekend but he is doing very well and everyone loves him already!
“After the operation, they put a T-shirt on the patients, but they didn’t have one big enough for Zeus. So his oncologist literally gave Zeus her shirt,” she added.
Davis said the 3-year-old gentle giant had bone cancer in his leg and was dealing with pain. He was given three months to live if his leg was not amputated, she said.
“It was very disturbing, very overwhelming,” said Davis, of Bedford, Texas. said WFAA. “I was a mess.”
Davis received Zeus, whom she calls her “dog child,” as a gift and he quickly ballooned into his massive body.
He was awarded as “top dog”. by Guinness World Records in 2022 after Davis contacted the company.
“When he actually won, it was pretty shocking,” Davis told the outlet. “He’s part of our family.”
Zeus eats a whopping 12 cups of dog food every day and the occasional fried egg. His favorite snack is ice cubes – and it’s big enough that he demands to drink only water from the kitchen sink.
Without his front leg, he might miss out on some of his favorite activities — like roaming the neighborhood and visiting the farmers market, where he is a local celebrity — but he will be surrounded by his loving family and three other dog siblings.
Davis has started a fundraising campaign to cover Zeus’ veterinary costs and keep him alive as long as possible.
By a strange coincidence, the former largest male dog of all time was also a Great Dane named Zeus from Michigan. According to Guinness World Records, Zeus died in 2014 at the age of five.
