Caring for a Three Legged Dog or Cat

Hello everyone, thanks for all the replies. B has been doing great. She had her staples removed 2 days ago and her incision has healed perfectly. I think the key(s) to our success was the following:

1) Kept the cone of shame on her for 2 weeks. You have to make that sucker tight and you'll feel guilty leaving it on. I used gauze to tie it and as long as you can get one finger under it, it's good. I would take a baby wipe and clean her face everyday after she ate her wet food. She loved this and would purr very loudly. Takes some of your guilt away. I did have to move-up one size to a longer collar after a week because she could start reaching the incision to lick.

2) Kept her in a large kennel until staples were out - We actually used a tall open one that was for my Houdini maltipoo (Richell Convertible High Pet Playpen). I set it up as a rectangle and duct-taped a large cardboard box on top. I layered 2 yoga mats underneath the kennel so she would have something that was non-slip with a good grip. The made it easier to learn to walk on. I put a heating pad in there too with a pillowcase on top. She really liked to relax on that during recovery and eventually put a new fluffy bed in there she liked too. You can use whatever you have, even a small bathroom - just keep them resting during the recovery time.

3) Made a low profile littler box, cutting down the sides with an amazon box. I used this litter - (Purina Yesterday's News Unscented Cat Litter) It did keep her incision clean. I watched her closely, even setup a webcam, so I'd know when she'd poop (I could hear her start scratching around the litter box and run in there). With 3 legs now, she was unsteady pooping and I would throw a paper towel on the poop as soon as she started to move so she wouldn't get poop on the cone of shame or incision (from lack of balance). Be prepared for grossness because when she first started pooping she lost her balance several time and would smear poop around the kennel side near the litter box. I had a box of disposable gloves from CVS, Clorox wipes, and baby wipes nearby at all times.

4) Left hard food in the kennel but gave portion of soft food each day to make it easier to poop. I put her water bowl upside down and duct-taped her food bowl to the top so that her food bowl setup higher. I had to prop up it up higher due to the cone of shame . I zip-tied a small Glad water bowl to the kennel because she kept falling and knocking the water over.

5) Per doctor's instructions - Gave her Metacam via oral syringe for 5 days, 1 time a day in the morning, following surgery. She also took Gabapentin via oral syringe, every 8-10 hours following surgery until the staples were removed. She was still freaking out a lot, throwing her body around in frustration, after surgery. I would carefully pick her up, put her in a soft carrier where I could zip it around her body and her head could stick out with the cone still on. I would then shoot the medicine in the back of her tongue, this is the best way I found where she wouldn't spit any out. The Gabapentin helped a lot with freak outs. Also, the Gabapentin has to be refrigerated. I would make up the syringe about an hour before dose time and let it sit out to room temperature. She seemed to take it much better this way.

6) I took her out to hold her about 3 times a day. Now, we only adopted her about a month ago so we didn't have a  lot of bonding time before she broke her leg and had it amputated. I would hold her and she would just purr and fall asleep in my lap.

I'm not going to lie, this has been an exhausting past 2 weeks. But, I was damn-well determined that her incision would heal up well so she wouldn't have the trauma of another surgery. Since her staples came out a few days ago, she has been cleared by the vet to return to freedom. She's been re-acclimating well with her sister cat and walking just fine. A few times, she's gotten frustrated and flopped around a little, but I'm sure that will diminish over time as she adapts to life without her back leg. We did remove the cat climbing tower from the room for now so she won't get adventurous too quickly. 

Sorry for the information overload - just my tips for others that are going through this.

Cheers!