Hi all, I'm new here, actually just found this site a few weeks ago when my 8 yr old Pomeranian Sisco was diagnosed with soft tissue sarcoma in his rear left leg. His leg was amputated two weeks ago (staples came out today) and he's already back and full of life. It was a difficult decision to tell the doc to go ahead and amputate, but one we had to make quickly. I quickly went online and read everything I could about helping an amputee adjust. Turns out, he didn't need a whole lot of adjustment. He pretty much accepted it immediately and hasn't looked back! Of course we had the expected challenges post-op, but my family has really been supportive and everyone pitched in to help him in the healing process. Even our other dogs took turns sitting with him – it seemed to help with morale.

However, I knew he would have some period of adjustment challenges with mobility because our house is full of laminate flooring. He does great outside, but has had some trouble inside with stability. We put some rugs down, but with allergies (the reason we have laminate in the first place) – there had to be some compromises made as to how much we could do.

What sort of worked: I purchased paw wax (Pad Guard by Nutri Vet) from Petsmart but it had limited success. Perhaps other brands would work better – I haven't had a chance to try any others yet.

What has worked better: I also found this great site that sells non-slip dog shoes. They're custom made in many colors, have a rubber sole, and there's an "indoor" version and an "outdoor" (waterproof) version. Sisco's came in today and immediately he was up and walking around with new traction. I just had to share this with you all because I'm sure there are other people out there dealing with the same thing. I only put one on his remaining back leg because 1) he has decent traction with the front feet and 2) I knew there was less chance of him fighting the shoe if it was only on the single foot.  The woman who makes them allowed me to order a set with two of each kind so I have spares since they're only for one foot.

(I'm not affiliated with this site in any way – I just am so excited about the shoe working that I had to share!)

http://www.comf…..boots.com/

Thanks to the maintainers of this great community – the information here has been invaluable for us!