Caring for a Three Legged Dog or Cat

Thanks Karen, yes I do feel a bit better now that the decision is made. Thanks for the good suggestions, I did start a bit of a list of the pros and cons in my head so will write it all down!

I'll keep my mind open on the drugs, the vet I'm dealing with seems very good and said they'll keep Badger for two or three days depending on how he is going. They have constant nursing staff there so will observe him and with some luck maybe his meds will be sorted out by the time he comes home. From your experience is most of the meds tweaking in the first couple of days?

Yes he's already on meloxicam and gabapentin and I saw the latter is recommended on this site before surgery to reduce the odds of getting nerve pain. He's doing well on both, the meloxicam was fine for quite a while until he started getting restless at night as the leg pain got worse. He's only been on the gabapentin for about 3 days but seems fine on it, sparky during the day and now settles quickly at night for a good night's sleep. By putting him on that it seems the vet might have been prepping him for surgery just in case. It was helpful to see recommendations here on wheening him off it when it's time not just stopping it, I will talk to the vet about that.

The spinning you mentioned for Maggie is interesting, Badger does that too in addition to always sneezing just before he poops! It's weird but very handy to get an audible warning from him so I don't miss a poo collection. Will be interesting to see how he copes at first during the twirl. This afternoon he peed lifting his bad leg much more so no doubt he'll get there.

Update on Badger: he went in for surgery yesterday. It went well, and he went straight onto some strong pain relief by infusion (drip) as well as having a local at the site of surgery. He has a urine catheter in at the moment so he doesn't have to get up to pee, and he's on a heated bed (it's winter here). So he is comfortable, and I drank red wine last night so I was comfortable too 🙂

They are keeping him in at least until tomorrow which is standard for this vet hospital apparently, later today they will attempt to wean him off the stronger drugs back to injectable pain relief and see how he goes. They seem to have a good focus on pain relief and at the moment he is drowsy and comfortable.

He got up OK and went for a walk outside, he had assistance with a sling but mostly because he is drowsy, they said he seemed to cope pretty well since he'd been on three legs for so long so are hoping that once he's on lighter pain relief he'll get around ok.

I really want to visit him but there's not much point when he is doped up I guess. Also he'll want to come home with me so it might be kinder to him if I don't visit.

They said he hasn't eaten much yet but it's less than 24 hours since surgery so is that pretty normal?

Thanks Karen!

Glad you feel the same, I'll refrain from visiting then as leaving again without him would stress him. No doubt he's got a few of the vet nurses under his paw by now and is being well looked after.

Thanks for the advice on food, I"ll get some of his favs ready for his return and it's good to know it's normal if he doesn't eat for a few days. Should be no problem with the meds hopefully, he loves his food and is a cheesaholic, and hiding them in mince works too or at least it did before his op.