Caring for a Three Legged Dog or Cat
Tripawds is your home to learn how to care for a three legged dog or cat, with answers about dog leg amputation, and cat amputation recovery from many years of member experiences.
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And to be honest the cost of fixing the leg was the final nail in that choice. Now I have to make another choice. When?
She is fine the leg is not slowing her down at all right now. She still has 95 percent use of it. Only sometimes well she favor it.
So for the sake of less wear and tear on the good leg do I wait till the bad leg is worse? Or do I do the surgery now while she is 13 months old? How much difference well it make if I wait for the bad leg to get much worse? Keeping in mind this is a front leg that needs to be removed.
Thank you for any thoughts on this. Going to talk to the vet again soon.
I faced a similar set of circumstances as you. My dog, Jack, broke bones in her elbow joint at 3 months old while we were living somewhere veterinary care was not available. It healed and she used it again, putting some weight on it while walking and using it for balance. Her elbow joint was deformed after the surgery, but my vet and I thought the benefits of having the leg outweighed the pain she experienced occasionally when it stormed or when she tweaked it.
We decided to wait to do the amputation. Others can chime in, but we thought having a second front leg, even one that wasn’t fully functional, would help keep the other joints healthy longer.
My decision was made about 2.5 years after the injury. Over the course of a few months, her arthritis worsened and she started having pain more often. Walking became difficult and it was clear that she’d be better off without the leg. I always worried I wouldn’t know when it was time, but it was an easy decision when her condition got worse.
I am glad I waited to do the amputation. She had no trouble adjusting and I do think she benefited from having a fourth leg to carry some of her weight for those years. If you decide to wait, it would be a good idea to learn to read pain signals well – that way you can evaluate her condition as time goes on.
We've had quite a few members in our community who have gone through this, here are some to start:
Is a 12 week old Maremma puppy a suitable candidate for a rear leg amputation?
Need advice for our St Bernard puppy
Tripawds Founders Jim and Rene
tripawds.com | tripawds.org | bemoredog.net | triday.pet
Also wanted to add, she's really not all that young, our Wyatt was 8 months old when he lost his.
The issue with waiting longer is that as that bad leg gets worse, her body will compensate more and cause her greater pain as she tried to learn how to get around with it. And by the time dog's show any kind of pain, the pain is really bad, so you're dealing with more issues there. It's like walking with a limp because you have back pain and the pain just keeps getting worse and worse while your limp gets more pronounced.
On the other hand, have you talked to a surgeon about the possibility of her being a candidate for a prosthetic limb? Here are posts about prothetics for Tripawds:
Tripawds Founders Jim and Rene
tripawds.com | tripawds.org | bemoredog.net | triday.pet
Talked to the vet again. She would like to wait till the bones stop growing, if possible a year. Gave me some pain meds to have on hand and we well keep an eye on until then. But yes if we need to can do it sooner I well do that.
So what do I need to do to get her ready training wise. What skills would come in handy... I would like to get her use to sweaters. Going to crochet her one this week. She has thin Chihuahua hair so needs these anyways. But what else should I teach her? Any suggestions would be helpful.
Thank you for the links. I had already found all those and read them. Been doing a lot of reading about this.
I totally thought of you right now when I read this post from a new member:
http://opaldog......urgery-day
As for getting her ready . . . our e-book Loving Life On Three Legs is filled with tons of tips like:
- Making sure she stays slimmer than you think she needs to be. Extra weight is so detrimental to a Tripawd.
- Building up core muscles through fun activities and balance games as show in our various featured blogs.
- Finding new mental stimulation games to keep her mind busy, which is more beneficial than exhausting her body.
- Preparing your home with carpet runners. If you have a high-clearance vehicle, practicing guiding her in and out of it without jumping, even training to use a ramp now would be helpful if you want to carry one (otherwise we think the Webmaster is the ideal hoisting tool for big vehicles).
This is just a start. It's good to prepare so you're on the right track.
Tripawds Founders Jim and Rene
tripawds.com | tripawds.org | bemoredog.net | triday.pet
Hi Zivajoy, I'm the pet parent to Opal, the post that Jerry said made him think of you. I read your posts and my heart breaks for you because my husband and I were in the exact same position. We found out last year that our 1 year old boxer had a knee deformity. I still am not 100% sure what exactly was going on. There were structural problems with her knee joint along with structural damage with the tibia and fibula as well. We sought a second opinion from the Iowa State Vet college who were also a bit stumped no how to fix they leg and everyone right away started talking amputation.
We put off the surgery for a year and focused on pain management . Our dog, like yours, was still very functional on her bad leg and others who weren't living with her couldn't understand why we would even think about amputation. I have mixed feelings about waiting to do the surgery. The vet wasn't pushy, but they were firm that this wouldn't fix itself and that she was in pain. And I lived in constant worry for a year waiting for something bad to happen.
I wish I had advice for you about when to do the surgery and any prep you can do. Ultimately I think your fur-baby will let you know when it's time. It took us waiting a year and watching her have more bad days than good. What medicine did they put your pup on? Ours was on metacam.
I wish you the best of luck and if I can be of any help please let me know.
Opaldog you ROCK!!! Thank you for taking time to come here, it means soooo much and your insight is invaluable. {{{{hugs}}}}
Tripawds Founders Jim and Rene
tripawds.com | tripawds.org | bemoredog.net | triday.pet
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