Caring for a Three Legged Dog or Cat
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Being outside, even when the weather is vile, is really important to tripawds. I used to shovel a patch of grass for Otis, although he did pretty well in the snow. Glad to hear she is doing so well. Hopefully spring will come soon!
Otis - 106 pound lab/Dane mix, lost his right front leg to osteosarcoma on Febuary 9, 2016. Four rounds of carboplatin completed in April, 2016. Lung mets August 25, 2016. Said goodbye too soon on September 4, 2016. Lost his adopted sister, Tess, suddenly on October 9, 2016. likely due to hemangiosarcoma.
Wherever they are, they are together.
Darla you are just as pretty as your name! So glad you got some outside time in spite of this winter/spring concoction that Mother Nature has been throwing on us lately. A change of scenery is good for everyone 😀 I definitely think feeding your girl twice a day is smart so she's not taking medicine on an empty stomach. You're such a good dog "dad" Kent not to mention a good son taking care of your Mom too as you do. Give yourself a huge pat on the back!
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DARLA!! YOU ARE A BEAUTIFUL GIRL!! And yes, your lovely name is perfect for your lovely self!!
So glad she is doing well. 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 And it gets better and better!! 🙂
Give Darla...and your Mom....a big hug or us!!
HUGS!!
Sally and Alumni Happy Hannah and Merry Myrtle and Frankie too!
Happy Hannah had a glorious additional bonus time of over one yr & two months after amp for osteo! She made me laugh everyday! Joined April's Angels after send off meal of steak, ice cream, M&Ms & deer poop!
Darla and I went in to get her stitches out yesterday, the good doctor wanted to see another week. It looked like a small section hadn't healed up enough, so he thought better safe than sorry. I agree with that logic, but it was a bit worrisome that it's taking longer than expected. I realize that these are stitches, not staples, so that would have some effect here.
There was also some bumpy parts where the incision was, parts of it aren't healing completely smooth. Doc was indifferent with that, also had me restart some meds, to keep infection at bay.
Feeding twice a day is agreeing with her, and adding some frozen beans to her diet is just one more treat. She absolutely adores beans, she is my shadow during picking season, which is about 2 months long during the gardening season. So less food and some beans should help keep her weight in check. And my freezer is packed with them, so it's an economical solution. I'll just plant a few more seeds this year. 
Every day truly is a new one, she has a different attitude. She is still having more good days than bad ones. As was commented in this thread, getting these dogs outside, is healthy for them. Especially when they enjoy outside so much, like Darla does. In the summer, we come inside to eat, take our naps, then right back outside, so the sooner I can get close to that schedule the better. Today is warm (50's), but gale winds, 45MPH+, so going potty, is going to be a balancing challenge. LOL
Does anyone have an idea to lesson the itching sensations that's she's undoubtedly having? And how long before they typically go back back in for some sort of cancer scan? Is it lungs or chest xray, what comes next for her? I forgot to ask the Doc.
Darla aounds like an excellent gardener's assistant for you!!
MURPHY, one of our tripawd heroes we all adored, was also a Master Gardener who picked green beans off the vines with focus and accuracy! Hope Kathi sees this and posts some videos of him doing this. And we would love to see videomof Darla picking her beans foo!!
Yeah, sometimes stitches have to stay in a bit longer. It sounds like the lumpy parts may just be some excess scsr tissue settling down, maybe?? If I recall, that was the case with Happy Hannah and it smoothed out later.
Not sure of the exact words to tell you to use so you can search for itching Solutions here, but I know that's been brought up a lot. Others will chime in who had that issue until you what works for them.
As far as how often and when to do xrays, it cetera that really is a personal choice. Sun do xrays on a barely consistent basis, maybe every 3 months or so, and some do not. My happy hannah 4 ounce of carpal platinum and added xrays for her once during all those treatments. After that I didn't do any more and she was fine with that! It also depends on to what extent you want to pursue treatment. So if you want to check frequently for the possibility of mets, etc because you know that you will pursue additional treatment if they pop up, then you would want to do x rays as often as your vet suggest. Additionally, is there ever becomes a time where your dog is showing some symptoms then you would want to do xrays because, if there are mets there are a lot of things that can still be done to keep the dogs comfortable with continued quality life
The most important thing you can do is be just like Darla! That means stay in the moment and make every moment count! And, it also means, take more pictures and share them with us!
Sooooo glad to hear how well she is doing...a d it's still early in recovery!! It gets better and better!!! 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂
Higs!
Sally and Alumni Happy Hannah and Merry Myrtle and Frankie too!
Happy Hannah had a glorious additional bonus time of over one yr & two months after amp for osteo! She made me laugh everyday! Joined April's Angels after send off meal of steak, ice cream, M&Ms & deer poop!
What a difference a day or two can make with the recovery of our beloved Tripawds! Maybe she picked up on my not so cheery disposition, or she was just not having a great day, but most of Tuesday, and the start of Wednesday, I was second guessing my decision for the Amp. She was just lifeless and moping around, content on just a laying on her (new) bed. She didn't want to spend anytime outside with me, lobbied to return inside quickly after going out. And was happy with just watching from 'bleachers', instead of being on the court, in the game. I thought pain levels, so I gave her an extra pain med, no change.
Wednesday started out the same, just lethargic and blaw. Unfortunately, I had to do things, so she had to go with, I didn't want to leave her unattended, with stiches still in place. So off we went, to one place, then another, then another, then a few more. About half of them, she was able to get (be helped) out and sniff around, and after the 2nd exploration, she was a different dog. And the rest of the day, she was getting around with a little extra giddy up, in her hop.
Yesterday, was another good day, spent a few hours outside plotting and planning (prematurely) some spring activities. She even talked me into throwing a ball for her to retrieve, that wasn't her finest hour, fell down 3 times chasing it. But kept getting back up, uneffected by her stumbles. I managed to refrain from laughter and praised her like she just made her 1st couple steps as a tripawd. Note to self, however, chasing and retrieving toys, will have to wait a few more weeks.
Hopefully, stitches come put tomorrow. And unfortunately, 6 more inches of snow. This girl just can't catch a break, however, snow is still better than ice, so we'll have to accept it. No other option in this state.
Yep, we call the recovery period a roller coaster ride, full of ups and downs. Eventually all the ups takeover!! 🙂
You are spot on. Dogs DO pick up on kjr energy and seem especially tuned in during recovery. Even though we try to hide it, we ARE stressed and concerned! We want our dogs and cats ro be back to " ormal" ASAP! We want validation that we did, indeed, make the "right" decision!
And giving the dogs a "change of scenery", or access to other human friends helps stimulate them and helps them break through the dreary fog of recovery.
So good glad to hear Darla is feeling "giddy" now! 🙂 🙂 Many say their dogs seem to get a lot of their sparkle back once the stitches are removed. In Happy Hannah's case it too me three weeks before I coukd FINALLY say I did this FOR her and not TO her! 🙂
A d you are "spot on " again about limiting the ball tossing for a bit longer. The fast running and abrupt stopping pit too much of a strain on their joints this early on. Some Vets say it takes about one month for dogs to adjust to all the mobility issues involved when learning how to walk on three legs.
Yeah, snow is better than ice. It's just a shame we have to have it in March! Virginia may get a bit of it on Tuesday, but sounds like New York and the Northeast may really get hit!! Ugh!! STAY SAFE!!
Thanks for updating us on Darla! And you know what would make the update even better? PICTURES!! 🙂
Hugs!
Sally and Alumni Happy Hannah and Merry Myrtle and Frankie too!
Happy Hannah had a glorious additional bonus time of over one yr & two months after amp for osteo! She made me laugh everyday! Joined April's Angels after send off meal of steak, ice cream, M&Ms & deer poop!
PS....I just read my previous post before this one. I periodically try to use the GOOGLE VOICE thing because my typos are so bad. Clearly, as I re-read it, the goodle voice I tried using in athe couple of paragraphs is even worse than my typing. I won't even begin to try and go back and correct!!! Insert embarrassed icon emoton here 🙂 🙂 🙂
Happy Hannah had a glorious additional bonus time of over one yr & two months after amp for osteo! She made me laugh everyday! Joined April's Angels after send off meal of steak, ice cream, M&Ms & deer poop!
Yay for Darla being spunkier these last couple of days, that's terrific! 
There's definitely better days ahead and her sparkle is coming back, but as Sally mentioned, I'd like to reiterate the importance of waiting on the ball throwing and any kind of real physical activity that she's used to, at least for a few more weeks. I know it's really hard to see our dogs being so mellow, but keeping her calm and relaxing is so important to an injury-free recovery. We see many dogs here who suffer from painful muscle pulls when they did too much, too soon. Every small spill or tumble adds up. Our Tripawds Gear blog
and e-book, Loving Life On Three Legs
, has lots of tips for a safe recovery so do check it out OK?
To answer your question about x-ray re-checks...for osteosarcoma it's about every 2-3 months during the first year. Double check with your vet during that visit tomorrow, and let us know how it goes OK?
Tripawds Founders Jim and Rene
tripawds.com | tripawds.org | bemoredog.net | triday.pet
Great news that she is perking up. You might see even more spirit returning once those staples/stitches are out. For many dogs, that is a big milestone!
Otis - 106 pound lab/Dane mix, lost his right front leg to osteosarcoma on Febuary 9, 2016. Four rounds of carboplatin completed in April, 2016. Lung mets August 25, 2016. Said goodbye too soon on September 4, 2016. Lost his adopted sister, Tess, suddenly on October 9, 2016. likely due to hemangiosarcoma.
Wherever they are, they are together.
Yay Darla! Staples out is a biggie. So glad to hear she's doing better and better. As others have said be careful with the exercise so soon. Even after Max was all healed up we never went back to ball chasing like before. Too much wear and tear on joints and muscles. We focused more on the core building exercises to keep him strong. I did a search here on the site for core building exercises and found tons that could help him. I hear you with the snow! Maybe it'll be the last one? We got away with just a dusting this time. Yay! It'll soon melt and hopefully soon Lady Darla can be back to bare ground. 😀
Awwwwww! More more!
Tripawds Founders Jim and Rene
tripawds.com | tripawds.org | bemoredog.net | triday.pet
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