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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hello everyone and thank you so much for this forum.
I'm Jo & my "currently foster, but most likely never leaving me" tripaw is a 5mo rescue named Mikey. He was treated horribly, taken away from owner and after some time at the vet's, his left back leg had to be removed.
That's where we (hubs & I) came in. Mikey has been with us almost 6 weeks. It's amazing how much he's changed and improved! When he first came, we had to carry him up & down the two wide porch steps so he could water the grass. 😉 Now he runs like a deer. Literally. The leaping is quite beautiful, actually. He's got to slow down & work harder to walk for me, so I can keep up with him.
He wrestles & shakes his stuffed toys, showing them who's boss! First it was only on his back, but now he does it on all fours, not even falling if he's on carpet.
Well, I could ramble on awhile, but I might use more than my share of room. lol.
Thank you again. I look forward to learning from all of you!
sincerly,
Mikey's Momma
Mikey, 2/14/16, came to us as a foster the end of June, 2wks after rear left amp. Now, at 6mo, he's doing awesome! Perfect, except for wanting to play with 9yo kitty Pumpkin, who isn't interested. At all.
Love to all! Jo, Mikey and, reluctantly, Pumpkin.
Hello, Mikey's Momma, and welcome!
How wonderful for Mikey that you and your husband came into his life and he has the chance to blossom and move past such a rough start! I hope you will share pictures and video (there are threads in the Technical section of the forum to show you how)!
I look forward to more about Mikey and his life with you!
Lisa, Minneapolis
On October 27, 2016, nearly 6 months after amputation, and 18 months since his cancer likely started, we lost Pofi to a recurrence of Soft Tissue Sarcoma in his spine quite suddenly. His canine sister also succumbed to cancer on March 1, 2019 - we lavished her with our love in the interim, but life was never quite the same without her only real canine friend. Cliff kitty had to leave us, too, suddenly, in August 2019. Lucia kitty grieved all these losses, but helped us welcome two new Lurchers into our home and our lives, Shae and Barley.
Welcome. And thanks for sharing! Can't wait to see some pics and videos...be sure to work in some core conditioning exercises, balance work, and stretching with all that explosive activity to help prevent long-tern issues. Bookmark Jerry's Required Reading List for lots of helpful links, or download the Tripawds e-books for fast answers.
Tripawds Founders Jim and Rene
tripawds.com | tripawds.org | bemoredog.net | triday.pet
Online
I just loved failed fosters!!
Mikey clearly hit the puppy lottery when he picked you!
I can already tell he's going to be an excellent Goodwill Ambassador for Tripawds! It sounds like his bubbly personality will reach out and touch the hearts of everyone he meets!
Can't wait to see pics!
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!
Wow! Thank you all so much!
Lots (and lots and lots) to read, but I look forward to figuring out the format more here and showing off my sweet little fuzz-butt. 😊❤️
Love you all!
Mikey, 2/14/16, came to us as a foster the end of June, 2wks after rear left amp. Now, at 6mo, he's doing awesome! Perfect, except for wanting to play with 9yo kitty Pumpkin, who isn't interested. At all.
Love to all! Jo, Mikey and, reluctantly, Pumpkin.
Start here for plenty of help navigating the many resources this community has to offer!
Tripawds Founders Jim and Rene
tripawds.com | tripawds.org | bemoredog.net | triday.pet
Hi, welcome, and congratulations on your failure!
Mikey had a rough start but I bet he has scored a wonderful forever home now.
I've had two rear leg tripawds, Maggie lost her left rear leg to cancer and lived almost 4 years. My current tripawd, Elly, lost her right rear leg after being hit by a car at 7 months old. I adopted Elly when she was about 10 months old, she is now 19 months old.
Elly is pretty small at 16 lbs, a pug mix. When she first came home she was fully recovered but not very strong so I used a stroller until she was strong enough and had enough endurance. I also spend time every day on her core strength through balance work, food puzzles and obedience training. Those things also help to challenge her mind and burn off some of that puppy energy.
I have also taken her to four classes: basic obedience, two times to strength, balance and body awareness, and a canine confidence class. Elly is skittish and very wary... not sure how much of it is from the car accident, the multiple homes at a young age, lack of socialization or maybe it's just her personality.
I haven't been able to spend much time here lately and I haven't kept her blog very current, but Elly's Blog has some pictures of her playing with some of her toys and the Strength Balance and Body Awareness classes.
Looking forward to following Mikey's new adventures with you!
Karen and the Spirit Pug Girls
Tri-pug Maggie survived a 4.5 year mast cell cancer battle only to be lost to oral melanoma.
1999 to 2010
Karen-
thank you so much! I keep laughing at my "failure"! 😊
Thank you for your info on younger tripawd! We are in the middle of fields on SW OK. Town of maybe 800 if we push it & more than a half hour to the nearest Walmart. Bad when you can tell someone how far into the country you are by how close a Walmart is. 😜
Anyway, classes are pretty much out the door, but I'd love to learn more about balance & stretching. Do I need special equipment? I'm still working through info on the forum, so forgive me if I'm asking the same questions every newbie asks.
Thanks again!
Jo & Mikey
Mikey, 2/14/16, came to us as a foster the end of June, 2wks after rear left amp. Now, at 6mo, he's doing awesome! Perfect, except for wanting to play with 9yo kitty Pumpkin, who isn't interested. At all.
Love to all! Jo, Mikey and, reluctantly, Pumpkin.
Don't worry about asking questions! There is so much info on this site it is hard to take it all in at first.
Check out the Gear Blog for ideas on fitness gear. You can order some of it but you can also make some stuff at home. I did agility for fun with quad-pug Obie to build his confidence and we built a mini-course at home out of mostly PVC pipe! I use stools of different sizes and sometimes firm pillows for balance training.
Here is a great blog post on exercises for recovering tripawds. There is even a picture of quad pug Obie playing twister! I usually feed Elly one meal a day in this mushroom shaped toy. You can see more of the toys I use in Elly's blog.
Two great core strength exercises are 'sit pretty' and 'roll over'. Be careful with sit pretty- does Mikey have any of his femur left? Elly's entire femur is gone so she does not have a very stable base for sit pretty. She balances on my hand to do it, but I always make sure her remaining back leg is in a good position first.
I've also use things we find on our walks to challenge her. Tree roots are like calivetti poles, deep grass is like walking in sand, slight inclines make her work a little harder.
Here is a short video on 'sit pretty', 'roll over' and the last one 'paws up':
Good luck!
Karen
Tri-pug Maggie survived a 4.5 year mast cell cancer battle only to be lost to oral melanoma.
1999 to 2010
Oh Elly!! You are such a smile maker 🙂 And a very smart girl too! Your mom is doing a. EXCELLENT job of teaching you "trick" that keep you fit and strong!
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!
Karen-
What a smart baby you have! Mikey does have some femur left. He's recently started coming to me for a scratch when he tried to do it himself with what's left. And he's started sitting at times, just leaned against something. I'd love to teach him and will be checking out all the videos! And we've been finding different obstacle objects when we walk. Most recently a huge pile of dirt. And what little male of any species could resist? 😊 He did awesome, too!
My oldest daughter has a bobble toy that she feeds her lab from. I've been looking at different things to harness some energy. I worry about him over-doing. I've got CRPS in both arms, so I know the perils of doing more than you should have! LOL! (Which is also why I might not be on here as much as I'd like)
His whole personality has changed from when he first came. Not just physical improvements. In some ways that's the less obvious change. Now instead of sleeping in corners, behind things, he sleeps next to wherever I am. Of course, he had his "den" (crate) for when he wants it & at night, which is the only time the door closes. Sweet little fuzzbutt. ❤️
Much love,
Jo & Mikey
Mikey, 2/14/16, came to us as a foster the end of June, 2wks after rear left amp. Now, at 6mo, he's doing awesome! Perfect, except for wanting to play with 9yo kitty Pumpkin, who isn't interested. At all.
Love to all! Jo, Mikey and, reluctantly, Pumpkin.
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