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Caring for a Three Legged Dog or Cat

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How Do Canine Siblings React to New Tripawds?
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On The Road


Member Since:
24 September 2009
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24 September 2010 - 12:31 pm
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If you're part of a multi-dog pack and considering amputation for your Tripawd, you're probably wondering how your other dog will react when the Tripawd patient returns home to recuperate.

Will your quadruped take advantage of your Tripawd? Is there a chance that your three legger can get injured?

Rest easy. Not once have we heard of a Tripawd being injured by a four legged sibling, at least on purpose. Not to say that it can't happen, but usually the quadruped in the family senses that his Tripawd packmate needs extra loving care and some space. They usually react as Cooper did when Guinness came home, as shown in this video:

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The biggest risk for most new Tripawds when they come home is getting too tired from rough play with their pack mates.

Do your best to keep your patient in a separate area where he can see what's going on but feel safe enough to rest.

Here's what 35 month bone cancer survivor Dog Darcy Deerhound's rest area looked like. Darcy's mum, Bev, says:

"We sectioned off an area of the living room for Darcy so that everyone could see her and she could see everyone, but nobody could irritate her or accidetally step on her in those early days after surgery. . .

Nobody ever tried to 'break in' to Darcys bed space but they could lay beside it if they wanted to."

When Nova came home from surgery, her sibling Emmy reacted with care. Nova's mom Sue says:

"What was really amazing is that Emmy (the 4-legged one) almost instantly knew something was wrong with Nova (Tripawd), and "knew" that she should be treated with care. For the first week or so she just was a little stand-offish, and they did not snuggle up as usual. She could tell Nova wasn't feeling herself, and gave her space.

Now they are back to snuggling, but Emmy is cutting Nova a lot of slack in many ways. She lets her eat first and is patient with her when she plays with her toys, even if she just stole a toy or bone! And she no longer roughhouses with her."

Be sure to carefully observe your other dogs for signs of feeling left out. You may be so focused on the patient that you forget to notice that they aren't getting enough time with you. They may not want to eat or revert to bad puppy behavior.

If this happens, be sure to carve out extra time with your other canine kids. Even just 15 minutes of ball playing or walks with you alone can alleviate any feelings of being left out.

If you have a multi-dog household, how did your other pups react when your new Tripawd came home?

Share your experiences here or in the Discussion Forum topic to help put nervous new Tripawds pawrent's fears at ease.

Image Enlarger

Nobody ever tried to 'break in' to Darcys bed space but they could lay beside it if they wanted to.

Tripawds Founders Jim and Rene
tripawds.com | tripawds.org | bemoredog.net | triday.pet

Member Since:
30 July 2010
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24 September 2010 - 7:37 pm
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Well a few days after Chloe recovered (not so doped up), she and her sister Rocket had a get together in the back yard.  They tried to play together, but Chloe's butt kept falling to the ground (rear amp).  I was very worried about Chloe injuring her back leg, so unfortunately I had to separate them the majority of the 2 weeks.  After the first week, I gradually let them have more supervised interactions.  Going on short walks together they were fine.

Our cat on the other hand was much more wary and avoided Chloe since he could tell she was stressed being confined in the living room with me all day.  He did take advantage of the situation and sleep on her arranged bed when we went for a potty break.  Chloe just whined like she didn't know how to get him to move his butt off.

These were just my experiences, but really it depends on the personalities of your animals regarding what you do or don't do.

-Chloe's mom

Chloe became a rear amp tripawd on 7-29-10. Another tumor was removed on front leg 2-20-14. Found 3rd tumor on neck 2-2015, but she's still kicking cancer's butt at age 14. Chloe's blog

Orange County, CA
Member Since:
2 January 2010
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25 September 2010 - 9:47 am
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     I agree that personality plays a huge part in this.  When Max came home from the hospital, his best friend Linda was waiting for him.  She's a very mellow dog, and Max was definitely the alpha in their relationship.  She gave his amputated area a long sniff, then gave the rest of him a good once-over as well.  This is normal, considering that your dog is going to come back with all the uncertain smells of a hospital on him.  Since most dogs end up in the vet's office or hospital sooner or later, most will recognize those smells.  That can be a little off-putting to the dog who stayed home, especially if they don't have the fondest memories of their own experiences at those places (and the average dog won't, since nothing fun ever happens at the vet).  So allow for a little adjustment period.

       As for aggression, I suppose it's possible, but I've never heard of it.  If the dogs got along before the amputation, that's not going to change afterward.  The main danger is accidental injuries.   The dog(s) who stayed behind don't know or understand what happened, so they'll try to wrestle and play with the new tripawd like they always did.  And since the new tripawd also doesn't really understand that they're missing a leg, more likely than not they'll try to play too.  That's going to lead to impacts and jolts to a sensitive area, and a lot of pain when that happens.  So for their own good, keep them from playing too hard for the first few weeks.  The sooner the wound heals, the sooner your buddies can go back to business as usual.

Las Vegas, Nevada
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14 August 2009
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25 September 2010 - 10:13 am
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We were very fortunate to have 'very concerned' sibling dogs, too.   Not that Comet went thru an amputation but with her knee surgeries she was 2-legged for a coupled of months.  I never let her spend a night in the hospital so we all got to endure the baby crying all night and Rugby was so concerned.  

He was such a protector of her.  In normal circumstances when people came over he would even distract strangers from talking to her since that upset her.

I'm finding Rocket is very protective also.  When Comet's sore on her paw flares up, he tries to make it better by licking it for her.

[Image Can Not Be Found]

Her Retired AvatarComet - 1999 to 2011

She departed us unexpectedly  January 23, 2011 at the age of 12 1/2.

She was born with a deformed front leg and a tripawd all of her life.

Greater Western Washington area
Member Since:
25 August 2010
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25 September 2010 - 12:43 pm
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Well for Sammy and his crew it is complicated.  He has always wanted to be alpha, but our bigger stronger mastiff Titan took over the roll once our rottie matriarch passed on. 

So Sammy has tested and tested Titan before the whole cancer thing ever happened. They have had a couple of fights in thier life, once requiring stitches on both sides.  Since the operation I had a scary situation once, when Sammy was in pain and Titan ran over to him.  Not sure why he was so erect, hair up, tail in the dominant stance.  Sammy was in so much pain I had to get between them to make sure Titan didn't do anything inappropriate.  Someone later suggested that perhaps Titan was coming to Sammy's defense. 

My husband reads Titan better than I and has told me not to let them be alone in the yard.  Titan is feeling aggressive out there.  Titan used to not let me in the yard, until my husband put a stop to that one, so I guess it is possible he is throwing off vibes again for Sammy.  I don't sense it, but I won't take any chances.

Titan weighs about 185 lbs, Sammy weighs in at 99 lbs.  My Sheppard girl is not an issue, she gets along with everyone.

My philosophy is there is no alpha but my husband and I, and I practice that with our dogs.  I own everything, and am sharing it with them when I feel like it.  I believe the dogs still have developed their own hierarchy but it is subtle.  They do try and behave around me, because I will tell Dad!

Elizabeth and Sammy

Diagnosed with osteosarcoma in the right front leg 8/23/10,

leg fractured 8/27/10,

leg amputated 8/30/10

http://sammyand.....pawds.com/

 

I couldn't begin to say how special Sammy is to us.  Living and laughing with and loving this wonderful boy is priceless.

Missouri

Member Since:
21 November 2010
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4 December 2010 - 6:59 pm
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My tripawd, Jake, came home today. He has been at the vets for 2 weeks so our other dog, Lady, hasn't seen him for a while. We thought that Lady would be super excited when Jake came home today because when we would go visit him at the vets and come home smelling like him with his hair all over us she would get so excited smelling our clothes. However, that was not at all how it went.

When we got him out and she saw him it was almost like she didn't know who he was. Her hair puffed up like she felt threatened and she was growling. I was very worried about this. But he's been home for about 10 hours and they are doing better. She is trying to play with him and I'm so scared to let them rough house because he has just come home and his stitches were just taken out today. But they seem to be doing really well now and you can tell he knows he shouldn't really play with her just yet!

*~Lindsay & Tripawd Jake~*

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Member Since:
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4 December 2010 - 7:50 pm
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lmstephens said:

My tripawd, Jake, came home today.

Thanks for joining, we look forward to hearing more about Jake. Please consider starting a new topic (or blog) to share his story.

You may want to keep your pups separated or closely supervised untile they've had some time together. We very rarely hear about issues with "siblings" but as pack animals, dogs can become aggressive against those deemed weak or sick. Once Lady realizes jake is not bay any means weak, they should do fine.

Tripawds Founders Jim and Rene
tripawds.com | tripawds.org | bemoredog.net | triday.pet

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