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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Hi all! Im new to tripawds and my fur baby girl is cricket. Shes a 9yr old sheppard mix. She developed a lump on her front leg the end last year and it gre fast! We had our regular vet remive it and she said it was a cancerous mass but she thought she got it all and if it came back to come back in to have it removed again. That was nov 2017. Now april 2018 it came back and 3 times bigger so we were sent to a surgeon. Wednesday her chest xrays came back clear and the mass was the only source of cancer. The best option was to amputate no chemo needed and this gave her the best chance of not having it come back.
She had her surgery yesterday and the vet called said all went well and we would mostlikly get her today or latest sunday.
Ive gone through tears for her but know this is her best option. Last night i felt so bad she wasnt home with us. I got a firm dig bed, new raised bowls, and tummy treats for her.
im thankful for finding this site and prowd to be a tripawd mama. My kids r excited to have a 3 legged dog (they are 5&3)
Welcome to the family Cricket! Your avatar picture is soooo cute!!!I'm already in love!
Now, recovery is no picnic for a couple of weeks. You're gonna do just fine though. It IS major surgery and sometimes it's tricky getting the pain managed.
Make sure you have non-slip scatter rugs, or cheap yoga mats, for traction if you have hardwood floors.
When you go pick up Cricket, don't even bother to look at the incision. Just look into her druggy eyes and tell her what a good girl she is and she's going home!! 🙂
Every recovery is differe t. Every dog is different. Some come home and pretty much just sleep. Some, kemy Happy Hannah, are restless and whiny and just can't sleepfor a couple of looooong nights. And a few, seem to act like not much has happened (relatively speaking).
Stay upbeat and confident AND stay connected! 🙂 We've seen a lot of recoveries and are here ro help in anyway we can.
Get some sleep! Cricket is seeing beautiful pink elephants and feeling no pain!
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!
Thank you! Yes vet just called said shes pretty stoned at the moment and they are letting the meds wear off a bit to see how she does and to call back this afternoon. He did say shes antsy (im sure!) but he wants to make sure she can stand “ok”before she comes home.
yes i have some interlocking mats ready 🙂 we have stained concrete floors wishing i had carpet now lol.
I plan on sleeping on the couch when shes home (its by her bed) just incase 🙂
My baby is home! Doing better than i thought! I feel bad when she stumbkes trying to keep her laying down at the moment in her area while the loopy meds r still in the system
i have 2 beds, one dog orthopedic firm bed and a baby crib matress (reccomended by a friend that had a tripawd) cricket prefers the floors like normal so how ever she likes it she gets it 🙂
glad to have my girl back and so are the kids!
So happy to hear Cricket is back home, you must be over the moon 🌺
You are so right not letting your sweet girl attempt to stand up for more than pee breaks ... she needs to rest, rest, rest ...
Good decision to sleep next to her too, this way you keep a good eye whilst also being a reassuring presence🧚🏼♀️
Please keep updating us and let us know if you have any questions, we’re all here for you 😘🐮💫✨🐮🌹
Eurydice 77kg/170lb Great Dane limping end of April 2016, amputation (right front leg/osteosarcoma) 4 May 2016 6 courses of carboplatin followed by metronomic therapy, lung mets found 30 Nov 2016. 3 courses of doxorubicin, PET scan 26 Jan 2017 showed more mets so stopped chemo. Holistic route April 2017. Lung X-ray 5 May 2017 showed several tennis ball size mets, started cortisone and diuretics. Miss Cow earned her XXL silver wings 12 June 2017, 13 months and 1 week after amputation and 6 1/2 months after lung mets, she was the goofiest dawg ever and is now happily flying from cloud to cloud woof woofing away :-)
Hi and welcome!
I'm glad you were able to manage the forums and make your post. Cricket looks like a sweet dog, she is adorable!
I'm glad she made it through the surgery without complications. And she's HOME! She's going to have hospital meds in her system for several days, after that's when pain management can get a little tricky. She won't be so loopy in another day or so but the meds will still be in her system.
What medication did they send you home with?
Stay tuned, any questions please give a shout. She might not have a great appetite, whatever it takes for her to eat will be good. Favorite foods, hamburger, rotisserie chicken, scrambled eggs. Anything he will eat. Some of these meds can throw their appetite off. Drinking is important too.
Right now food, water, short trips to potty, and sleep are what she needs.
Keep in touch and let us know how you're doing!
Hugs,
Jackie and Huckleberry ❤️
Hugs,
Jackie, Bo, Andy, Oscar, Phoebe, and the coolest feral tripawd kitty Huckleberry 
Welcome and best wishes for Cricket's speedy recovery! You will find many helpful children's books about Tripawds in the Tripawds Amazon blog .
While you wait for comments from others, use the Advanced Search above to refine your forum search results with specific phrases, and you're sure to find lots of helpful feedback. You can also search all blogs here . Or, consider downloading the Tripawds e-books for fast answers to common concerns and feel free to call the toll-free Tripawds Helpline anytime!
Meanwhile, start here for help finding all the helpful Tripawds resources and assistance programs.
Tripawds Founders Jim and Rene
tripawds.com | tripawds.org | bemoredog.net | triday.pet
Her appetite seems to be normal she already begging for food from the kids lol we will see how she does at "dinner time" Drinking water great, finally resting lol .
Then gave her anti-inflammatory Carprofen 75mg 1/2 pill every 12 hrs and Tramadol Hydrochloride 50mg for pain 1 pill every 12 hrs, they gave her the same in november when she had a lump removed on that leg the first time.
They sent her home in a T-shirt and is doing well with that to 🙂
She is not a good pill taker so we will have to get inventive lol , she figures it out after 2 days what we are doing lol so im prepared with cheese, hotdogs, wet foods, hamburger lol
We are also doing research on cbd oil or treats for pain management as well.
trying to figure out how to post a picture so I just created a new gallery on my photography page so I can share her first at home pic 🙂 hoping this works? Cricket
It worked 
Cricket is beautiful!! Eating and drinking, YAY! Have you tried pill pockets?
The kids must be thrilled to have their Cricket back home ❤️
So glad she's doing well, I hope tonight goes smooth for you.
Hugs,
Jackie and Huckleberry ❤️
Hugs,
Jackie, Bo, Andy, Oscar, Phoebe, and the coolest feral tripawd kitty Huckleberry
Glad your baby is home.
That does not sound like very much pain medication. For his first week to ten days, Casey took 200 mg Gabapentin (which was magical), and 100 mg Tramadol every 8 hours. I tore a small, (2 sq in) piece of bread, slathered it with peanut butter, and stuck the pills in the top. We called them cupcakes with sprinkles. He also got 50 mg Rimadyl twice daily with meals.
Too many vets seem to under-medicate for pain, and that is unfortunate. If the pain "breaks through" the medication, it is much harder to get back under control, so don't hesitate to discuss this in advance with your vet.
I like the “cupcake” idea lol , so far she seems to not be in pain, no panting, no whining, good appitite wants to play (of corse we have her rest ) is there any other signs i should watch for as for pain signals ?
mira702n said
I like the “cupcake” idea lol , so far she seems to not be in pain, no panting, no whining, good appitite wants to play (of corse we have her rest ) is there any other signs i should watch for as for pain signals ?
Thats awesome the “pain signals ” gave me the link!
Glad you found the link. Everypawdy is different, but there are some good references. Look for unusual behavior, ie., He's enjoying something, a toy, your attention, a treat, or just laying around relaxing and then all of a sudden he's jumping to pay attention to his amp. And it won't be just once, it will be intermittent. Some of them run in a circle trying to get to it, some yelp out of nowhere for no apparent reason, some start grooming the area obsessively. I hope this helps. Huck did it a handful of times, he was probably on the gabapentin somewhere around 2 weeks. We have been lucky and not had any problems since.
So glad all is calm, give your furbaby some ear scratches for us please 😊
Hugs,
Jackie and Huckleberry ❤️
Hugs,
Jackie, Bo, Andy, Oscar, Phoebe, and the coolest feral tripawd kitty Huckleberry
paws120 said
Glad you found the link. Everypawdy is different, but there are some good references. Look for unusual behavior, ie., He's enjoying something, a toy, your attention, a treat, or just laying around relaxing and then all of a sudden he's jumping to pay attention to his amp. And it won't be just once, it will be intermittent. Some of them run in a circle trying to get to it, some yelp out of nowhere for no apparent reason, some start grooming the area obsessively. I hope this helps. Huck did it a handful of times, he was probably on the gabapentin somewhere around 2 weeks. We have been lucky and not had any problems since.So glad all is calm, give your furbaby some ear scratches for us please 😊
Hugs,
Jackie and Huckleberry ❤️
Thank you will do ! I work from home so im glad i can be with her during all this to 🙂 i will watch for some of the signs u me tioned as well thank u! 😃
this group is so helpful thank u all!!!
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