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.
Join The Tripawds Community
Learn how to help three legged dogs and cats in the forums below. Browse and search as a guest or register for free and get full member benefits:
Instant post approval.
Private messages to members.
Subscribe to favorite topics.
Live Chat and much more!
Register
Log In
Members
Add Topic
Offline
after 5 months, mo2 is doing great although I notice more grunting when he lays down. His lungs were clear after the last chemo, but I wonder how do you know when the enevitable cancer returns. I've heard it first returns to his lungs.
I've heard there isnt anything you can do, but would want to know for sure its returned so I can prepare my son for it, does he show obvious signs of weakness or breathing?
We are hoping he breaks the average and is with us for years but we know it could be months
Thanks!!
Hi and welcome. Sorry for the quick reply, I'm on my phone, but I can say that all dogs are different in how the symptoms present themselves. My first thought was this could be a pain signal. What's his activity like? Walks? How is his weight?
Tripawds Founders Jim and Rene
tripawds.com | tripawds.org | bemoredog.net | triday.pet
CONGRATULATIONS ! Five months and it sounds like Mo2 is doing great!!!
Love his avatar picture!!! Verynhandsome!
As Jerry said...and this cannot be overstated...EVERY DOG IS DIFFERENT!!! And this stupid piece of crap disease can present itself in soooo many different ways!!!
My first thoughts are along the lines of Jerry's....sounds like it mau just be a litle grunt from sore muscles, overused muscles, from the wear and tear of being a tripawd over these months. Perhaps a little arthritis is setting in, sore joints, etc.
I know it's easier said than done, but try not to worry ane just continue to stay in the moment with Mo2. This just sounds like some overuse symptoms. Try not to jump ahead to the what ifs or what they future may look like....it rarely looks out what textbooks say anyway. Besides, that kind of worry robs you of your time together NOW!!!
I know I haven't really answered your "specific" questions very well, but it's just because every situation is so different.
My Happy Hannah slowed down some (she also was a bit "fluffy" and "chunky" and "mature" in Bull Mastiff years so slpwing down is somewhat natural anyway). Over time she tired very easily and her breathing pattern became more noticeably shorter/shallow. She never developed a cough or lost her alpetite or her zest for life duringnthese months that symptons were showing. We just continued savoring every sacred second of our treasured time together...and atelots of ice cream!!!
Even IF it has spread...which it does NOT sound like, there can be many many great quality months anead. One of our Tripawd heroes SASSY SUGAR BEAR lived an additional SEVEN MONTHS after mets were discovered!!!
Sending lots of hugs!
Sally and Alumni Happy Hannah and Merry Myrtle 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!
Welcome and Mo2 is very handsome!
We dealt with a different cancer, but many people here report coughing as the first sign of lung mets. And for the record- there is a low dose chemo called metronomics that you can do when lung mets appear.
So you have a decision if you are worried about mets- get xrays done to confirm the presence or absence of lung mets. I think I would only do xrays if I was planning on metronomics because I would want to hit it as soon as they appeared. If you are not interested in more treatments for Mo, then maybe skip xrays and just enjoy every day.
If you think maybe the effects of being a tripawd are catching up with him there are lots of exercise and rehab ideas in the Gear Blog. A fit tripawd is a happy tripawd! (unless your tripawd is a lazy pug, then a napping tripawd is a happy tripawd).
Karen and Spirit Maggie
Tri-pug Maggie survived a 4.5 year mast cell cancer battle only to be lost to oral melanoma.
1999 to 2010
Thank you so much for your comments! I thinkni may take him for X-rays, just to know, and consider that other mess I've heard about. I've heard mixed messages on it but if it helps extend a happy life, I'm all for it. His weight is maintaining. At 80 and active but wears out easily after 20 minutes at the park hoping around. I will watch for coughing and enjoy everyday he gives!!
Thank you all
Your questions are also the questions I have made myself these past two weeks.
I have noticed Johnnie is getting more tired in his daily walks. He has always made stops to recover, but now he is stopping to rest more often. There is an arthritis component that was already diagnosed in his last x-rays 3 weeks ago. Perhaps this is making a difference, but really don't know. We have reintroduced the chondroitin, which I had taken out during his chemo.
I did sense that he slowed down a bit from round 5 to round 6 of his chemo, and the two weeks post round 6 he has been sleeping a lot. It can be the post-chemo, but I confess I was expecting him to be more active than he is at the moment. I just keep watching him to see if his panting is due to the warm weather or if it could be something else. He has always been a panter, so it is really hard to tell.
Next week will be one month since his last round, and I just may take him for a check-up just to have him checked out. I have a conference in December that will keep me away for a full week, and am a bit fearful of doing travel arrangements and then having to cancel. Right now, Johnnie's well-being is priority #1, and my husband doesn't handle things by himself.
Our awesome Golden Boy was diagnosed for OSA in April 2014 in the proximal humerus, front-leg amp on 05/20/2014. Finished chemo (Carbo6) on 07/10/2014. Ongoing treatment: acupuncture + K-9 Immunity Plus ( 3chews) and home-cooked no-grain diet. Stopped Apocaps because of liver issues. Liver issues: controlling altered enzymes with SAM-e and Milk Thistle. October 17: started having seizures. Taking fenobarbital for seizures. April 18: started prednisone.
Daniela and Johnnie. Just responded to your other post, but wanted to address the concerns you expressed here. This journey makes us all so whacko and hyper-viligent! I really dontw even loke to respond about "sysmptons" because they really vary greatly! Panting..not panting...coughing, not coughing.....coughing up blood, not coughing up blood....eating, not eating....."symptons" coming on quickly, "symptons" taking months and months to develop...
I guess one thing I'm trying to say is, try not to spend time "looking" for something, spend time looking at how amazingly well our pups/cats are doing.
A dog becoming less and less active after many months on three legs is NOT unusual at all...especially if they have some arthritis and went through six rounds of chemo!! And yes, panting more, eslecially if it is warm...all normal! Handling life on three legs is exhausting and they exert a lot of energy. Many dogs fInd more bliss in rolling around on their backs and getting tummy rubs than going on l k ng walks! Yeah, they've figured out are ability to spoil a tripawd has no limits!!
A d how we all agonize over being away! One thing we all tell each other is our dogs WANT us to go......actually enjoy not having us hovering over them...AND, they want us to continue with our normal lies...because they sure are!!!!
MOTWO...great post you started, thank you!
Love to all!
Sally and Alumni Happy Hannah and Merry Myrtle 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!
Is it something about Golden Retrievers? Our quadpawd, Gus, has always been a panter. We jokingly call him Captain Huff n Puff. During the summer he is constantly panting. Now that the weather is cooling, he is only panting on exertion. No huffing at all while he is laying down and just observing life. He did the same thing last summer. Huffed his way through the hot weather and then stopped when it grew cold. He is perfectly happy when he gets to go outside and lay in the snow.
He does have arthritis and is definitely slowing down, but at age 12 1/2, I guess he is entitled to do that. Sometimes, though, you look at him and wonder just how old he is. That Golden puppy in him just keeps trying to get out.
So, even though we are not dealing with the same health problems as others here, I would say that if the docs say that your pups are doing well, I don't think I would worry too much about the Golden panting.
Kathi and Murphy
Murphy is a five year old Lab/Chessie cross. He was hit by a car on 10/29/12 and became a Tripawd on 11/24/12. On 2/5/13, he had a total hip replacement on his remaining back leg. He has absolutely no idea that he has only three legs!
UPDATE: Murphy lived his life to the fullest, right up until an aggressive bone lesion took him across the Rainbow Bridge on April 9, 2015 and he gained his membership in the April Angels. Run free, my love. You deserve it!
1 Guest(s)
