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,
we picked Acai up yesterday after a front leg amputation. I was hoping to get a little advice about how long after post op we should wait before letting our other pups around her. We would be present the whole time. We almost feel like it would be more comforting to have them around. Right now we have the other two separated by a puppy gate. Is this appropriate or necessary?
Thanks!
Hi Acai and family, welcome. I've seen you in that chat this hour but you haven't barked. I'll be there for a few more minutes.
Baby gates are a good idea just to be sure that things won't get too crazy. I think you know your dogs best and if you think that having them around will be good medicine for Acai, then by all means, give it a try. Just watch the activity level and don't let Acai do too much, even though s/he will probably want to. Most pack dogs give the patient plenty of room when arriving home. How old are yours? Oh and why did Acai lose a leg?
Tripawds Founders Jim and Rene
tripawds.com | tripawds.org | bemoredog.net | triday.pet
I have two dogs, Otis and Tess. There is really no way to separate them. Tess had cruciate repair last summer. I borrowed a crate and tried to put her in that and they ripped it apart. I found that with my dogs, when each was hurt, the other knew. Otis let Tess sleep on the mattress with me, and didn't initiate play until she was ready. When he had his amputation, she reciprocated. All dogs are different (Tess and Otis are older and fairly quiet to begin with), but I found that keeping them together was a positive.
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.
We have 3 dogs, and we didn't separate them when Murphy had his surgery. We had his bed in front of the fireplace in the family room and we made sure that we were present to supervise, but our other 2 dogs pretty much just let him be. Cassie is our bossy dog, and she tends to be the most protective in the family. She would have been very upset if we had tried to keep her away from Murphy. Max is the baby of the family and Murphy definitely would have put him in his place if he needed to (or Cassie would have gotten between them, it's comical sometimes!). Even our cats pretty much left him alone - they sniffed at him and the walked away.
Donna
Donna, Glenn & Murphy
Murphy had his right front leg amputated due to histiocytic sarcoma at 7 years old. He survived 4 years, 2 months & 1 week, only to be taken by hemangiosarcoma at 11 1/2 years 6/12/17
Read about Murphy's Life on Three Legs
I had a different experience with my pugs than most people here seem to have.
Maggie and Tani were sisters from different litters, Maggie was a year and a few months older. When Mag had her amputation surgery Tani stayed with my parents for a couple of days. When my dad brought Tani over and we re-introduced them Tani attacked Maggie in her bed! Before I could act Maggie got up and put Tani on her back and that was the end of that. It was about 4 days after surgery and I was so lucky that no damage was done. In hindsight we should have kept better control of Tani when we put them back together.
While the pug girls were pretty much inseparable there had always been a bit of underlying tension as I think that Tani had aspirations on the alpha spot that Maggie always held. Occasionally when they were playing the game would turn into a quarrel, and you had to be careful when you picked one of them up because when you put them back down they would sometimes go at it. Interestingly the episode after Maggie's surgery is the last big fight I remember them having. I'm not sure why, but I know they didn't play together as much after the surgery- both still played but the games were different and didn't involve so much contact.
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
I agree that it depends on the dogs and their relationship. I have Sadie, my Dobmeman, and Boomer, my Papillion. They are not buddy-buddy. In fact, they would prefer to ignore each other most of the time. So Boomer was not an issue during Sadie's recovery. If they were kept apart, they were both fine. If they were together, they were both fine. They were much more interested in me than each other.
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