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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This is normal, right? Molly J, 19 days post amp, sits on the ground and proceeds to go through the motions of scratching her neck with the missing leg. That back hip is working! But, alas! She gets no relief from the invisible leg. So, of course, I go over and give her a good scratching wherever that invisible foot may have missed. I'm guessing that this is a normal behavior, even though she has realized her leg is gone...kind of like walking into a room during a power outage and flipping the light switch, right
Yes, very normal and your analogy is perfect!
Even Wyatt Ray still does that, five years after losing his leg. We have to pretty mush stop what we're doing to help alleviate his itch. We have back scratchers out, and it's good incentive to stay on top of keeping his skin and coat healthy so he doesn't get itchy.
Tripawds Founders Jim and Rene
tripawds.com | tripawds.org | bemoredog.net | triday.pet
I had noticed my Leland doing the same thing. Like Jerry said...we would just get up and give him a good scratch all over until he let us know the itch was taken care of.
When we decided to amputate I had gone to YouTube and watched several different videos of dogs getting around and I had come across one with a dog taking care of an itch. That dog just learned to rub his head/face on the floor to alleviate that annoying itch.
It's amazing what our fur babies are capable of learning to accommodate their new situation.
Sahana and her Angel Leland
November 17, 2009 - June 30, 2014
May you finally be healthy and running free at the Rainbow Bridge. Until we meet again my sweet boy!
Yep, ditto all the above! I would give my Hap p y Hannah all'm over body scratches severa l times a day, with special focus on areas she couldn't reach..ears, etc.
Molly's doing.great!
Sally and Happy Hannah
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!
I used to play a game with my golden. She has always had a fascination with paper products; toilet rolls, paper towels, you name it. So sometimes I would take a tissue, and tear the corner off, and place it on the top of her head. She would then swipe it off her head with her paw, and eat it. She's silly, I know. Now that her paper-swatting paw is gone, when I put the tissue on her head, in an attempt to get her interested in play, she attempted to swat at it with the missing leg. It was sort of a shrug with her now missing shoulder, which was a little sad to watch. So I think the behavior will probably take a while to break, due to instinct and muscle memory. It is a good excuse to give them extra 'pets' though!
I called it the air scratch. Maggie would scratch her right chin with her remaining right leg, then shift, put her chin out, and her little stump would churn away. When needed I would help her, but she learned to rub on furniture and her sister to satisfy her itch. Mag only did the air scratch for a few months.
Karen
Tri-pug Maggie survived a 4.5 year mast cell cancer battle only to be lost to oral melanoma.
1999 to 2010
Polly still does this from time to time- 1.5 years later. She now rubs her face/body along the couch to take care of the itch. I bet they always have the thought to use their missing legs first!
Murphy takes care of nose itches by doing the kitty face wash. Looks pretty silly to see a big ol' black dog washing his face like that. For itches further back, he does the comma thing and we come to his rescue. Since his femoral nerve was damaged, the stump (or what is left of it in there) doesn't have any movement in it.
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!
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