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Milo came home yesterday, and thanks to this forum, I realize he's probably doing just fine.
The good news: he is eating and drinking and peeing, and he seems mostly comfortable when resting. Once on his feet, he hops out the front door, down a ramp to skip two steps, and hurries out to the yard to pee. He hurries over for accolades. Yesterday, and again today, he managed to hop onto the ottoman so he could sleep at my feet (always a favorite thing for him to do.) The wound is looking good -- no oozing or gross.
The bad news -- or yesterday's bad: the vets thought he was anxious in the morning, and he kept trying to get up, so they gave him some Trazadone to help, along with the Gabapentin. He got knocked for a loop. He could barely walk. It was a huge challenge to get him out of the truck. We had our 3 college boys to help, and 2 more watching. He tried to pee and feel down and peed on himself. (If nothing else, we pointed out to all the college boys that this is why you avoid drugs!) We barely got him in the house and he didn't even move his head for hours. It was upsetting. I called the vet and he figured it was the drugs and suggested we hold off before his next Gabapentin.
The no idea:
- He keeps dribbling pee. Not all the time, but it seems his bladder gets full and when he half sits up and dribbles or squirts. I don't know if it's because of all the fluids from the IVs, or if it's a side effect of having a catheter during or after the surgery (not sure when -- saw it on the charges), or if the Gabapentin and Fentanyl patch have made him less aware of the urge to pee.
- He sometimes lays on his wound. I worry about that. And he has no idea how to get up or move when he's laying on that side. He gets stuck.
- He really struggles getting to his feet. He's managed to do it a few times, but can't always. It takes two of us to lift him up, but after the weekend there will only be one with him during the day.
- We bought a Ruffwear Webmaster harness , but he's a front leg amputee and it seems like the harness would go right across the wound and I'm leery of that. It adds to the problem of helping him get to his feet. He was ~80-82 pounds going into this which is about 5-7 pounds heavier than ideal.
Hopefully, these "no idea" issues work out. I can see the hope that in a month we can take a mini-walk in the neighborhood. Thanks for the support and shared experiences
Peace,
-Jenifer
I would imagine that the dribbling pee should work itself out. More than likely it's from having the catheter. It happens quite often to humans when they've had them. The bladder sort of gets lazy, but it will re-train. I would make sure to have him on a little bit of a schedule to go out. If it's been a couple of hours, take him out even if he's not asking, just to re-train his bladder.
Laying on his wound is OK. I don't think Murphy did for a little while, but once he was comfortable enough he did. You could maybe lay a towel underneath him so that when he does lay on that side you could lift up on the towel to help lift him. Or, try the shopping bag trick 
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
My thoughts are that Fentanyl is really, really powerful. Makes dogs very sedated - it would not surprise me if the Fentanyl was at play in the dribbling and even in his struggle to get to his feet. A lot of dogs come home with a Fentanyl patch and I have no doubt it controls pain very well. Pofi did not. He was on a Fentanyl IV the first two times I saw him post op in the hospital. The first time it was at a very high level and he was almost catatonic. I managed to get him to eat just a little bit of food, but he could barely sit up. The vets agreed with me they might want to dial it back. They started that night to lessen the amount in IV and by the next morning he was like a different dog - motor control really improved. The DVM student in charge of his case called me at 8 AM to say he was so much more alert and sitting up the second he saw her. And bounded out of his kennel nearly making it out of ICU before she caught him. Then dragged her outside to pee unassisted. They cut back further and he improved rapidly and we took him home that evening - one day earlier than they had hoped the prior day.
As I said, I would not consider it a terrible thing that he is quite sedated, but my personal experience is that Pofi was much better off when the Fentanyl was removed from the equation and we had just Tramadol, Rimadyl and Gabapentin for pain.
Lisa, Minneapolis
On October 27, 2016, nearly 6 months after amputation, and 18 months since his cancer likely started, we lost Pofi to a recurrence of Soft Tissue Sarcoma in his spine quite suddenly. His canine sister also succumbed to cancer on March 1, 2019 - we lavished her with our love in the interim, but life was never quite the same without her only real canine friend. Cliff kitty had to leave us, too, suddenly, in August 2019. Lucia kitty grieved all these losses, but helped us welcome two new Lurchers into our home and our lives, Shae and Barley.
Milo looks good! I wouldn't really worry about the dribbling pee unless it keeps happening for awhile - he's really early in his recovery. I think Clyde might have also done this, sometimes his t-shirt had some pee on it even when he hadn't been out to pee. That all stopped after a week or so.
As for the harness - my vet said no harness until stitches out unless its one that somehow can completely avoid the incision site (Clyde is also a front leg amputee). I used the grocery bag idea, although Clyde really preferred to try it doing things himself. He figured out how to get up pretty quickly and I'm sure Milo will too - my vet said that for the first few days, they don't realize they don't have a leg and have to process that for a little bit. So Milo is probably thinking huh, this is new. He'll get it. He's eating, he's drinking and he's going out to potty - that's really all he should be doing this early on.
Pretty soon he'll be bopping around like nothing ever happened.
Lawcat (aka Clyde's mom - for some reason my sign in switched itself, and I'm too technologically challenged to figure it out)
Hi Milo and family 
Eurydice came back home 3 days after surgery and she was still quite druggy but no patch on her incision.
She wore a soft harness provided by the hospital under a t-shirt until stitches came out, so I see your point about a ruffwear harness maybe being too hard on the incision ...
She didn't lay on the incision side for quite some time but when she did, it sounded perfect, as no dog will ever do that if they are not ok with it.
It takes some time for our babies to adapt on 3 and it is heartbreaking to see them learning but you really must persevere and try to keep a brave face.
I went out into the garden for a good cry during the first week as I could see my girl was struggling to get around (even with my help) but it improved enormously especially after her stitches came out and now 3 months after the event I can say she mastered it.
My advice is take it veeery slowly and give him time to adapt.
He will surprise you, I promise! Our furry babies are far more resilient than we think and they are soooooo happy to please us.
Hang in there, keep a good eye on him and give him time.
We are all here for you and Milo, you will be ok !
Sending you lots of pawsitive energy an lots and lots of cuddles to Milo
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 :-)
Welcome.....Milo looks good for so early in the recovery process! My Dobe, Nitro, is also a front amp. When we picked him up from surgery, we put a t-shirt on him and used the Ruffwear harness right off the bat. The shirt protected his wound, and the harness didn't bother him at all - actually, it was a life-saver as I don't know how we'd have managed with him otherwise.
Yeah, the fentynl patch didn't agree with Nitro either; we took it off early and he was just on gabapentin and tramadol to manage his pain. He didn't lay on the incision side for quite awhile. Since we had the harness on him right away, we could help him stand till he got the hang of it. To this day (2 years later) when he's laying on his side without the leg, he has to try a couple times to stand......I just assist him by pushing him over and he pops right up.
Don't be discouraged, he'll figure things out before you know it - they really are resliient!
Paula and Nitro
Nitro 11 1/2 yr old Doberman; right front amp June 2014. Had 6 doses carboplatin, followed by metronomic therapy. Rocked it on 3 legs for over 3 years! My Warrior beat cancer, but couldn't beat old age. He crossed the Bridge peacefully on July 25, 2017, with dignity and on his terms. Follow his blog entitled "Doberman's journey"
"Be good, mama loves you".....run free my beautiful Warrior
I had an important meeting at work today, so got up early to shower. I've been sleeping on a mattress on the living room floor downstairs so I can hear him at night and take him out for potties. I came out of the shower and there Milo was lying next to my bed in his favorite spot. He came up the stairs all by himself. He hadn't made any effort to follow me his first two days home, so I was shocked. I have no idea how his journey went... smooth? stumbles? bump anything?
Then to ice it off, the dog sitter said that about an hour before I came home, after a potty break Milo "came in too hot", aka, too fast, for the ramp, tripped, and fell hard. There were a few spots of blood on the ramp, but the dogsitter said he couldn't figure out where the blood came from. The wound looks fully intact, although a bit swollen and bruised, but I think it was heading that way already. I can't find blood on the floor where he was laying.
The dog sitter said he also "he got up mostly on his own" from his wound side.
Now Milo is just laying here and too tired to move. Almost catatonic. His breathing is very slow. His heart rate is strong. He keeps poking me with his paw to make me pet him. He may just be hitting the 4-5 day post-op lull, or he may be tired from overdoing it, or he might have hurt something when he fell, but he's not panting or acting agitated, but he did groan when standing. He might be just be super-relaxed because I came home (whenever we leave him at someone else's house, he sleeps for 2 days when we bring him home, although today the sitter came here.)
Oh the things to fret about. Oh the maternal guilt. Why oh why didn't Milo work on his English Language skills when I told him to!
Jenifer & Milo
Yep, this journey has ups and downs.....how awesome that he came upstairs by himself, how scary for you that he came upstairs by himself! The first time Nitro came down the stairs by himself I pretty much freaked out - until I looked at him, and he was so PROUD of himself! Milo will continue to amaze you as he progresses. I love you comment about him not working on his language skills!
paula and nitro
Nitro 11 1/2 yr old Doberman; right front amp June 2014. Had 6 doses carboplatin, followed by metronomic therapy. Rocked it on 3 legs for over 3 years! My Warrior beat cancer, but couldn't beat old age. He crossed the Bridge peacefully on July 25, 2017, with dignity and on his terms. Follow his blog entitled "Doberman's journey"
"Be good, mama loves you".....run free my beautiful Warrior
Most all our dogs take a tumble at some point. Our Max actually fell on a tomato cage early on and we ended up calling the vet because it was bleeding to come out to check him. And that was with his leash and harness on. We felt like the worst pawrents in the world that day. But he was fine and suffered no ill affects. Milos right at the time he may feel a little more sore. Hospital meds are out of his system and hopping around makes all those new muscles sore too. Try to keep him down to potty breaks, rest and eating and then more rest. Starting soon things will start getting much better culminating in the stitch removal and then watch out Milo will be back. Give that beautiful boy a hug from me!
Linda, Riley & Spirits Mighty Max & Ollie
Oh Milo!!
What twins he and Ruby really are....she did the EXACT same thing when I went to shower for the first time leaving her downstairs by herself. I opened the door to the shower and there she was, lying outside in the spot she always likes to lay when I'm in there. She needed some help going back down the stairs, I'm not entirely sure how she managed to get up them by herself. I'm sleeping on the floor with Ruby on a mattress downstairs too. She's started crying out in the night, and having to potty frequently so I agree--it works best!
I'm sure milo will get stronger and more able to pick himself up as the days go on. He is a good 30-35 lbs heavier than Ruby, so that is a lot more weight to have to figure out how to balance! I was just trying to think of where the blood from his fall might have come from...I was thinking, maybe he hit his mouth on the ground and it bled a bit? When Ruby stumbles a bit she tends to hit her mouth on the ground.
Warm hugs to you and your sweet boy! Keep us posted!
Ruby is my (almost) 8 year old Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retriever. She had her left forelimb amputated due to cancer on July 28, 2016 and we are on the road to recovery!
Oh Milo, you are a very determined doggy! I know you were just tickled pink to get up those stairs and get in your normal spot!
I k ow the stumble was scary. As Linda mentioned, it happened with her Max. It didn't bother Max nearly as much as it did Linda!! I think Ruby's mom made a good point that maybe the blood was from a cut from the mouth area. I'm sure you checked paws and nails.
He most likely has sore muscles as he's adapting to tripawdness. Also, any fall makes the muscles tense up really tightly and the soreness is usually worse the day or two after.
Sounds like Milo is doing really well. Glad he is resting a lot as that's exactly what he needs to do! Smart boy!!
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!
Oh my, what a scare 🙁 why don't you put him in a kennel or xpen so he can't walk, go up/down stairs, etc...? Novak is never alone in the house, he's either crated or with me. He doesn't have access to the basement(babygate) stairs and he goes out only to potty( about 4 times a day). And we go outside together and I hold his harness to go in the stairs. I started to let him free outside while he potty, I dont hold the leash any more because he stays with me, like he need reassurance.
Even if they are drug free, they need practice. I think their brain didnt catch up yet to the fact they are missing a leg. Novak sometime does stuff that make me think that.
Good luck ans safe recovery for Milo xxx
When I took Otis to his last oncology check-up, I was really concerned about a red, swollen area on his lower lip. I am of course thinking cancer. The oncologist said just an abrasion. It was only later that I realized it must have been a face plant!
Otis didn't attempt the stairs as soon - I kept them blocked off until about month 3. Once I unblocked them, he looked at them for a couple of days before coming up. Like Milo, he really liked to be upstairs with me when I was getting ready for work. We all sleep upstairs again now, but I keep the stairs gated during the day so he doesn't overdo it. Milo is still early in his recovery, so I bet his tiredness is from doing too much a bit too soon. Try to limit his activity for a bit more, but if coming upstairs is an important part of his daily ritual, and he seems kind of in control on the stairs themselves, I would probably let him, and just block off the stairs the rest of the time.
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.
Hi,
Nothing new to report, but just wanted to wrap up this thread in case someone stumbles across it in the future and wonders.
It's now Day 9.
The goods are too long to list. He climbs the stairs to sleep in our room at night. He spends his days moving from one favorite sleeping spot to another. He eats, drinks, pees, and poos. We're down to just 300mg Gabapentin 3x a day (74 pounds without the leg), and just a touch of Tramadol, 50mg 2x a day.
The bads aren't really bad. Milo is just tired and slow, but it's also 90 degrees outside and we don't have AC. By late in the afternoon, he's done. Mornings are better. Whenever he first stands up, he is hesitant to take his first step. His back legs seem awfully wobbly at times, but he's not stumbling or falling.
The "no ideas" now have answers.
- The dribbling and incontinence stuff is cleared up. It lasted a few days after we got home -- usually when he was trying to stand up or roll and therefore using his abdominal muscles. I think when the IV fluids cleared his system, things got better.
- He has also mastered the getting up in general, including from his wound side. He always preferred laying on his left side, and now splits his time between the two.
- Because he's mastered getting up, we only use the harness to get him down the stairs in the morning and into/out of the car.
- I hired a college student to keep an eye on him when I had to go to work week 1, and he's doing well enough that I'm not worried about leaving him alone when I go to work next week.
His sutures come out on Tuesday (Day 12), and he'll likely start chemo on Day 15.
Thanks for all the support and the encouragement when we were sitting at Day 3 and confused. Day 9 feels like a world of difference. Hopefully, by updating this thread it might help someone in the future who is sitting there on Day 3 with "no idea" questions.
-Jenifer & Milo
Thanks for sharing these details! They'll certainly help others searching these forums.
Tripawds Founders Jim and Rene
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