Tripawds Three Legged Dog & Cat Forum Archives
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Thank you, thank you, thank you for your reply. I'm beating myself up for not realizing that she's in pain. I guess I was expecting her to be yelping if there was pain. I even turned on the air conditioner, thinking she was hot! And all the time sitting on the counter were the pain meds! I think I assumed those would make her not get up to eat, drink etc. Lesson learned! I will keep her on the pain meds like clockwork. If she doesn't get up as often, that's ok cuz her body's getting rest while it tries to recover.
Thank you again for helping me thru this!
You are a GREAT advocate for Dixie!! You're doing an excellent job! 
No way we can be prepare for this crazy journey. Every dog is different and every recovery is different!!
Some Vets just aren't as proactive with pain meds as they should be and that's so frustrating!!
Dogs are sooo stoic. They try NOT to show pain. So yeah, I think if you get her back on the pain meds consistently you'll see her more comfortable. You may not even need the tranquilizer type med.
Many have found that giving the Tramadol and Gabapentin spaced apart a bit helps prevent the pain from ever getting a head start.
And yes, resting is the most important thing right now. You can bring her food and water to her in bed if you need to 🙂 I'd rather have a dog not eat due to pain meds than due to being IN pain!
Update when you can and let us know how she's doing!
Hugs and love!
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!
It's really hard to recognize and manage the pain at first. I remember having to ask very similar questions of the community. Otis also did not yelp or cry out (why I would recognize as pain), but just sit and pant. We ended up staggering his tramadol. He got three pills every 8 hours, so I started giving 2 and then the third one hour later so they were never totally out of his system. I had the same problem identifying signs of nausea (which for Otis, was drool and lip licking, not vomit or refusing food like I would have expected). Unless you have experience in this area, this is just not something most of us can easily identify. But lean on the community, this is where the experience is and there is usually someone who can help out.
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.
Ah Dixie is a cutie pie! Knowing if they are in pain is the HARDEST thing. Pain can cause panting, so can tramadol and just being hot! Tramadol is a super safe drug for dogs in that they can take quite a bit and not overdose. Therefore, when I was in doubt I was "here, have another!". I kept my Fionn on a program like Otis was one and it worked well. I didn't start tapering down the meds until we were about 1.5 weeks into recovery. Fionn is at 4 weeks post op now and I gave him a tramadol last night because he seemed restless and wouldn't settle. He over did it at the dog park, so he had to be hurting somewhere.
This too shall pass and your sweet Dixie will be her normal self soon!
Nancy- mom to the FABULOUS Fionn. He rescued me in 2015 when he was 6.
Right front leg amputation at age 7 for osteosarcoma 10/6/16. Taken too soon 6/12/17. Read about our journey here:
http://fionnsjo.....pawds.com/
Hi Jackie and Dixie 💗🐶
Gosh, I'm late joining here just saw this thread...
First of all congratulations on a successful surgery 🎉🎊🎉🎊🎉
I am glad to hear her lack of appetite is solved too, it happens quite a lot but luckily it is just a matter of time until our babies get back into their eating routines.
It certainly sounds like Dixie is doing ok and you are having great advice along the way 👍🏼
Sending you a big hug and cuddles to your cutie pie 😘😘🐾💗🐶
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 :-)
So glad Dixie is doing better! This is such a roller coaster ride for sure. For my Rosie it will be 2 weeks on Wednesday. What a wild ride!
I am still having to entice Rosie with peanut butter toast. That gets her hunger going. Then I am giving her mashed potatoes, another favorite. But, in order to eat it she has to have a small bite of turkey bacon. Then, if I hand feed her, she will eat most of her normal amount of food and regular diet.
All this for a dog who has been a super fast eater all of her life. So fast in fact, that we had to get a bowl with spirals to slow her down.
She wont stand and won't eat unless I do this. What really helped us was getting the Rymadyl on AM and PM meals and not having to give her several small meals.
Its just crazy! But I am hopeful it will all be well and back to normal soon. I hear by the 2-3 week mark that their sparkle and joy returns. Fingers crossed.
Just wanted to share our story so that you would know that for us, this is totally normal.
I also decreased her pain meds too soon and it took a couple days to figure it out. Then it took a couple more to get back on top of the pain. Anyway-back on the road to recovery. Hope the same goes for Dixie!!!
best wishes and reach out any time. ❤️🐕❤️
So pleased to hear Dixies doing better and that you are in top of the pain. Please do not beat yourself up. We can't know everything from the off we have to figure it out, which is exactly what you did by posting here and asking advice. So how about giving yourself some credit for that? I say Dixie is really lucky to have such a devoted Momma.
Big hug,
Meg and Clare (and Elsie Pie) xxx
Ruby, Staffy, born June 2022, became a Tripawd, November 2023, adopted January 2024.
Also Angel Tripawd Meg (aka The Megastar), who died in April 2023, aged 14, after seven glorious years on three, and Angel Staffies Elsie Pie and Bille. In the pawprints of giants...
Jackie you are doing GREAT! The whole thing is a learning process for us all! Dixie sounds like she's doing just fabulous and you're doing great job trying to learn the signs of whats going on with her. So hard when they can't talk to us 
Someone here posted a link for me when I got here, about the signs of pain in dogs. It was very helpful. There were some I did not even think of.And yes its hard with the pain meds because they need them more often at first then slowly you learn when to taper off so they are not groggy & no appetite. Update your Vet often if you have questions. Kylie was on them almost 2wks like clockwork then by the time sutures came out and she started chemo I'm not sure she was on much at all. This site is amazing and the support from the regulars is awesome and definitely helped me get through it! Ask away! anytime!
Hugs!
Chris & Kylie xo
Just a quick update. Dixie had staples out yesterday and was also the last time we gave her pain meds. The Surgeon wanted us to only use the Sedative as needed and the Gabapentin (sp?) if we thought she needed it. You guys were spot on with the timing of the pain meds. She woke up this morning having last had the sedative yesterday and she was frisky and ready to go. Exploring the yard and jumped up in our Excursion wanting to go for a ride! We just ordered the Ruffwear harness and hope that will help in getting her out of the car, which is not as easy as getting in for a front amp. Vet suggested a high protein diet and fish oil (I thought she was on a high protein diet). Thanks again to the diligent souls who respond to our questions. You all are amazing.
GREAT. EWS DIXIE GIRL!! And we LOVE GREAT NEWS around here!! 🙂 🙂
You'll see her sparkle come back bigger and brighter than you could ever imagine! And you'll find that you'll spoil ner even more than you imagined you ever could! A cute tripawd like Dixie will get anything she wants anytime she wants now!! 🙂
Stitches out means she gets a drive thru cheeseburger AND ice cream!! 🙂 And we want pictures!! 🙂
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!
Hurrahhhhh for stitches removed 👏🏽👏🏽👍🏼
You've both been through the first landmark date so from here on it should be all getting better and better every day 👌🏽
Yay for your gorgeous cutie pie and yay for you too 😄😄😄
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 :-)
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