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
Does anyone have experience with the wound starting to weep day 4 - 5 post surgery. There is significant discharge. Lots of sera and now it is starting to thicken up. Doctor tried draining it yesterday, with nothing coming out. It always seems to discharge at night
You want to just keep it clean with water or saline - you can make your own: take some water, boil it and let it cool to room temperature. You don't want to clean it with peroxide. If the drainage is only pinkish, that's ok. But if it starts looking white, then it's infected and Yogi probably needs antibiotics. How do the edges of the incision look? Are they nice and close together, look like they are healing? or are they coming apart? I'm sure if you were at the vet yesterday, though, he looked at that.
Sometimes there is a lot of fluid build-up at the surgical site, which is why some doctors put a drain in for a few days. Another thing you can do is to massage around the area to help his body re-absorb the extra fluids. Ice to the area a couple times a day for about 10-20 minutes will help with swelling, too.
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
Our Max developed a small seroma that leaked mostly after him getting up and moving. Surgeon put him on a broader spectrum antibiotic and had us clean the area twice daily with hibiclens mixed with water to inhibit bacterial growth. It cleared up before his stitches came out. Maybe ask your vet if and what you should clean it with. You definitely DO NOT want to use peroxide because that harms the healing tissue. This is quite common after surgery a lot of dogs develop them. I have also heard that gentle massage on the surrounding tissues helps their bodies reabsorb the extra fluid. Maxs never was thick though so you might want to also check with your vet to make sure it's not getting infected. Let us know how it's doing. Is Yogi wearing a cone at night so he isn't licking the incision area?
Linda & Max
Laughing Donna we must've been posting at same time. Guess we're in sync with each other 😀
Great advice is always worth repeating!! Good stuff Donna and Linda!
Happy Hannah had a seroma develop probably about the same time as ADORABLE YOGI. Very, very minor clear "leaking". As others have said, it's pretty "normal" a d, as long as there is no infection, doing the things suggested should help. I do recall it seemed Happy Hannah's stayed that way for a "long" time. It would start to go down and then, if I recall, even came back once.
Continue to try and keep him quiet.
I just love seeing his avatar picture...soooo cute!
@et us know how it's voing.
Hugs!
Sally and Alumni Happy Hannah and Merry Myrtle a d 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!
Donna you have awesome advice. Your patients are lucky to have you as their nurse!
Jerry had a seroma about a week after amputation too, it's very normal. Follow the tips here and let your vet know if anything's unusual.
Tripawds Founders Jim and Rene
tripawds.com | tripawds.org | bemoredog.net | triday.pet
lol @ Linda!
awe...thanks! 
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
Thanks for all the great comments!!
Update on our Saturday vet visit -- The vet opened up Yogi’s incision and took a look inside. Doesn’t appear to be any infection (they took a sample to culture just in case) but lots of inflammation along one line of internal sutures. It looks like Yogi’s problem is an allergic reaction to the sutures. They opened him up & no signs of infection but lots of inflammation & some pus along the subcutaneous suture line. The sutures closer to the muscle layer was healthy. The subcutaneous suture was Monocryl whereas the muscle layer suture material is PDS. This leads him to think what we have is an allergic reaction to the Monocryl suture material.
They cleaned and flushed the area out real good and put in new subcutaneous sutures using PDS. A shot of steroid to bring down the inflammation and put a fentanyl patch on. They put in a couple of drains to help clear out any additional fluids that build up. They also placed a dressing over the area to absorb any discharge from the drainage tubes and help keep it clean.
Sunday --
After yesterday’s second surgical procedure, to replace the sutures Yogi is allergic to, they used an absorbent non-stick dressing against the incision area to soak up and discharge from the drainage tubes. To make sure it stayed in place they put a compression bandage over it. Since tape won’t stick to fur very well they had to wrap the bandage around his leg and waist, leaving an openings for him to pee & poop through, then tape it to itself. If that sounds difficult – it was! Yogi’s back end is wrapped up like a mummy.
Yogi has a difficult time walking in it, but it’s working really good. He has been able to pee & poop without soiling his wound or the bandage. Being already sore from the surgeries and weak from the narcotics, the bandage presented a real challenge to squatting to do his elimination duties. To assist him we used his car travel harness & a leash to provide some lift to keep him from falling over when he squats.
Yogi's blog is -- yogibeagle.wordpress.com -- if you want to check out pictures and keep up on his progress.
We go back to the vet tomorrow to have the dressing changed. I will post an update after that visit.
Oh my goodness Adorable Yogi! You are cert reminding us that every dog is different and every recovery is different!!! This does happen, but I must say, it certainly wasn't in the forefront of "possibilities" I was thinking about!
You have a wonderful vet...and Yogi has a wonderful advocate in you! I know this "recovery" seems like it will.last forever, but it does end and "normal" returns, slowly but surely!
Thanks so much for the update and the valuable information. Are you up for posting a pocture of mummy butt? Keep us posted, okay? We are all cheering for that cutie pie!!
Love and 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!
(heavy sigh) . . . we're dealing with allergic reactions as well. Meesha had surgery nearly 2 months ago and the sutures that are in the process of dissolving are causing all kinds of leakage. We've been applying a hot compress twice daily.
Good gravy . . .
pam
Harmony became a Tripawd on 10/21/14 (MCT). She left us way too soon on 11/1/14.
"We miss you so much; our love, our heart, our Harmony."
- Pam, Ron and Melody, Meesha, Doublestuff and Mariah Carey
Wow your surgeon sure is on top of things for you! Must make you feel way less stressed knowing he's got you covered! We also had some incision issues not as bad as Yogis but Max had to go back in to surgery to have drains sewn in too. It healed wonderfully after that so hoping Yogis will now too. Give that boy hugs and kisses from all of us this is but a bump in the road and you're all on top of the situation. Pam I'm sorry to hear Meeshas still having problems. I was hoping that had cleared up for you by now 😡 Hope it gets better really soon now for you guys!
Linda & Max
oh yeah, that drainage was nasty! yucky! lol
Really glad your doctor is on top of things! No wonder those drains didn't want to come out! lol
Hope poor Yogi is starting to feel a little better!
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
Post-surgery wound care is diabolical! Really feeling lost and frustrated...
After Yogi's setback with the allergic reaction, we have been struggling with keeping the incision area clean and covered. There is quite a bit of seepage and likely that will continue for a short time. We have tried three sizes of baby diapers, toddler underwear, puppy pee pads (those are a must under him), animal wound care wrap/tape, dog incontinence pads and two types of doggie diapers. We have tried every imaginable way to keep a towel around the area. Yogi is a puppy...so he moves ALOT - each time he moves, stuff comes off.
Yes, we are using a cone too! Our sweet baby has a really skinning neck so we have to use a two-fold approach to the cone of shame . First we have to put a 'collar' on him, then the cone of shame . The collar keeps the cone from sliding down. Without the collar, Yogi is still able to reach the incision area even with the cone on. Leave it to our little guy!
Because of all the trial and error of figuring out something that works, Yogi has been pretty stressed. As much as we hate to give him drugs, we have needed to keep him doped up with the Acepromazine (in addition to the Fentanyl patch).
As you can guess...nothing is working! Pet care companies make all their products for a four-legged animal -- not a lot of good for those of us with a TriPawd!
Last night it looked as though a suture was coming loose - and this morning, it is definitely out. I have put a call into the vet's office to ask if this needs his attention. Nothing like having a holiday tomorrow to really throw a kink in the works.
I just commented on your other post with an idea...
Tripawds Founders Jim and Rene
tripawds.com | tripawds.org | bemoredog.net | triday.pet
Yogi went to the vet today to have his fentanyl patch removed. While there, he got his incision area cleaned up. The area where the drain tubes were removed is still leaking, but we’re thankful that it’s leaking a lot less. THe vet told us to expect a few more days of leaking but at a slower rate each day. They are keeping him on antibiotics for another week because of the leakage.
We told them how tired Yogi has been, so we got the ok to back off the tramadol dose. Hopefully that will help, but we have to watch for any signs of pain. We can also give him the acepromazine if needed for anxiety/stress. He’ll remain on the rimadyl for the time being.
Yogi felt pretty good coming out of the vet and did a short walk around the grounds including navigating a few steps.
Feeling more positive today - things are beginning to look up! Thanks to everyone for your supportive comments!! It is helpful to know that we're not alone on this journey!!
1 Guest(s)
