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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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3 days as a tripawd cat
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Member Since:
24 December 2019
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24 December 2019 - 3:48 pm
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My poor megan got knocked over 3 days ago. Shes had her rear leg removed. Shes on gabapentin, metacam and an antibiotic. Shes eating if I give her it off my hands and syringing water into her mouth to drink. She used the litter tray for a wee once and also had a poo. I've since noticed she has weed where shes laying and not wanting to move. She is alert with her head but not attempting  to get up at all. Could this be because of the meds or could there be something bad going on? Any advice would be great please as I've never done this before. Thanx 

Livermore, CA


Member Since:
18 October 2009
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24 December 2019 - 4:07 pm
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Hello and welcome, your future posts will not have to wait for approval.

I hope you don't mind that I moved your post here to the 3 legged cat forum- I wanted to be sure our members with cats saw this.

I'm sorry Megan lost a leg...knocked over means? 

Actually, her recovery sounds fairly normal, I do think the meds will make her not want to get up.  I asked about 'knocked over' wondering if she is dealing with any other trauma that would make her more sore and reluctant to move around.

Three days post op is very early in recovery so try not to worry.  Keep your vet informed on what you are seeing and stay tuned for input from our cat members.  In the meantime you might want to look through some of the posts in the cat fourm: Litterbox tips, Best Tri-Kitty Resources, and a list of Blogs from Rear Amp Kitties.

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

 

              Maggie's Story                  Amputation and Chemo


Member Since:
27 July 2014
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24 December 2019 - 6:38 pm
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My cat Mona had Buprenorphine as her pain med rather than gabapentin so I'm not experienced with that medication but have read here that it's effective. Mona would go from flopping around and would then suddenly race around the house. Of course they will sleep a lot in the first few days while recovering. If you are still concerned contact the vet about the pain meds to see if you can reduce the dosage of the gabapentin or administer a lower dose more often throughout the day (for example rather than 2 times a day perhaps you can go to 3 or 4 times a day). This may reduce any drowiness from the medication.

The other suggestion I have is to make sure you interact with Megan by brushing, massaging, playing with a feather, holding her at a window to watch birds, holding her up to assist and encourage walking.

I don't think there is anything bad happening. Megan is obviously recovering from the trauma of a major surgery and every cat is different how they respond in their recovery. Mona loved having ice packs on her surgical site (wrap the pack in a towel) and she especially loved the site being cleaned with a warm, damp facecloth. 

Hugs to you and Megan,

Kerren

On The Road


Member Since:
24 September 2009
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25 December 2019 - 1:56 am
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Thank you for sharing your knowledge Kerren! It’s much appreciated!

Tripawds Founders Jim and Rene
tripawds.com | tripawds.org | bemoredog.net | triday.pet

Member Since:
3 August 2019
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27 December 2019 - 10:55 am
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My Fuzz who is nearing 11 years old had a complete front right leg/scapula amputation on 9/20/19.  He was started on gabapentin several weeks before the surgery to help with pain and received around .75-1 cc per day.  After his surgery he was sent home with continued gabapentin at the dose of .5 3x per day, a fentanyl patch on his neck that was removed by me on day 5 and  2 days of anti-inflammatory pills that he took once daily crushed in his food.  As we have seen on this site, every cat is indeed different in their recovery and there are so many factors starting with overall basic health and age/activity level prior to surgery.  I think I have missed circumstances of your cat's amputation.  Fuzz had cancer and after lab results came back after surgery he was diagnosed with scapulary osteosarcoma.  My Fuzz was a trooper and was up and about literally the day I brought him home.  He had one day of "crash" about the 4th day home where he preferred to lay in corner of his recovery room and not move around much.  Outside of that he was up and moving around, using litterbox ( I bought the disposable kind and a low walled kitten size and kept puppy pee pads all over floor of his recovery room.  He ate and drank like a trooper and I kept dry food out but he ate multiple small meals per day of wet food so I could mix in his medications.  His staples came out on day 10 and at that point he was running around like crazy.  It is my belief a rear leg amputation would be more difficult due to balance and weight bearing so that adjustment might be part of it.  You know your cat best and if you think it is beyond some pain (gabapentin if dosed correctly) and the metacam should absolutely be helping with pain.  If you believe she is in pain or not doing well then definitely reach out to the surgeon/vet and share your concerns.  Without knowing more background/length of time and specifics about being "knocked over" I would just suggest contacting your vet/surgeon and sharing what is going on/concerns!

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