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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It's hard not to get discouraged, I can't blame you. And nobody wants to see their animal zonked out from pain meds. Sleep deprivation and work demands doesn't make things easier.
But what I can tell you is that it's very likely things will get better when those stitches are out. We have had a small number of members have pets that have troublesome and hard to resolve pain issues. So if your vet is out of ideas and this is continuing a week or so after stitches are out, it's time to find a feline focused vet, preferably a veterinary pain management specialist. I can help find one for you if you PM me your general location.
Also, he may need that 12-hour frequency to be upped just a bit. If his pain breaks through before 12 hours are up, that's a good sign that some adjusting needs to take place. Ask your vet if it's OK to give sooner, especially when those smaller dosages are given to you. And please don't feel badly about keeping him on medication for now. This is not unusual and most times it's not a long term thing.
Hi guys! Thank you for your kind words and encouragement ❤️❤️❤️
His stitches are buried under his skin, so I hope once they “dissolve” things will be back to normal.
I am wondering too if something was not “stitched” up properly, but it feels so traumatizing to have to have him go under again.
Today he slept a lot but did mosey around the house a little more. Once he gets up and walking he kind of “grumbles” .
I just witnessed him laying in the hall and he randomly jumped up in the air, started hissing and running away.
Then went to either lick/nip his suture site. So idk, maybe phantom pain
/ nerve/soreness? He just got his gaba 40 mins ago.
Eek! That could very well be phantom pain . Keep an eye and note if and when it happens again.
I'm sorry it's been such a rollercoaster with Scott. Right now it's all about being clued into those small day to day changes. Starting to get up and around the house is good!
If your vet is out of suggestions to help with pain, Jerry's idea to find a cat or pain management focused specialist to take a look would be a great place to start. You can always ask up front if they have experience with tripawds to make sure you're working with someone who knows their stuff.
Also gabapentin is a medication that cats can be on indefinitely, so if he's doing better on it than off it (and it is ok with your vet) you don't necessarily have to wean him off until he's well recovered. Gaba can make him sleepy, that plus the physical recovery he's going through, it makes sense that he's sleeping most of the day. Gotta get that beauty rest!
The important thing now is that he heals and gets comfortable. If you go back to the beginning of your thread here and re-read you're going to see how much progress the two of you have made. I know it's hard to believe that when you're looking at your cat and see he's in pain, but things are getting better. You're doing a great job of advocating for him and making sure he's taken care of.
Senior trikitty Luanne had a right forepaw removed in May of 2022 and is still going strong! Here's our story.
As always, thank you so much for everyone that comments and has stuck alongside Scott's journey!
It is Sunday evening now and this morning we gave him the 50mg Gaba; he seemed fine for about 6.5 hours, then he started exhibiting signs of distress and pain. My husband said he was walking backwards, jumped up, growling, hissing, and curled in on himself. Phantom pain or regular soreness, we are unsure, but he acted like this for about 15 mins before we gave him another dose. We were told it is okay to give him an additional 50 if this happens so we did this and it has been almost 6 hours now. He seems pretty okay, still grumbley when he gets up to move!
Good news - he can officially take his shirt and cone off since all the scabs are officially gone. He has been very happy grooming himself. I do make sure to watch him incase he hits a sensitive spot and maybe bites. We thought he was always grumbling because of having the shirt on, and his noises have gone down. But when he goes to get up he still makes them.
So I think we are going to keep him on the 100mg for another week and try the 50 next weekend. They still do not want us leaving him alone until we see him acting more "normal".
Another win for the weekend - he was playing with his little toy while laying on his back and cuddled with his dad for about 3 hours straight. Last night he always initiated chasing his brother, which his brother was SO thrilled about and took it too far (naturally). He is walking a little bit more now, I think his weight is hindering this because he has to take breaks. Now I think we need to start the diet process and I have 0 idea where to begin.
Wish I could be more help with his "issues" (whatever it might be). Generally though. Phantom limb pain doesn't last fifteen minutes. The actual "running away from the pain, yelping or crying " only lasts a minute-ish. Now their may be a residual effect of shivering, acting frightened, anxious, etc.
Hopefully the Gaba will continue to help and break the pattern. Otherwise, you may want to consider a second opinion and present a video.
For now though, there is a huge reason to celebrate:
Another win for the weekend - he was playing with his little toy while laying on his back and cuddled with his dad for about 3 hours straight. Last night he always initiated chasing his brother, which his brother was SO thrilled about and took it too far (naturally). He is walking a little bit more now,
HUGE PROGRESS!!!!
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!
YES! This is some real progress for him! And you are a rock star for seeing that progress! 
One day at a time. The diet change can wait for a bit until you get this pain under control, which is sounds like this might be the week. Keep us posted.
Happy Tuesday everybody!
You guys are not going to believe this. Sunday night I was laying with Scott and petting him. I saw a weird thing sticking up on his back right paw. I went to investigate and pushed his claws out -- at some point in the last 2-3 weeks Scott ripped one of his back claws off. The little nub is not bloody, just pink and raw looking. We have no idea when or how because we have not seen any indication of this injury until right now. Of course we took photos and sent them to our vet right away.
She said unfortunately there is not much they can do but let the wound heal and the nail to start growing back. But she did say this quite possible could be why he is still in pain. She said maybe he got litter stuck there and he was over grooming and biting; or it could have happened when he opened his sutures.
HOWEVER, looking back to when he was still enclosed in his post-op room, he sometimes would hit his back foot on his stuffed animal and he would get growly and bite it. I thought he was just irritated or frustrated, so of course I am beating myself up some for not seeing this sooner. He is going to the bathroom normally and is putting weight on the foot, so I never suspected a different injury.
SO, now we wait and keep him on the 100mg Gaba, each weekend we will try the 50mg to see how his pain tolerance his, but I fear we are going to be waiting for a bit. I have also tried to upload photos here before, but it only creates a bunch of random letters and numbers. Sorry for the lack of cute Scott photos!
Now isn't that something?! So maybe, just maybe, you've found the "cause" of his extra growly hissing moments. Certainly hope so!!
Wish there was something that could be done in the meantime to help heal. Has to be sore!
I'm going to PM you with my email address. You can send me a couple of photos there and I would be more than hapoy to post. Cant wait to see pictures of this precious 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!
Wow that's interesting! Something like that sure can be painful so hopefully you've nailed the cause (lol pun not intended)!
I can't wait to see your photos, thanks for helping out Sally!
Okay, all together now......Awwwww. Look at that mug! Isn't Scott a stunningly handsome fella'?
And does he look adorable as a "sunflower"?😉 Although I'm sure Scott loathes that cone, we hoomans love him as a "flower child"😎
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!
LOVE LOVE LOVE HIM! Oh my gosh what a face!
Thanks for sharing these Sally. We needed that dash of sweetness today!
Good afternoon all!
So it has been almost 2 weeks since my last post! Wow how time flies.
Scott has been doing SO well! He is really starting to shine as a tripod and is getting more and more confident every day.
His two back toes are healing. However, on his back left paw, there is something weird going on -- like the "pinky" toe won't separate from the next toe and the claw wont pop out. Everytime we mess with it he growls and whines. We called the vet and she said he does not want him to come in and as long as he is not limping on it, to just monitor it and it may sort itself out.
He is still on the 100mg gabapentin every 12 hours. we are going to try and ween him down to 50 mg this weekend and see how he handles this.
He LOVES chasing the laser pointer and cuddling in the mornings. He is back to being a sweet purr machine. When there is something new to try he does get a little grouchy and frustrated when he cannot figure it out and we try to help, but we also want him to figure things out on his own. It's hard not helicopter parenting him.
Thank you all for the love and support through this. I truly think we are finally out of the trenches! next step is to
1) tackle stairs
2) tackle the catio
3) lose weight and
4) get him off meds
Aww thank you for the update! Sounds like a pretty good track record so far. I hope the reduction in pain meds is successful. You are doing 50 mg every 12 hours right? Not 50 mg every 24?
Many Tripawds develop a stance that affects how their digits meet the ground. But I'll be honest: if you wait until he limps, that pain is really, really bad. Why wait that long? I can't recall, but did we do a search for you to find a mobile vet who can come in and look at him? It really sounds like his current medical team is not very accommodating to cats, and I'd hate to see Scott not get the care he deserves just because he doesn't like going into the clinic. A feline-focused vet makes all the difference.
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