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
YAAAY, Surgery is over! That's a massive relief to get that call!
Juliette is seeing pink elephants right now and will be waiting for you to pick her up!
Great job getting photos up!👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻
AWE & OMC, she is BEAUTIFUL 😻 love her markings. She is going to be the cutest dang tripawd;) If I see the one image correctly, she was already adjusting to three legs. She has the tripawd stance with that front leg in the middle. That painful shoulder/leg will be a relief being gone. She will adjust, and you will be amazed.
I love all these pics and her siblings all too cute.
Recovery is no fun. Just remember you did this for Juliette, not to her.
One major event done Juliette had a successful surgery that's HUGE.
Recovery begins tonight. Rest when she does ok you will need to!
We are sending big hugs!
Holly & Purrkins 💝💝💝
YAY surgery is over! 
That's wonderful. I hope things go well tonight with Juliette. She is SO GORGEOUS! I'm happy you figured out how to add images, thank you for sharing so many great photos with us.
If the physiotherapist doesn't work out (I hope she does!) let me know and I'll try to find another one for you. I'm sure there are more in Quebec.
Oh and the surgery grant is good for Canada too. Check the income guidelines to see if you qualify for assistance. It's a bigger grant than the physiotherapy one but recipients can only receive one grant within 90 days I believe. Let me know if you have any other questions.
Tripawds Founders Jim and Rene
tripawds.com | tripawds.org | bemoredog.net | triday.pet
CUTENESS ALERT!!! CUUUUUTENESS. AAAAALERT!!! Juliette is adorable and beautiful and precious and clearly very well loved!! The one on her back, looking at the camera, with her little "paw pose".....my heart is melting!! And she has a cute kitty and doggy to cheer her on!
Hoping for a peaceful night....hoping.....hoping
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!
P.S. Another favorite is her hooman holding Juliet in the air perfectly balance on her "platform".
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!
benny55 said
P.S. Another favorite is her hooman holding Juliet in the air perfectly balance on her "platform".
Yes, she is so small that she stands on an Ipad mini !
Thank you very much to all ! @Jerry, I'll write back for more grant info. I'm very happy to have found how to put the photos, but even if they are compressed in ko, I already have no more space, it's strange. In the meantime, here is the latest news:
It's very difficult for my mother's heart, but I know it will be for the best.
The surgery went well. For the next two weeks I have Gabapentin, Onsior and an antibiotic, Clavaseptin. I think it's a good start and they are very available to answer questions and very nice.
The transport was difficult, Juliette was very sick, the blanket was flooded with saliva and the wound bled. I thought she was going to want to rest when she arrived (they gave her a dose of morphine for the road) but she's too stressed and hypervigilant. I think the cone freaks her out more than anything else. This week, I had done a test by putting a camisole on her and she had panicked too. She was just moving backwards, completely panicked. Tonight she does the same. She backs up, falls and gets up again, hypervigilance ++.
For the night, I'm going to restrict her environment even more and hope that she will eventually sleep and rest.
Thank you all again for your kind support 
Just very quickly, the backwards walking is something that is very often seen when cats are first adjusting just three legs. Also, I'm sure they dose of morphine has made me made her completely whacked out and she probably is even hallucinating a little bit. But if it stops the pain it's worth it. I know bringing her home the first night is hard to watch oh, but she is coming off of the anesthesia and still has a lot of strong Hospital pain meds in her. Hang in there, you're doing great.
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, coming home on the day of surgery is tough on you all! I hope she was able to rest a little last night?
Ditto Sally the morphine and all the hospital drugs; she is whacked but needed. The drugs can make them wired hypervigilant. I'm sure it was a long night for you all.
I'm hoping that once the Gaba is started, it will help her settle and rest.
That's all Juliette needs to do rest, eat, drink, potty and repeat. She may or may not need help getting in her litter box.
She may be backing up from the cone! You may want to try the camisole again. She MIGHT react differently now to the shirt. Usually, front leg amputees face plant. I want to make sure we understand what's happening.
Hang in there; things will get better. We are with you!
Smooch to Juliette, please!
(((HUGS)))
Holly & Purkins💝💝💝
Good morning !
Juliette seems to have had a good night under the circumstances. I installed her in the small bathroom adjacent to my bedroom because I was unable to properly block access to my underbed. She wasn't happy to be there, but I knew it was safe.
This morning, she was visibly less confused and she ate a little bit, and there was pee in the litter box. I was really happy. I then gave him his medication (gabapentin, onsior and antibiotic). She still seems unwell, but strangely enough, she refuses to go to bed. She remains standing but she knocks nails (don't know if the expression exists in English) like a baby falling asleep in a high chair. Since I thought she looked so uncomfortable, I put my leg under her head. She has dropped all the weight of her head and has been sleeping like this for at least 30 minutes, standing up... I would like to put a photo, but there is no more space 🙁 I will let her recover as much as I can I can't for now, but I'm going to have to move soon. Hopefully she'll get back to a more comfortable position on her own.
I'm going to do another test for the camisole, it's a good idea because the cone seems really anxiety-provoking. She continues to move backwards. However, since her leg had been hurting for a while, she was already used to walking. On the other hand, as the wound is a little oozing (don't know if it's the good word too), maybe it would be a good idea to wait until tomorrow ? What do you think ?
I will also rest today because I am very very tired.....
Awww I can just see her standing up sleeping. Poor girl! I hope by now you were able to move and both of you get some rest. Her pain control sounds good so that should help.
Yes gently try the camisole. I'm guessing the backward walking wasn't necessarily the pain related type that we often see here. But, it could be more about her just trying to get away from the cone. See how she does with the camisole.
And thank you for saying something about your blog photo storage space. It's fixed now. We thought we had increased storage capacity so free Tripawds blogs could have more storage space but apparently we didn't. Now you have up to 100 mg of space. Thanks for compressing your photos, it helps save space. Can't wait to see more.
Tripawds Founders Jim and Rene
tripawds.com | tripawds.org | bemoredog.net | triday.pet
I'm so happy to see Juliette had a good night & EXCELLENT she is eating and peeing in her box! WHOO HOO!
Awe the dear soul is still drugged to the nines; it will pass, and she will rest properly! We have to put ourselves in her shoes; none of us would feel well less than 24 hours after an amputation.
Purrkins incision was not seeping or oozing when he came home. He was also in the hospital a few nights. Regardless I had several onesies and swapped them out at least once daily. If you try the shirt, watch and ensure she cannot get to the incision. If that's not possible, I hate to say it but leave the cone on.
Ditto, yes, I agree she is backing up to get away from the cone, not the scary backward walk we see here in rear leg amputees kitties.
Do you have any rugs or rug runners yoga mats you can put down where Juliette is recovering? The tile floor is slippery for her. It will help Juliette get some traction and provide a little cushion as she learns on three.
Get some rest whenever Juliette does.
Hugs
Holly & Purrkins💝💝💝
Oh thank you for the photos, however, a problem remains, I will explain below, but here it is sleeping upright:
I'm going to try the tank top again tonight, it will be good if it works.
About the pictures, I have 6 + the header :
1- With my husband - 235 ko
2 - On the coach - 218 ko
3- On her back - 250 ko
4 -Where she's sit - 153 ko
5 - Sleeping - 115 ko
6 - On the floor last night - 141 ko
7 - The header - 22 ko
But the system tells me : 26.80 MB (27%) of 100.00 MB used when I have used around 1 MB...This is really strange !
Yes I will try the straitjacket again and every day if it doesn't work but I believe at night I will put the cone back on as cats can be very skilled....and I wouldn't want to risk a problem and have any complications . If not, I know there's also the donut-shaped stuff that might work. Have you ever tried?
And yes, it is certain that one cannot feel in great shape after surgery of this magnitude, I understand that well. This touches me a lot because we don't like to see our animals suffer obviously, but because I too had 3 cancers and major surgeries. I remember how much pain I was in.... So hopefully the meds will help her and really relieve her. I'm glad she's rested since this morning. I keep my fingers crossed that it continues to go well.
I also imagine that the morphine and the other substances can cause him a little constipation? There is also the fact that she fasted for 24 hours. What is the "approximate" time to return to normal on this side ?
And I also forgot, yes I have small yoga mats, but she bypasses everything lol. On the other hand, she is so light (6 pounds) and still used to moving on her 3 legs because of the pain, that I think it won't be so bad for this aspect. My floors are mostly wood, but the varnish is very very worn, so it's relatively "grippy"
Juliette a.eeping on your leg for a couple pf hours.......now that is called swell lpved cat!!! She is so lucky to have you as her hooman♥️ And she clearly jas her Warrior fighter attitude from you! You both are good role models for each other👍
With dogs pooping g can rake several days bec of meds, light appetite, etc. And Holly can address this, but I think with kitties you don't want full blown constipation to set in over days. She can advise you on solutions, etc.
Goo job to all!
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!
1 Guest(s)
