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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Aww we knew you could handle this!! I hope she's rocking her Caturday!
Tripawds Founders Jim and Rene
tripawds.com | tripawds.org | bemoredog.net | triday.pet
So today upon waking up Chloe followed me out to the kitchen for food which she also used to do and a bit later I brought her back to my room and she slept in the cage most of the day. I skipped the morning dose of Buprenorphine to see how she did without it and just gave the gabapentin upon and thought she did good for the most part. I did notice her trying to get at her stitches which she wasn’t doing at all before so I’m thinking they must be uncomfortable. At one point I went to change out her blankets because she did get some poop on there from using the litter box which I’ve basically had to do each day but this time she got really upset by it crying loudly and even grabbed my hand with her teeth (not quite a bite but close) she’s never come close to being mean or biting me in her whole life. So I had two thoughts that it just could be that she’s so stressed out already that just set her over the edge or they she is still feeling some pain (which I suppose could also be stressing her out). So I ended up just now giving her a dose of the Buprenorphine. What do you think about this? Do you agree that it could be a sign of pain enough to keep giving the meds a few days or do you think it is just adjusting in general?
Great that she returned to her old habit of follow you to kitchen for food. 👏👍
Just wondering if changing the blanket maybe pulled on a stitch or caused her to flex or tense her muscles in an uncomfortable way. Just throwing that out there FWIW.
Others can vetter advise on kitty pain meds. This may have been just a one time thing where she tweaked something, or it may be she needs more pain meds. Licking her stitches could be jist because it's getting itchy,. Of course speak with your Vet, but maybe just monitoring her to see of she has another seemingly random painful episode .
Give sweet Chloe an ear scritch for us.
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!
Hmmm....my guess is that she wouldn't have reacted the way she did unless she was hurting. Sally had good insight about maybe the blanket pulled a suture, but I would go back to the meds and see if that eliminates any future episodes like this.
Tripawds Founders Jim and Rene
tripawds.com | tripawds.org | bemoredog.net | triday.pet
Chloe continues to be doing well and I wanted to try to share a video of her walking but I can’t seem to figure out how lol
Glad to hear Chloe is soing well. Looking forward to seeing a video of that sweet girl.
Okay....here is my techie (not) attempt for posting a video.Tap the "share" icon under the video from your gallery. Tap YouTube. Load it. There are four dots over to the right where the video is loaded. Tap "share".....tap "copy link".......come back to Tripawds forum and "paste" link. Bingo bango video should appear!!
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!
ok let’s see if that worked. Here is a little snippet of her walking into the kitchen with yoga mat to help (although she doesn’t seem to need it)
Yes indeedy!! It worked! Chloe is walking really, really well! She is balanced and quite fluid in her gat. AND she's adorable!!!!
Now we need more!
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!
YAY! She looks really good, and so confident! Thanks for posting it.
P.S. YouTube has this dumb, confusing setting when you upload movies. It asks you "Is this made for kids?" and of course you would think "Is this safe for kids?" and mark "Yes." BUT, when you do that, it doesn't allow other YouTube channels like ours to add these "kid videos" to our playlists. If you can go and un-check the "Made for kids' setting, we can add Chloe to the Tripawds YouTube channel.
Looks like she's rockin' the life! 
Tripawds Founders Jim and Rene
tripawds.com | tripawds.org | bemoredog.net | triday.pet
Chloe looks great! Thanks for sharing the vid.
When do the stitches come out?
My Jet is also a left-rear leg amputee. I got him a couple of months after the surgery, so I can't help much with recovery tips, but I can tell you he has as much spunk as my 4-legged cat.
Brad
I'm so glad Chloe is doing well!
I noticed that Max REALLY liked when I would gently rub his scar over the onesie. I think it was a bit itchy and it really helped calm it down. Ice helped a ton too. We had a little round booboo ice pack from CVS. By the point it was itching, he'd only tolerate the ice for a few minutes, but it was enough to help distract him from the itch. The scabs were likely itchy too, so I used a warm washcloth to try to soften them/ get them free from his skin so they weren't pulling as they dried. Only a few scabs seemed to be a problem, and once those were dislodged from his skin (but still sorta attached to the scar) he was MUCH happier.
Max's stitches were dissolvable and were all under the skin, so I don't know if that's different.
I watched the video of her walking and she's doing so well! I think it's easier for them to use the front legs to pull the back leg than move the back legs to push then hop the front leg, although I'm amazed how well they adapt in either situation.
I'm so happy for you and Chloe.
@mrmaxmoose thank you so much for sharing your pawesome experience with Chloe's peeps! Incision healing is what we want but speaking from personal experience I know how much it itches. I like that you used the warm wash cloth to help with the healing process.
Tripawds Founders Jim and Rene
tripawds.com | tripawds.org | bemoredog.net | triday.pet
Sorry I haven’t been on here in a while since she’s been doing so well. She got her stitches out at the two week mark. They extended her gabapentin 3 weeks at that time because they said she did show signs it was still painful when they manipulated her hips. Now Chloe is doing sooo well, it took her a bit to get back to her usual habits and places that she likes to lay but she is finally there. The only thing she struggles with now is jumping, so I do have boxes/bins next to the beds/couch to help her but with the help of those she can do it just fine. Her personality is back to where it was before and I am now really happy I made the decision to amputate.
here are some pics of Chloe
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