Caring for a Three Legged Dog or Cat
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Hello,
This is my first post here at tripawds although I used this website extensively when we were in the process of making the decision to amputate our cats leg. Four months ago our cat Darwin started limping. We were able to have him quickly seen by our vets office. It took several weeks and few appointments with our vet, as well as two visits by the orthopedic specialist, before they noticed the end of his fibula was "missing". Yes, "missing" was the word that was used; they were so focused on his hips that they failed to x-ray his lower leg where the problem was. They sent the x-rays to a specialist who diagnosed him with osteomylitis (bone infection) and recommended a bone biopsy. The bone biopsy results were inconclusive so the examining pathologist recommended a bone culture (ggrrr...another surgery). The bone biopsy was such an extensive and awful process we were extremely hesitant to do the culture. Then later we found out not only was it very unlikely the culture would grow anything but that the problem with Darwin's leg would likely turn cancerous. Amputation seemed like the best most humane solution for him, especially given he's only a 1-year old cat and would likely recover quickly and go on to live a long, happy life.
My concern is that just days after surgery Darwin would have these episodes of walking backwards. He'd lift his stump in the air, sometimes cry out and seemed disoriented for a moment or two. Then he'd recover and all was well. These episodes increased for a time then almost went away completely. Now, here we are six-weeks post-op and the episodes are back. They are more intense than before and he's having them all day. I really appreciate this website because I found people having the same issues with their cats:
http://tripawds.....mputation/
Finding this was a huge relief to me and I'm so grateful to those who contributed. I'm also shocked at the large number of cat owners who have reported this side-effect. My vet has no clue what it causing it nor has he seen this problem before. He did suggest we could try gabapentin, but he didn't seem to think it would help. I made an appointment and had him re-examine Darwin today so he could rule out any obvious physical issues, then he prescribed the gabapentin. I just gave Darwin his first dose (12.5mg once daily/chewable) and I'm keeping my fingers crossed.
What I'd love to know from any of you is, Did this problem resolve? If so, how long did it take and what did you try? He had been off his medications (buprenex and Onsior) for several weeks and I'm wondering if pain, possibly even phantom pain , is causing his issue. His little stump was trembling so hard yesterday and was very sore to touch. He also licks his stump after an episode which makes me think his stump hurts. I'm concerned the dose of gabapentin my veterinarian gave me today is too low, but have nothing to compare it to. My poor kitty. He's been through so much. Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated. I can't imagine Darwin having to go through life having these episodes all day. My vet suggested finding an acupuncturist if the gabapentin does not help.
Kate
Welcome and best wishes for Darwin!
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Hi Kate & Darwin
Welcome , I’m sorry Darwin is having these episodes ! One years old?? I thought Purrkins was young at 6 having to have his amp! I cant imagine 1 years old & your dealing with this we are very sorry! The good thing about being so young is he will adjust a lot easier on 3! Have to get this sorted out ASAP so he can hop on!!
I am glad your vet has prescribed Gabapentin!! Gabapentin is used for nerve pain/phantom limb pain it should help him!
As for the dose I am no expert you could post in our Ask the Vet forum and see what she thinks. She is volunteer Vet so it might not be a immediate response .
What I can tell you is Purrkins was sent home with Gabapentin 100 mg after his amp every 8 hours for 14 days along with Buprenorphine 0.3 mg given every 8-12 hours for 12 days. If that helps in any way. It does sound like a low dose but I only know what Purrkins was on.
We took Purrkins for acupuncture to help him get off his pain meds our holistic vet thought it would help In all aspects and it absolutely did!!! We continue to go as a maintenance every 3 months. Acupuncture would be helpful I agree I would use both methods if possible to get Darwin feeling better asap.
Purrkins is a front leg amp we didn’t have the backwards walk etc. I hope someone chimes in with rear amp to give you their opinion.
It should NOT be going on this long and NOT being getting worse a second opinion is needed if the meds or acupuncture don’t help!
We are hoping one or both help Darwin!
Hugs & chin scratches to Darwin!
Holly & Purrkins❤️
Purrkins said
Hi Kate & Darwin
Welcome , I’m sorry Darwin is having these episodes ! One years old?? I thought Purrkins was young at 6 having to have his amp! I cant imagine 1 years old & your dealing with this we are very sorry! The good thing about being so young is he will adjust a lot easier on 3! Have to get this sorted out ASAP so he can hop on!!I am glad your vet has prescribed Gabapentin!! Gabapentin is used for nerve pain/phantom limb pain it should help him!
As for the dose I am no expert you could post in our Ask the Vet forum and see what she thinks. She is volunteer Vet so it might not be a immediate response .
What I can tell you is Purrkins was sent home with Gabapentin 100 mg after his amp every 8 hours for 14 days along with Buprenorphine 0.3 mg given every 8-12 hours for 12 days. If that helps in any way. It does sound like a low dose but I only know what Purrkins was on.
We took Purrkins for acupuncture to help him get off his pain meds our holistic vet thought it would help In all aspects and it absolutely did!!! We continue to go as a maintenance every 3 months. Acupuncture would be helpful I agree I would use both methods if possible to get Darwin feeling better asap.
Purrkins is a front leg amp we didn’t have the backwards walk etc. I hope someone chimes in with rear amp to give you their opinion.
It should NOT be going on this long and NOT being getting worse a second opinion is needed if the meds or acupuncture don’t help!
We are hoping one or both help Darwin!
Hugs & chin scratches to Darwin!Holly & Purrkins❤️
Holly and Purrkins,
Thank you so much for your reply. The information you've given me is quite helpful. Darwin is worse today, he can't even walk a few steps to his food, water and litter box without having an episode. My vet said I could start up the buprenex again if I felt he needed it so this morning I did. Thankfully that seems to have him resting comfortably. I appreciate your information regarding dosing. Your vet was much, much more giving with pain meds than mine and I'll keep that in mind. I just left a message with the orthopedic surgeon that did his bone biopsy. Even though he didn't perform his amputation I'm hoping he'll help us out with Darwin and I'll certainly get his opinion on dosing. Admittedly my vet was not sure what gabapentin dose to use as he's had no experience with it in cats. Right now Darwin is getting 12.5mg daily, and he only received .1 of the oral buprenex. That's a HUGE difference from what Purrkins received. Do you happen to know if the gabapentin takes a while to become effective? He's only had two doses thus far, but I'm feeling it's our only hope. Hopefully someone with a similar story will reply...
I'm glad to hear your kitty did well with accupuncture. Years ago, we took my asthmatic to receive treatments and it helped so much. If the orthopedic surgeon is unable to recommend anything I may go that route. Right now I'm extremely concerned about him. These episodes are so bad I'm worried we may have to put him to sleep. When he lies down he feels 100% fine. But as soon as he gets up and tries to walk he's a mess. It's absolutely traumatic to watch!
Thanks again for your reply,
Kate
I am so sorry Darwin is worse today. Something is clearly wrong, no improvement with the Gaba at all then?
All About Gabapentin for Tripawd Dogs and Cats
I did a screen shot on some info on Gaba for you. I think it takes a few days but I honestly do not know & so hope someone who knows the answer chimes in! I will look further to see what I can fine. (Sally?) (Help please)
Our Vet was not much more giving on the pain meds actually we were sent home with 3 days of the Buprenorphine. I had to call and get more pain meds prescribed Purrkins was still in pain. When I talked to the surgeon he agreed and prescribed more. They did send us home with the 14 days of Gaba but that was only because we insisted on it prior to his surgery . We learned about the Gaba on this site prior to the amp so we went in armed with questions and some knowledge anyway;)
Are you near a teaching hospital ?
I think you need to get him seen asap & get this figured out and managed.
Here is link to find a AAHA -Accredited hospital they will be up to date on pain management
!
https://www.aah.....fault.aspx
We are hoping you can call and at least get the dosage figured out to something more manageable I would see about getting Darwin in somewhere ASAP I am so sorry your going thru this!
Hugs! Holly & Purrkins 
This has to be sooooo frustrating! ,Seeing any of out furbabies in pain is so hard!
Tske some deep breaths and know that this will get figured out, okay?
The Gaba s certainly an excellent starting point.
Now, as you know, we are not Vets and not giving veterinary advice. It is my understanding that Gaba does take a bit of time to kick in to be really effective. Itmay be that getting the right medication is the solution, and the right dose the right.
And you may already ve doi g this, but try GENTLE massage around the incision area as he wakes up before he starts moving.
Hang in there! We'll get this figured out!
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!
I almost forget one important note on taking both the Gaba & Bup we were told to space those one hour apart from each other. Just a fyi & I again am no expert & not a vet but I would think you need more then 1 dose a day especially at that low dose. Please post in the Ask a Vet forum or call the Vet or BOTH and get some more advice explain exactly what is going on & this needs addressed ASAP
Please keep us posted
Hugs!
You da' bomb Holly! I think we were voth replying simultaneously!
Ditto getting those pain meds and doses figured out.
One thing that came to mind is the dog Ollie who ended up having jumbled nerve endings (in layman's terms). It took a p other exploratory surgery to discover them and to resolve ot. He did fine once they figured things out.
Odd that, although this happened at first, it cleared up and then just recently started again.
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!
And another PS...I do remember my Vet saying Gaba needed to ve given two times a day because it doesn't stay in her system long....this was in reference to Happy Hanny dog who was also taking Tramadol. He also gave me a three rime per day plan sith appropriate dose if needed.
In dogs so etimes, Vets start them on Gaba several days PRIOR to surgery to maximizw the effect once surgery is complete, thus indicating it takes a bitnof time to reach maximum effectiveness.
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 Sally we did;) Looking for more answers too:)
Tips for Managing Phantom Limb Pain in dogs
Easy Massage Tips for Phantom Leg Pain in Tripawd Dogs & Cats
We have a member who had a really bad experience with Phantom limb pain & It would at least show you your not alone . Her kitty is a front leg amp, she has the dosages on her blog.
Day 5 Post Op: Phantom Limb Pain
Just passing this on if you need some proof for your Vet print the pdf I included the link below. Scroll down to the feline !
https://ivapm.o.....t-2017.pdf
Hello,
I am not sure I can help much here as Tuxedo was never on Gabapentin. But he is a rear leg amputee and did have occasional spells where he would hiss and make frustrated type sounds. This was always followed by a bit of what I call butt scooting as it was not exactly backward walking. At first I thought it might be phantom pain and I researched that. I even gave him some homeopathic meds to soothe the nerves. Yet the sessions kept happening. After watching, I noticed they always happened when he was trying to stand up from a seated or laying position only on soft surfaces.
I do not know if this is the same thing or even just a part of what you are experiencing, but I mention it just in case. Here, making the soft surfaces more firm eliminated the problem. No matter what, I hope you can find something to help soon.
-Dawna, Tuxedo, and Dazzle
Thank you all for your replies and insight. My vet decided to open up his wound yesterday in an area where Darwin seemed painful. She said he's had a pretty bad internal suture reaction as well as over-formation of scar tissue. She debrided the scar tissue and removed the internal sutures, then re-sutured with very small sutures that are unlikely to cause another reaction. Then she stapled him up rather than use sutures again. She also increased his pain medication. She was pretty confident that these two issues were the source of his problem and told me she felt optimistic.
Unfortunately, when she called to check on him this morning I had to deliver the news that the episodes continue. She was hoping for immediate relief for him, but admitted it may take to some time for the irritated tissue to heal before we see results. She also told me gabapentin takes 3 weeks to build up in his system, so he may have some additional relief there, in time.
Mommatux, very interesting, I've noticed Darwin has the worst of his episodes when he first stands up. Hard or soft surfaces don't seem to matter however.
Our vet does seem to really care and want to help him. She was the original vet who saw him, then another vet in her office did the amputation when she was out of town. She told me she'd call again later this week and check in. Hopefully, things will have improved and if not I guess we'll see what she thinks then. They've recommended an MRI, but the cost is $2,000 and we've already spent $4,000 on him. No teaching hospital nearby, but our (human) university clinic lets veterinarians use their MRI machine after hours. I'm also not sure how much more I want to put this poor kitty through. A neuroma (?) was mentioned as suspect, which is apparently a growth on the end of a severed nerve. It's been mentioned that with another exploratory surgery she could go looking for that. It sounded like an easy fix, basically just removing the growth....but I guess we'll make that decision when we get there.
Thanks again for replying. I'll keep you all posted on where things go with him.
Kate and Darwin
I forgot to mention something. I'd noted that Darwin was doing great in his recovery before these symptoms re-appeared. Our vet mentioned that suture reactions can take weeks or even months to develop, so she wasn't too surprised (if indeed the reaction is causing his issues). Another vet we spoke with (the ortho-surgeon who saw him) also mentioned that the possible growth on his nerve could of taken weeks to develop, which would put us in that time-frame as well.
Thanks for the update and for all the details this will indeed help someone else in the further.
I'm sorry Darwin had to have a another surgery and we will keep all paws crossed this is his fix, I can only imagine how hard this has been to watch him thru these episodes! Great to know on the gaba and really hope to read he is doing better on your next update with no episodes! Glad to hear she increased the pain dosages hope on the gaba frequency too!
I think that is what Sally was referring to a nerve bundle on Ollie? Sally will be able to tell you more. Hopefully you don't need more info and this is the fix! It definitely sounded and sounds like nerve pain. Gaba kick in and work🙏
Hugs & best wish Darwin we have all our Paws crossed for healing and for nerves to be soothed the episodes to stop !
Holly & Purrkins
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