Caring for a Three Legged Dog or Cat

…the CBD for the best effects. I used a full spectrum CBD for Mitchell. 

Mitchell was our yellow lab/pit mix. He had a leg injury and had to have cruciate ligament surgery that left him still limping, incontinent, and shortly after that he started showing signs of dementia. He was not a spring chicken,

…with Mitchell's passing. And it has been tough, a lot tougher than I imagined it would be. It has brought up a lot of anger over how that first surgery for cruciate ligament changed our lives. Going through old photos, seeing the "before" Mitch and the "after" Mitch. It just sucks. And it makes me…

…realize how long ago we really lost him 😭😭 I have no doubt in my mind that something happened during that first surgery. And nobody had the balls to tell me. I think he lost oxygen, or his heart, for a bit and then was resuscitated. He was never the same dog after

…hind leg. It cannot be removed. Amputation has been recommended. However, his left hind leg has osteoarthritis in the knee and hip and he had cruciate ligament surgery (has a metal plate to hold his knee in place) 6 years ago. I am so concerned that his remaining leg would not be able to support

…in chewing her toes off and didn’t want her anymore. After that she had a total right front amputation. Less than a year later she tore her cranial cruciate ligament in left rear, four days later she tore her right. She had TPLOs one month apart with extensive rehab. She has been doing ok until 6 months…

…ago. She now has one of the biggest OCD lesions(joint mouse) that most vets have seen. She now needs arthroscopic surgery on her shoulder. I’ve been hesitant to go forward with surgery because of the rehab afterward. Cart and harness suggestions would be awesome. I

…seems that what you want to know is:

Is it wrong to consider amputation if Astrid's mobility problems can be fixed with two separate surgeries, a cruciate repair surgery and a FHO? 

Do I bite the bullet and take the longer surgery route to fix the ligament then the hip down the road? Or do I pursue

…weight would have on the leg and her overall health). I set to work seeking to lower her weight, improve her health, and set aside money for her surgery, and in the meantime we provided cosequin as a supplement, and galliprant for the pain. Two years of dieting, exercising, playing and love later,…

…body condition has been scored as "ideal" by her vet and is considered very healthy for her age. YAY! I'd contacted the surgeon once more about the surgery when something happened last Saturday night (04/20/19). I noticed she was limping pretty bad in the early evening (she always had a slight limp,…

…put on galliprant for the pain, and even then, she was holding her leg up non-stop). Their advice was to contact a surgeon about performing a cruciate ligament repair to deal with the knee, then schedule a FHO a couple months down the road. As I investigated this, a couple worries started appearing…

…to me. I was looking at longer (now multiple) recovery times, one for each surgery. I worried about future pain issues with the leg, such as arthritis, and this meant delaying her much needed hip surgery even more. And, as much as…

…hand on several occasions, animal welfare improve after the removal of a limb by vet staff. To me, I see several positive aspects here: one, it's a surgery that has one recovery period that's relatively short. Two, Astrid is already moving well on three legs and this could resolve the pain very quickly…

…mobility, but I feel wrong not taking the route suggested by her vet (and she does have a great vet). Do I bite the bullet and take the longer surgery route to fix the ligament then the hip down the road? Or do I pursue an amputation to try and alleviate the pain in one go? 

From the tone of the

…wobbly and falls lots.       Had x rays and it showed the cartilage in both the knee and hip are worn out.       Unfortunately this leg also had cruciate surgery to repair the torn ligament back in 2015.       X rays also showed that in the 'stumpy" there is evidence of more bone cancer. 

I am

…but you can do it!

Unfortunately this is one of the most common post-amputation surgeries we see around here. This post amputation orthopedic surgery study was done recently and it should give you some comfort knowing that even after a remaining limb surgery, the majority of pet parents who went…

…Loving Life On Three Legs
? Many of the recovery tips we have in there are applicable to your situation.

Here is the link about Izzy and Amy's cruciate repair recovery that Sally mentioned.

Keep us posted on how she's doing, we're cheering you both on!

…1/2 years ago, not long after Rosie passed away. He has never acted like a "young" dog at all. 

He tore his leg up chasing a ball and had to have cruciate ligament surgery about 2 1/2 years ago. His vet recommended a surgeon and we had his leg "repaired" but he came back a different dog. That was when…

…he started with incontinence. I had a bad feeling about the whole thing, still do. I have never seen a dog recover so terrible from that surgery. Had an emergency under anesthesia? Lost oxygen? I don't know but that is what my instincts tell me. 

So... when he had to have emergency surgery last year (changed to different animal hospital) I was a mess. Until the doc asked me if I wanted to stay to observe. She knew my background, so

…didn't want to use his left hind left at all. So I took him to the vet, they felt his knee quite swollen, took X-rays and they reckon he's torn his ligaments and suggested an operation, with screws and everything, to help him recover faster. This TTA surgery, to be more specific.

So I thought I'd look…

…on his situation. Would a wheelchair
work for him? With him having only 1 front leg and all. He's almost 12, so what are the risks with the TTA surgery? Would his bone recover?

Thanks in advance and enjoy your Sundays!

Henrique

… videos and podcasts about remaining limb surgeries in the Tripawds News blog
. Search these forums and you will find many topics discussing cruciate ligament surgery.

While you wait for comments from others, use the Advanced Search above to refine your forum search results with specific phrases

…rottie who is just  a year and 3 months was just diagnosed with needing Cruciate ligament surgery on both rear legs, there is no guarantee of the surgery or recovery and we were wondering if anyone has had this surgery before or knew anyone? I've had 4 sets of rotties growing up and this is the first

…? Especially tripawds?

A little background on 11 year old Izzi: She has had  major health problems her whole life beginning with luxating patella surgery at age 1and two blown cruciate ligaments a few years later. Then she was diagnosed with osteosarcoma in Sept 2016 and had her right back leg

…move him down to maintenance. 

I cannot tell you why he has regained control of his bladder, is it the cbd? He went a long time.. since his cruciate ligament surgery, slowly peeing more and more often in the house. I do know for sure that his cognitive functions are shockingly better. He is more

…lab Pepper had xrays done when her heart started having problems, and she had arthritis in her spine that was totally asymptomatic. I assisted a cruciate ligament surgery that when they sliced open his knee the fluid squirted out of it because the supplement had been used faithfully. The doctor was

…but this seems to help make him more comfortable. Mitchell is old. He has been through 3 major surgeries, and we had problems after the first surgery for cruciate ligament repair. I really think something happened to him that time, but nobody would own up to anything. He has had problems with

…is a Great dane x mastiff who is a week from surgery after a front leg amputation and is very reluctant to walk and will go 6 or 7 steps then stops and lies down.  He is eating, not drinking too much,…

…him home on friday.  I'm making him some chicken broth to get him to drink more.  He has a bit of arthritis in his remaining front leg and had cruciate ligament surgery on one of his back legs.  I'm worried sick, should he be walking better than this at this stage.  He's on Gabapentin, Amantadine

…back on Feb 16, 2018 Eboni had surgery to repair Cruciate Ligament, rear leg.  Things went bad and she ended up getting the leg amputated March 1.  It's been quite the drama.  She has had issues with the cone,

…a lift his leg, pee on command dog, lol), Andy they will have to get it by cysto. I am afraid they are going to tell me he needs another $1000.00 surgery to remove stones. Between Huckleberry, Andy, and Mitchell we have made a ton of vet bills in the last year. Mitch had cruciate ligament surgery

…him about 5 years now. He has a bad back end, I think from being in that little room all those years and not being able to stretch out much. He had cruciate ligament surgery last year and now he is having incontinence problems. Before they did his surgery they x-rayed his back and found the tiniest of…

…stones in his bladder, but he never showed any signs of discomfort or incontinence until he had the surgery. We are in the process of having it checked out, although to be honest it seems like the house peeing thing seems to be done when he is mad at us

…there for so many people. You got chocolate handy?? I'm sorry, the abbreviations you are all using I am not familiar with. I have seen a bunch of cruciate ligament surgeries done by the surgeon that used to come to the hospital I worked at. The only one I ever saw go wrong was with my Mitchell here in…

…Kentucky. The surgery that I am familiar with consists of them going in and repairing the tear. If I remember this correctly they had to smooth out the bone spurs also.…

…process. Still breathing?? Nice and easy, I'm sending you the most ginormous hug that I can under normal circumstances this is a very successful surgery. We weren't that lucky. Mitch has had a slight limp ever since and by now I'm sure he has arthritis. He has never had great hips and he is 70

…rest. Sally is right, they can get really whiney with the meds. I think some of that is part of your puppy and her personality. When Mitch had cruciate ligament surgery I found out that he has a ZERO threshold for pain, and whining became his second favorite thing in the world to do, hahah. That

…a human hand with a closed fist. That didn't happen too much, but the kicking is what sent me to the vet with her.

In our case, it was a ruptured cruciate ligament (CCL). The did a complete neurological exam and all was normal but her knee was unstable, which is how they arrived at the diagnosis.…

…run on just two legs. It did the trick for her, but she needed help to stand still and to potty both before and immediately after her knee repair surgery.

Like your pup, Izzy took daily steroids for over a year and they took a dramatic toll on her muscles. I started her on GorillaMax, which is a

…. We have a beloved 13 yr old Hunterway X who lost her hind leg 3 years ago due to a severe case of animal cruelty.

Jay Jay did amazingly post surgery for 3 years and was almost more active than before her amputation. She accompanied us on daily walks of over an hour and lived her life just as full…

…with inflammation. This had little effect after 10 days so my next step was to consult another vet who finally preformed X-rays and concluded a cruciate ligament tear was the cause of her lameness. I was then referred to a specialist surgeon who was to go ahead with Tibial Plateau Levelling Osteotomy…

…surgery, however just before surgery when she was under anaesthetic and he could properly feel her joint movement he doubted the diagnosis of a cruciate ligament tear. He preformed X-rays of her spine and concluded the disc were worn and she had arthritis of the spine due to the twisting a tripod

…and also, it's not like you can see limping in a tripawd now, can you?

This morning he hopped around ok. Now I have been looking around here for ligament issues but I can only seem to find issues with hind legs, such as cruciate ligament surgery and such.

Does anybody know anything about front leg

…about 12 when she had her front leg amputated (osteo) and she's still getting around like a champ, even though we had to repair her knee after her cruciate ligament ruptured this past fall. I don't regret the amputation one bit and she didn't either. In fact, she was up and walking the day after surgery - crazy girl!

Let us know how things are going!

…year old "pup" lost a limb to OSA, has MCT on one of her hind legs (inoperable as it's between her pads/toes) so is on chemo for that and had knee surgery on that same leg while taking it. I am far from a smartypants on Carbo vs Palladia (what Izzy takes), but, I wanted to throw it out there that, if…

… her breed is prone to it and she's OLD, so just like humans, if ya live long enough, you'll probably get some kind of cancer. She then ruptured the cruciate ligament in the same leg with the MCT and even though she is currently on chemo, we operated (exactly one year after her amputation) and she did

…you must be, and totally understand. My first question is, have you gotten an opinion from a board-certifed ortho surgeon? How do you know her cruciate ligament is damaged? Second and even third opinions are very helpful in deciding what to do in tricky situations like this.

If she is not a…

…candidate for amputation surgery, she may be one for a limb sparing surgery if it's in your budget. Radiation therapy is another option if you live in a major metro area or near a vet teaching hospital. So even with

…really well. Then in August, she went lame and wouldn't use her hind leg on the same side as the front amputation. She ended up having knee surgery to repair her ruptured cruciate ligament in SEptember 2106 - one year to the day after her amputation. It was a tougher recovery and, because Izzy…

… even with a cone. I found some GREAT dog pj's that kept her leg covered and that was a blessing. I wish I'd researched them better before the surgery. It was hard to find any that fit her as she's a big dog.

Anyway, feel free to ask any questions if you have them!

-Amy & Izzy, too!

…at about 4 months with amputation and 8 with amputation and chemo. She's 13 now, even though I didn't do chemo, and is recovering from knee surgery on her left hind leg. She tore the cruciate ligament and, even though she's super old (and a big-ish dog ... 55 or so pounds), I decided to…

…(she broke the leg just walking around and I agonized over what to do, so she lived with that for a couple of weeks - yes, I'm a jerk!) and after surgery to manage her amputation pain. It worked well and I staggered doses so they didn't all wear off at the same time. I can tell you that she had a…

…much easier time recovering from amputation (tried to walk out of the surgeon's office after the anesthesia wore off - YIKES!) than the ligament repair. Seems that it's "easier" to remove the limb than repair a knee!

Dogs are amazing creatures and this community is an amazing resource.