Caring for a Three Legged Dog or Cat
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Hi all,
While I would love for my 'first-born' to live until the end of my life, I have accepted she will not. Mysticete, aka Mysti, is our almost 8-year old great dane and was 'diagnosed' with osteosarcoma in October 2017 (while we were on our family vacation across the country). After her amputation of her right front leg in late October and her slow process into carboplatin (just received second dose on December 30), she is continuing to amaze us. She bounced back so quickly after surgery, wanting to do way more than she should and chemo has not had any affect on her. She is a champion. Unfortunately, I don't expect this to last forever and know the time is coming when she'll slow down. Part of my coping mechanism is me making this her 'best last year'. With her birthday coming up in 2 weeks, I plan to take her somewhere special, hoping to find some snow so she can play around, eat loads of yummy foods and snacks, and just love the heck out of her.
I was wondering if anyone else has gone all out to make the last year the best, special trips or fun ideas that worked and your pups loved? I'd love any extra ideas or special (maybe even silly and unknown) holidays to celebrate?
I (hopefully) attached a recent picture of Mysti licking every last little lick of the peanut butter over the holidays 🙂
Thanks for the suggestions and I'm excited to hear what you guys come up with!
Nicole
mysticete11 said
I was wondering if anyone else has gone all out to make the last year the best...
Have you read Jerry's Story about how Tripawds came to be?
When we amputated his leg after the osteosarcoma diagnosis and got the news he had "a few months" to live, we sold everything and bought an RV to travel the country together as a pack. That was in 2007. Jerry lived two years. We are still on the road today, with Wyatt Ray.
PS: Use the actual image URL (ending in .jpg) to display the photo in your forum post. Dropbox adds variables to the download links. We fixed that one. Precious...Wyatt love when we finish the peanut butter too!
Tripawds Founders Jim and Rene
tripawds.com | tripawds.org | bemoredog.net | triday.pet
There was a post i was trying to find but it's just not meant to be i guess. Make a bucket list of all of your favorite things. Keep it close by to add and check off, like on a list for your phone. I have Alexa and you can add a list, or sticky notes (digital).
You're not in a rush, so go buck wild 😉 . Cheeseburger from McDonalds through the drive thru, walk in your/her favorite park, beach walk, picnic somewhere cool, favorite treats that are out of the norm. Car ride (if she likes them) to visit a favorite human, dog park. Share a grilled steak, massage time, whatever you know it think your girl will love. It's all about the things that make you all happy. I guess this is the "Be More Dog " and put your paws in her shoes 🤗
Big hugs,
Jackie and Huckster ❤️
Hugs,
Jackie, Bo, Andy, Oscar, Phoebe, and the coolest feral tripawd kitty Huckleberry 
Our journey with this monstrous disease has been short thanks to metastasis at the time of diagnosis but we’ve tried to pack a lot of special times in since her diagnosis on August 31. There is nowhere our dog Pee Wee loves more than the beach so we decided to take her on a special a road trip and drove from Colorado to San Francisco and then up the coast to Cannon Beach, Oregon stopping at beaches (and for In-n-Out burgers of course) along the way. Some of our favorite dog friendly beaches were Stinson Beach in Marin County, Moonstone Beach in Cambria CA, and Whaleshead Beach in Brookings, OR. Our very favorite place was the beach in Bandon, Oregon. We spent four days there and hours on the beach each day and it was honestly magical.
We do lots of special meals and treats, both homemade (Pee Wee’s favorite is the mushroom chicken recipe from the Food Lab cookbook 😜) and otherwise (McDonalds nuggets and Good Times Pawbenders are favorites). We also got a dehydrator to make our own jerky and dog treats for her as well.
At this point her lung mets have progressed to the point where she can’t do much physical activity and we will sadly likely be saying goodbye to her this week. We’ve transitioned to car rides on dirt roads in the mountains so she can feel the fresh air in her fur and get out a sniff around a bit. We do have a stroller but she hates it so we haven’t used that. Our other dog loved his stroller rides as his cancer progressed but Pee Wee prefers the car so the car it is.
I hope you have lots more special time with your beautiful pup and find some really great ways to celebrate your time together. I will forever hold our memories of our road trip in my heart as one of my happiest times, despite cancer, that we’ve had with Pee Wee over our nearly 14 years together.
Pee Wee's road trip sounds like it was unforgettable and such a gift to his spirit, and yours! Got any photos? What a journey. I'm so sorry he is getting his wings this week, our hearts go out to you.
Tripawds Founders Jim and Rene
tripawds.com | tripawds.org | bemoredog.net | triday.pet
Thank you- we are devastated that it seems our time is nearly up so trying to soak up every minute we can with Pee Wee until she tells us she is ready to go.
I took an embarrassingly huge number of photos of our trip but they aren’t hosted online anywhere, just on my computer, phone, and backup hard drive, so I don’t think I can post any of them can I?
Yes, you can. You can create a blog here which will give you a small media library.
https://tripawd.....-photos-1/
Please reach out if you need help.
I am so sorry things are moving so quickly for you.
Sending hugs,
Jackie and Huck
Hugs,
Jackie, Bo, Andy, Oscar, Phoebe, and the coolest feral tripawd kitty Huckleberry
Mysti, you are a lucky pup to have hoomans who are so wildly commited to makng every day the best day ever! You've gotten some great suggestions.
Mysti's bucket list can also include the simple pleasures like being massaged each morning as she wakes up,and each night when she goes to bed. Fill each day with ample tumny rubs. Just lazin' around on the sofa sharing popcorn or under a tree outside enjoying the sights and sounds of nature can be on her bucket list. Three little M&Ms and a scoop of ice cream every other day, yummy things like that.
PEE WEE'S mom, thank you so much for sharing the spectacular ways you have been celebrating your time together with Pee Wee. He truly is a lucky boy to be so loved. Yes, continue to make every moment count and let nothing interfere with your time together. As hard as it is, you are doing a stella job of living in the now and being more dog❤
When you get some pictures together, we would love to see them. And any support we can offer, let us know, okay? If you would like, you can start another thread or add onto any of Pee Wee's so we can better support you, and celebrate Pee Wee💖
Hugs to all
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!
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