Coda, our 9 yr old shepard/husky mix had her front right leg amputated on 12/29/08 for chondrosarcoma. It's now been 3 weeks as of today.

Last Monday, 2 weeks post op,  she started whining and crying out while sitting up and would immediately lay day and not want to get back up. I contacted our vet and he recommended giving her some Rimadyl for a week and then take it from there.  She had finished her post surgery meds which were antibiotics, metacam and tramidol. He felt she should only need those for about 5 days post amputation.  She didn't whine or exhibit pain after she finished her post op meds until she started, 2 weeks after surgery.   We started her on Rimadyl 2x/day and we noticed she would start whining about 10 hours after her dose.  Giving her the next dose has been pretty much stopping the whining within about 20 minutes or so. 

Today will be her last dose of Rimadyl and I'm concerned if she should really be needing medication at this time or is 3 weeks post surgery normal to still have some pain.  My vet stated that she really shouldn't be in pain now, however, if she is let's give her meds. Also, 2x in the past 24 hours I've found her licking the carpet where her amputated leg would probably be if she still had it.  Then still start licking the remaining leg.  She hasn't been whining while doing this however. I've read a bit about phantom pain and I'm wondering if this might be what she's experiencing.  I don't know if she's just having phantom pain , other pain or both.  Are my expectations too much for her at this time in her recovery? 

What's really heartbreaking is she never whined or cried while she had her cancerous leg.  I'm feeling that for her to whine now, she must be in some serious pain.

Thanks for any insight you may have.