Caring for a Three Legged Dog or Cat
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Hello,
My 12 year old boxer (just turned 12) went through leg amputation a little over 3 months ago due to osteosarcoma in her upper leg. We caught it quite early, the vet said that if we had done it even a week earlier, he does not believe we would have detected it. She went through the leg amputation and it took her a little bit to get to used to it. Granted she is in her older years so this was expected. After about 1 month she was running again and had her energy back.
Recently, for the past two weeks I would say, she seems to have slowed down a lot. She does not run at all anymore, she struggles to get up (she will sit up but then take a minute or so to get up and go outside). She pants when she is outside moving around during the day, and sometimes she gets some heavy breathing out of nowhere. She also seems to be a bit out of it, but that might be due to the increase in medication we have given her. She still has an appetite, she eats most of her supper, she loves cheese and loves her water.
She shows no signs of coughing, no discharge, no bleeding, she doesn't wine at all but she is very strong. I am not sure if what I am seeing is age starting to catch up to her and limit her mobility or if there is something more concerning that I should be looking into.
Any advice or thoughts are much appreciated.
Hi Aidan, and welcome. Your future posts will not require approval.
What's your dog's name? Which limb did she lose? What medication is she on that may be causing her to be "out of it"?
What you're describing sounds like pain signals . Have you consulted your vet?
mischief said
Hi Aidan, and welcome. Your future posts will not require approval.What's your dog's name? Which limb did she lose? What medication is she on that may be causing her to be "out of it"?
What you're describing sounds like pain signals . Have you consulted your vet?
Her name is Daisy, she lost her back hind left leg. We give her CBD oil and she is on a liquid pain medication - I will give you the name tomorrow as the name has faded from the bottle and I have to find the paperwork. She is a family dog so my parents have the medication list.
We have not yet consulted the vet - but will do come Monday.
We give her joint and muscle medication to help deal with the transformation as well. She has had arthritis in her limbs since she was a little puppy, she has been dealing with it her whole life (reading the pain chart). The vet has said that this should not be of concern for pain as he has said she has gotten used to it so it is nothing new for her to deal with. Not to say she does not feel it but he explained this should not change her motion.
Any idea on what could cause this pain?
I love the name Daisy for a Boxer.
Agree with Mischief that it sounds like she is giving you some pain signals .
A couple of thoughts that come to mind as far as what might be causing the pain. Very often it is activity related. Even though recovery is over, muscles and joints are still adjusting, especially in an older dog who has arthritis. Try massaging up and down her spine her neck and shoulder area. Does she so any signs of tension anywhere.? If you can give her some rest and get her on the right pain medication, hopefully she will start to feel better. Talk to your bit about Gabapentin and an anti-inflammatory like rimadyl. Another Med that works well with Gabapentin is Amantadine
What's the name of the CBD she is on? And how long has she been taking that?
Okay, let us know how the visit with the vet goes. Oh and one more thought. If you can find a Certified Rehabilitation Specialist in your area they are extremely helpful in regaining proper gate etc. And the Tripawd Foundation will pay for the first appointment. But I would go ahead and get her checked out with your vet first.
Okay, will look for your update. Give sweet Daisy an extra cookie for us, okay?
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'm going to preface this by saying I am not a vet, nor do I have any particular medical expertise. I'm questioning the line of thinking that having arthritis pre-amputation is not a consideration for amputation because she is "used to the pain". Removing a limb puts more strain on the remaining limbs/joints. To me, this seems like it could increase her level of pain.
I'll also echo Sally's suggestion that Daisy may just have overdone it and she needs a little rest to recover. Massage is a good suggestion. My tripawd loves a good massage.
Most likely she is sore in the other muscles/joints that are compensating for the loss of a limb. At her age I would have her on some sort of glucosamine supplement ideally with green-lipped mussel such as YuMove and I have been adding in Flexadin Advanced which is a Type-II collagen that really seems to give quick pain relief to lots of dogs. She should be on some sort of NSAID so maybe the liquid medication you have is Metacam then you can also add gabapentin +/- amantadine. I like Adequan as well if you are comfortable adding injections and keep up the CBD. I do not know much about Chinese herbal medicine but adding Body Sore never hurts.
Pam
Thank you very
benny55 said
I love the name Daisy for a Boxer.Agree with Mischief that it sounds like she is giving you some pain signals .
A couple of thoughts that come to mind as far as what might be causing the pain. Very often it is activity related. Even though recovery is over, muscles and joints are still adjusting, especially in an older dog who has arthritis. Try massaging up and down her spine her neck and shoulder area. Does she so any signs of tension anywhere.? If you can give her some rest and get her on the right pain medication, hopefully she will start to feel better. Talk to your bit about Gabapentin and an anti-inflammatory like rimadyl. Another Med that works well with Gabapentin is Amantadine
What's the name of the CBD she is on? And how long has she been taking that?
Okay, let us know how the visit with the vet goes. Oh and one more thought. If you can find a Certified Rehabilitation Specialist in your area they are extremely helpful in regaining proper gate etc. And the Tripawd Foundation will pay for the first appointment. But I would go ahead and get her checked out with your vet first.
Okay, will look for your update. Give sweet Daisy an extra cookie for us, okay?
Hugs
Sally and Alumni Happy Hannah and Merry Myrtle and Frankie too!
Thank you very much for your kind words! She is a little tense in the spine area, shoulders seem alright though. We will look into pain medication to make things a little easier for her! The CBD is CBD north, she has been taking that since about 1 month after her surgery, she loves it.
That is a great idea, I will look into that, thank you!
I will make sure she gets a little extra cookie on you guys today.
mischief said
I'm going to preface this by saying I am not a vet, nor do I have any particular medical expertise. I'm questioning the line of thinking that having arthritis pre-amputation is not a consideration for amputation because she is "used to the pain". Removing a limb puts more strain on the remaining limbs/joints. To me, this seems like it could increase her level of pain.I'll also echo Sally's suggestion that Daisy may just have overdone it and she needs a little rest to recover. Massage is a good suggestion. My tripawd loves a good massage.
I cannot explain exactly his thoughts for as to why it is not important but during the conversation of leg amputation, it never came up. He continues to stress that it should not be a bigger problem now than it was before.
I hope it is something just a little overdoing it, compared to the alternatives. We will be massaging her as much as possible!
Thank you very much for
tazziedog said
Most likely she is sore in the other muscles/joints that are compensating for the loss of a limb. At her age I would have her on some sort of glucosamine supplement ideally with green-lipped mussel such as YuMove and I have been adding in Flexadin Advanced which is a Type-II collagen that really seems to give quick pain relief to lots of dogs. She should be on some sort of NSAID so maybe the liquid medication you have is Metacam then you can also add gabapentin +/- amantadine. I like Adequan as well if you are comfortable adding injections and keep up the CBD. I do not know much about Chinese herbal medicine but adding Body Sore never hurts.Pam
Thank you very much for your reply! Will look into these different pain medications and see if it gives her that quick pain relief that she deserves.
I just gave my tripawd a massage and wanted to share some advice... Loki is extremely sensitive to having any of her paws or her remaining back leg touched. She will gently take my hand in her teeth when she's had enough. She tolerates having her thigh massaged longer if I give her a full body massage and leave the thigh area for last. Additionally, she prefers to lay on her side with the leg down and I massage from underneath. I'm sure it varies from dog to dog how they accept massage. My dog is a trauma amputee, so I think her touchiness is at least partially derived from thst. It took me a long time to figure out how to get her to accept massage to her remaining leg. Loki is also a dog with BIG feelings and I've noticed she's more serene after a good massage (aren't we all?)
You read Loki so well!
I do agree that traumatic injuries that result in amputation can certainly make a dog or cat more uneasy when we go to touch the area. I know our Wyatt Ray was for a while.
mischief said
I just gave my tripawd a massage and wanted to share some advice... Loki is extremely sensitive to having any of her paws or her remaining back leg touched. She will gently take my hand in her teeth when she's had enough. She tolerates having her thigh massaged longer if I give her a full body massage and leave the thigh area for last. Additionally, she prefers to lay on her side with the leg down and I massage from underneath. I'm sure it varies from dog to dog how they accept massage. My dog is a trauma amputee, so I think her touchiness is at least partially derived from thst. It took me a long time to figure out how to get her to accept massage to her remaining leg. Loki is also a dog with BIG feelings and I've noticed she's more serene after a good massage (aren't we all?)
I have been giving her a massage the last few days and she loves it. She seems much better today as well, hopefully not a one off.
Oh good! Let us know how she is doing, and if you decide to try any of the supplements that Dr. Pam mentioned. Have a great week!
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