Caring for a Three Legged Dog or Cat
Tripawds is your home to learn how to care for a three legged dog or cat, with answers about dog leg amputation, and cat amputation recovery from many years of member experiences.
Join The Tripawds Community
Learn how to help three legged dogs and cats in the forums below. Browse and search as a guest or register for free and get full member benefits:
Instant post approval.
Private messages to members.
Subscribe to favorite topics.
Live Chat and much more!
Register
Log In
Members
Add Topic
Offline
I have been meaning to join this site for a long time! I have a 3 year old front right amputee named Dieter (he's the brindle guy in the middle on my avatar). He was turned into out local shelter when he was about 8 weeks old and had an unknown injury to his leg. We were fostering him and trying to do everything possible to save his leg, but it eventually had to be removed due to infection. Of course, who can resist a little tripod puppy, so we adopted him into our pack!
He is extremely active and loves to run and even has gone mountain biking with me. The problem is that due to his stance, there is an area between his paw pad on the front leg that gets rubbed raw due to pressure. Our vet and I had hoped that eventually this would callous, as this has been happening for awhile now. Unfortunately it hasn't and is now causing him so much pain that he doesn't want to do the things that he enjoys.
Before you all say it :-)…. yes, I have tried booties (ruffwears), moleskin between the pads, and we also use neopred and cleansing wipes on it daily to decrease swelling and keep infection away. The booties don't do the trick because it doesn't alleviate the rubbing between his pads and the moleskin just rubs off. If this were a four legged dog, it'd be easy to get it to heal by keeping weight off it for 2-3 weeks, but what the heck does one do when that's not an option? Since he has no stump, a prosthetic doesnt seem to be an option, unless I rig something up myself.
My vet is out of ideas and so am I! I am worried for him as he has a good 10 years that this leg and foot have to last.
Has anyone exexperienced this? I welcome any input!
Thanks in advance!
Robyn
Hi Robyn,
I do have experience with this with my own Tripawd...she's been a rear amputee since Oct 2009. This summer, I noticed her licking her remaining rear foot alot...just that foot...upon investigation, she had a rubbed/raw spot between her two outer toes and it was sore. I soaked it in empsom salts and put calendula cream on it and used booties when grass wet as it seemed the wet summer we had was the "cause" of it...well, not entirely...but you know what I mean...
I had to back off on her walking to heal it but since the 'wet' has left, it's healed up now but still not as hairy between those toes than the others and I suspect that will always be the case with a tripawd.
I don't have any ideas for you other than back off on exercise and keep it as dry as possible..
Tracy, Maggie's Mom
Maggie was amputated for soft tissue sarcoma 10-20-09
Maggie lost her battle with kidney disease on 8-24-13
Hi Robyn, thank you for joining. What a fun looking pack you have!
Ok, so first, if it makes you feel any better, you're not the only one whose Tripawd has experienced this. Did you see this post about peeling paw pads?
My other thought is, you may want to consider getting your Tripawd's gait evaluated by a certified canine rehab vet. Because Tripawds bodies will compensate for the missing limb, they tend to contort their spine into unnatural formations (just as a human walks with a limp when their spine or leg hurts). This can lead to back and neck pain as well as paw pad issues, because the dog's foot isn't placing properly when hitting the ground.
The good news; it's not anything that can't be alleviated and corrected. A certified canine rehab vet can assess your pup's gait and then work on P/T exercises that make him more limber and flexible so that he won't need to compensate. A good rehab vet will teach you how to do the exercises at home so that this becomes a regular, fun event you can do together.
Here is a good post on how to pick a rehab vet (scroll about halfway down for the pertinent info). Please use care when selecting one and make sure they are certified: an unqualified rehab practitioner is worse than no P/T at all.
Hope this helps!
Tripawds Founders Jim and Rene
tripawds.com | tripawds.org | bemoredog.net | triday.pet
Hi again,
Thanks for the replies, it certainly helps to know others who have experienced this! I did read the post about Charlie's ouchy paw pads and really like the idea of occasional epsom salt baths. Thanks so much for the tip. As for a canine rehabber, I know just the person! I work in the biz and have a friend with a mobile rehab service, I have never thought to ask her about this before, perfect! What great ideas, I'm so happy I posted if for nothing else, to know there are so many other out there experiencing tripawd issues. Thanks again for the feedback and advice, I'll keep y'all posted:-)
Robyn
Robyn that's terrific, we would love to hear what your friend thinks. If she is interested in working with us to document what's she's doing with photos or video or a blog-post submission, whatever, let us know! Our community would benefit so much from this. Keep us posted OK?
Tripawds Founders Jim and Rene
tripawds.com | tripawds.org | bemoredog.net | triday.pet
Welcome Robyn and cute clan!
I had a tripawd for 12 years (front deformed front leg). For 11 1/2 years, she never had any problems, and then finally she developed a problem between her toes and it became a blister type cyst on top of the foot but it originated from the pressure.
(I'll find the pic and post it)
Her's would pop on top. Which is not what you are experiencing but we did have a problem too. If it was terribly painful, she never showed it.
Just a an idea: What about sprinking it with gold bond powder, taking foam rubber to cushion it and then wrapping it lightly with stretchy bandage and then putting a bootie over it? And then letting it air out at night? I don't know if that would work. But it's something I would probably try if all else has failed.
Wishing you lots of luck!
Comet - 1999 to 2011
She departed us unexpectedly January 23, 2011 at the age of 12 1/2.
She was born with a deformed front leg and a tripawd all of her life.
Comet - 1999 to 2011
She departed us unexpectedly January 23, 2011 at the age of 12 1/2.
She was born with a deformed front leg and a tripawd all of her life.
Poor Comet's foot! That looks painful!
I like your idea of wrapping the paw, I will try that, thanks for the suggestion. 🙂
I will keep you all posted on what my rehabber thinks. She keeps a blog, so I'm sure she'd be interested in keeping tabs on the progress.
Robyn
Sorry to all who were following for the delayed response! Met with my rehab friend ( rehabilitationandconditioningforanimals.com). She felt that his gait looked pretty good and that before we started any exercises that we should try a diet washout first to see if there possibly was an allergic component to it, which might explain why it never calloused.
We did five days of just sardines and broccolli (he typically gets Flint River) just to see how he'd do. So, after the food trial he hasn't had the issues with his paw, however, I'm not completely convinced that it's just diet because the weather has gotten much cooler and maybe the hot weather out here exaggerates the problem. So, the jury is still out for me, but the diet change certainly didn't hurt, he LOVED it and it made his coat super shiny!
I'll keep all posted here as the weather changes!
Robyn
1 Guest(s)
