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
Hooray for the surgery going well! Can't wait to hear more updates on how she does with her recovery.
And, yes, it is very disappointing when you start looking into dog foods - even, as you mentioned, the 'so called' high end brands. We also do the Blue Buffalo Wilderness kibble with some home cooked meat/veg mixed in.
Looking forward to pics of your sweetie!
Jackie, Abby's mom
Abby: Aug 1, 2009 – Jan 10, 2012. Our beautiful rescue pup lived LARGE with osteosarcoma for 15 months – half her way-too-short life. I think our "halflistic" approach (mixing traditional meds + supplements) helped her thrive. (PM me for details. I'm happy to help.) She had lung mets for over a year. They took her from us in the end, but they cannot take her spirit! She will live forever in our hearts. She loved the beach and giving kisses and going to In-N-Out for a Flying Dutchman. Tripawds blog, and a more detailed blog here. Please also check out my novel, What the Dog Ate. Now also in paperback! Purchase it at Amazon via Tripawds and help support Tripawds!
Haleys staying an additional night at the vet. she has a little bit of leaking going on from the stitches. and also not walking well at all on 3 legs. shes kind of scooting around. Haleys situation is a bit different and has already had a surgery to correct a severe luxated patella on her left leg. the right one that was amputated was so turned inward that it had her kind of scrunched up bringing the good leg down to the bad legs level. my hope is that she has just been so used to scrunching up ,that its just gonna take some time for her to get used to hopping along.Because up until the amputation she has been using the bad leg even tho it was more of a hinderance *crossing fingers*
Well good news on her being out of surgery!
Don't get worried...it takes a bit even for good legged dogs to get their 3 legged motion down! Comet was three legged and then had knee surgeries (not luxated patella, but ACL and had plates from the TPLO). She did pretty good getting around.
Sending loads of healing wishes!
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.
and yet one more nights stay at the vet .Tommorrow we get her back home for sure and begin the real road to recovery. She was much better today than yesterday and actually used her leg some. she needs major muscle building in the leg as she hasnt had much of that since the deformity worsened as well as rovery from the last surgery. but she will get there 🙂 Thank you all for so many kind words of encouragement and positivity. it helped soo much reading stories and seeing all those adorable furry faces as i scrolled through the forums :). i will still keep the update posts coming 🙂
Trina
Awwwww! She's adorable!!! So glad to hear she's doing well. Nothing to add to everypawdy's advice, except for this. Love that girl every second you get! 
As far as diet, we do Wilderness Blend or Acana Pacifica plus I make this "Soup" for my girls. I feed them about 1:1 with the kibble and this soup mix. Just burn candles or break out the Febreze when you cook, because the organ meats can be a little pungent. Oh, and introduce the mix to your dog slowly.... Three words: STINKY dog butt. If you go 1:1 right off the bat, you will probably regret it.... We started with a couple of tablespoons and after a couple of days, up'd it, till we were at about a cup.
Good luck to you and your Haley. We'll be thinking of you and hoping for a speedy recovery.
Rio's mom, Micki, and Rio
 |
~ ~ Rio ~ ~ |
IS SHE HOME YET?
Tate had to stay in extra days because of drainage, they wanted to keep him a fourth night and I said, "No, we're coming to pick him up. Now." It's so hard when you want them home so the "real healing" can begin.
I can't help but love this little girl because her face looks just like my Sam's!
Jan & Tate
http://tate.tripawds.com/
August 16, 2006 to November 28, 2011
TATE ~ Forever in our hearts.
Haley is indeed home,and the reason i have taken a couple days to respond..lol. She stayed 3 nights at the vet. But truly..she is healing very nicely. only a day and a half of some draining from the incision. she is doing excellent as far as the recovery from surgery goes. the long road ahead is building the muscle in her good leg enough for her to start using like she should have been from the beginning. but she has no muscle tone in her quad at all so she is crouched when she walks. every once in awhile she will stretch that little leg out nice and tall but it only lasts a few seconds and then she must sit. she tires very easily. there is no doubt in my mind that she will turn out just fine but its going to be a very long road ahead to rebuild that muscle so she can get to movin properly 🙂 she moves pretty darn fast when the doorbell rings lol. Her will is there,her determination is there so we will get there! 🙂
i will post some more pics soon 🙂
Hi Trina, sounds like Haley has some great pawrents doing all you have for her. It is good to hear that she is on the mend and yes, the amputation is quite a hurdle even for dogs that had all good legs to start. It sounds like you are off to a great start though and its great that your pawrents are looking into good healthy grain free foods for you! My pawrents wished they had know about all that long before I got cancer. Good luck to you!
Angel Cooper
Coopsdad/ Kenneth Blackburn
http://cooper.t.....ipawds.com
the monkeydogs only THINK they have invaded the tripawd state
Awww great news that she's recovering!
For most pups, the recovery isn't as long as humans think it's going to be, really. Hang in there and a few weeks from now you'll look back on this and wonder why you were so worried.
Be sure to check out these recovery videos and suggestions to help her get strong again:
http://tripawds...../tag/care/
Tripawds Founders Jim and Rene
tripawds.com | tripawds.org | bemoredog.net | triday.pet
1 Guest(s)
