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.
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Oh, I always love to see a Dexter video! He is so cute and happy and has such heart!
Hope the seroma situation gets cleared up.
Keep up the good work, Dexter!
Jackie, Angel 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!
I am really late to this party, I guess because Sammy died the day before your first post. However, although I have no useful advice to offer, I just wanted to say that you and your dedication to your small friend, Dexter (named after Dexter Morgan?), is inspirational. He is adorable and appears to be a wonderfully happy boy with a huge dollop of courage.
By the way, your husband-to-be must be a good guy, too ...
Beth & Spirit Smiln' Sammy
Smilin' Sammy, March 16, 2004 – Dec. 5, 2011
Golden retriever, diagnosed with osteosarcoma in September 2010 — right front leg amputated November 2010. He fought valiantly to stay with us; but a second diagnosis of osteosarcoma, this time in his left front leg, was more than our golden warrior could overcome. He loved his pack — and everyone else he met.
We loved him even more.
Thanks for the pennies, Sammy. They helped.
Oh my dog, I wanted to crawl through the computer and pick him up to help him!!!!! I can't help myself!
But he looks great! Hope the seroma gets better.
Thanks for the video!
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.
Love the videos! What a cutie! I'm so glad Dexter is doing so well. I hope the draining stops soon.
Keep lovin' your pup and best of luck.
Wags and Slobbers
Judy and Baby
He's awesome! It must be hard to remember that he's just a baby adn even on 4 legs he'd probably still be a little wobbly ...
What a great job both of your are doing.
So not a great update. Last week Dexter started walking funny. One of his back legs is bowing out and the other he is putting the whole back foot down on the ground and it is pushing to one side. In the last couple days it has gotten worse and he has had some incontinence. The vet feels like he really needs to have surgery to repair the damage to his spine, but we are tapped out. We are still paying on the bill from his other surgeries. The vet is going to work with me to get a fundraiser going for Dexter to have surgery. I have start a facebook cause page https://www.fac.....yForDexter
The vet is working to get him an appointment to see a neurologist at the University of Florida. That way we can get there input on what his prognosis looks like with surgery and how much it will cost and then we will be setting up a way for people to make donations. We are also going to gather up things and have a yard sale for his cause. On a side note the seroma has healed up and is doing fine now. Thank you for all your support, I have also posted a new video on my youtube channel and that was about a week ago, he is doing worse now, so I will try to get another video up shortly. I am desperately in need of pawsitive thoughts.
Dexter is adorable!
Is Dexter on any pain medications for his broken ribs or are they already healed? I tried reading all of the posts, but didn't see that listed. Just wondering if pain from that could be affecting his walking since his torso is much longer now and his torso has more movement than it used to (I had broken ribs before and it's very painful...just twisting, coughing and sneezing is enough to make you want to fall over).
Sending lots of positive thoughts and prayers to Dexter. Please give him lots of hugs from me!
Hugs and chocolate labby kisses,
Ellen & Charley
Charley's Blog: CHOCOLATE KISSES
DOB: 3-29-08, male chocolate lab
Dx: OSA L proximal humerus 10-19-10
Amputation: L front leg & scapula 10-28-10
Chemo: 5 rounds of Carboplatin
Video (12 weeks post amp):Tripaw Charley Playing
♥♥♥ Lots of supplements and love!!! ♥♥♥
He hasn't shown any pain from his ribs since day one really. It has been nearly 4 months since his ribs were broken though, so I would assume that the pain isn't there. The problem that caused him to be paralyzed is a fractured vertebrae that worsened after his amputation. The vet described it this way to me. There are a bunch of nerves (spinal cord) that run down the middle of all the vertebrae, they house and protect the cord. Well the injury has cause that vertebrae to pinch on the nerves this is causing the loss of function. the brain is signaling the legs to move but somewhere along the trip the info gets messed up and they don't move the right way. It neurological problems. With him being small and still growing the hope was that the space in the spinal column that houses the cord would open up and stop pinching and up until a week ago it seemed that was the case, but with the regression it looks like with continued growth its pinching the nerves again. If he could have surgery to repair the area, he would probably have a normal life if not almost normal. At least that's the hope and hopefully we will get him to a specialist that can tell us what his chances of recovery are with surgery and then hopefully we can come up with the funds to have the surgery done.
just took this video a few mins ago, camera battery died while I was filming so it isn't very long.
@smilingsammy - yeah the name did come from Dexter Morgan - ironically after everything Dexter had gone through my mom encouraged me to look up the meaning of the name Dexter and it means "right-handed" "fortunate" Ironically enough he only has is right "hand" the left one was amputated.
Oh. I seriously can't watch the video - I couldn't get past the first 3 seconds. I feel sick.
I'm just so sorry. Have you considered getting touch with any organizations like Best Friends out of Utah to see if they can help. He needs so much and looks like he is going to need a lot of future help.
I'm just so sorry.
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.
Hello. I must have missed Dexter's story when I was so busy back in December and I just found it and it is just truly heartbreaking! Poor Dexter. You can tell he really wants to walk but he just can't get his body to cooperate. It's really sad. 
I recently had to put my Great Dane to sleep on Feb 3rd because of spinal issues. After she recovered from the amputation she was great for 7 months and then one day she lost control of her back legs and was unable to walk. She had severe arthritis in her spine that was compressing the nerves. I know how awful it is to see them struggle to try to walk and just lay around all day. Valentina was 8 years old and because of the arthritis and her age and finances we had to put her to sleep. But being that Dexter is so young there is lots of hope for him. I sure do hope that you can find a way to get the surgery for him. I hope your fundraisers help. He is so cute and seems very sweet. I will be praying for you and Dexter. He deserves a chance at a happy healthy life and I know that you want to give that to him. Good Luck! I know you have been through alot. Hang in there!
He's trying so hard. It's heartbreaking and hopeful at the same time. I know you are doing all you can and your dedication to helping him overcome this challenge is incredible.
I would investigate these financial sources so you can start applying for help. He's so young, I'm sure that a funder somewhere will see his potential and help out. Don't give up, keep applying and point them to your videos. You've done a great job documenting his progress.
Financial Help Resources for Pawrents
Also, this book, "My Dog has Fallen and He Can't Get Up" documents a dog's recovery after paralysis. It's got some great information and instructional help and is very affordable to purchase.
Finally, until his surgery happens you may want to consider holding fundraisers to get him a cart. This post we just published has some ideas for fundraising and even talks about how Eddie's Wheels has used carts you can buy which are more affordable than brand new ones:
"When and How a Dog Wheelchair Can Help a Tripawd"
Keep us posted.
Tripawds Founders Jim and Rene
tripawds.com | tripawds.org | bemoredog.net | triday.pet
I thought of Dexter today when I was putting together this post:
Tripawds Founders Jim and Rene
tripawds.com | tripawds.org | bemoredog.net | triday.pet
Thank you for all the suggestions. I emailed Best Friends and I submitte applications to some of those groups that help with medical bills, now we wait on that part. My vet is helping me spread the word and she is planning to contact the local news to see if we can do a story on Dexter which might help us raise money and we plan to do a yard sale to raise money as well. Hopefully we can come up with the money soon, He just seems to be getting progressively worse 🙁
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