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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Geez Novak! Yoy don't need these additional little "challenges". Actually, I'm sure they're botheri g you far less than your human!
It certainly sou ds like he's having an allergic reaction to something! Could be the meds, somethi g the co e is made from...ugh! Hard to say. Any change in food? Hooe you can figure out the culprit.
Give Novak a good chin rub for me, 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!
AINS is in french LOL Yep, I really think he's having a reaction to one of the meds, but wich one!! I wil see with my vet tomorrow.
Little update on my boy.. I had to stop the vetolexin, problably that one that cause a allergic reaction. Novak is very sensitive to meds, I remember that he had a reaction to cyclosporine(redness, lack of hair around eyes) for his pannus and to tolfedine(vomited) when he got neutered. Because he has pannus(auto immune disease), maybe he has an overhall low immune system. He never got sick before from anything, so I never had any problem with him. The pannus is well taking of and never had any issue with it really.
So anyway, I stop almost every medication is was on, so now, he's on gabapentin and tramdol, thats it and Im putting an antibiotic cream on the hot spot and just after one application of that cream, the hot spot was so much better! Today, wow, it is almost healed! The redness around his mouth seem to decrease as well! And he pees normally, before he didnt want to. YAY So, now, will see with the surgeon if we are a GO for the amputation in 2 weeks or I have to wait.
Novak is a champ, never complains, ok with the cone, he played ball with him yesterday LOL Love that boy to death! 
Your love for Novak comes shining through! Such a great dog! Doesn't even complain about the co e?? Nkw that's a really good boy 🙂
Sooooo glad things are "clearing up"! Sounds like he is extra sensitive to meds of any kind.
One day at a time and making each one of thos days more spectacular than the day before.....that's what this journey is all about!
PICTURES! Take lots of pictures! We love pictures!
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!
Oh that sounds like such great news! Yay!
When it comes to his immune system, you may want to consult with a holistic vet at some point to look for ways to strengthen it. There are lots of supplements out there that can do that, but since he has such a tricky medical background already, speak with a vet and find out which ones would be best for him.
What a love!
Tripawds Founders Jim and Rene
tripawds.com | tripawds.org | bemoredog.net | triday.pet
There are no holistic vet around here, but the breeder is really good with that, she's helping me. Already, she gave me Inflapotion from glacier peak to help with his knee and I saw I really big difference. Novak appears in the company publicity sometime! 
So I spoke again to the surgeon and decided to wait till the skin really clear up before going in surgery. Anyway, at work, change of plan, I couldnt take my week off, no one to replace me. So now, we have to wait till al the vacation are done and go do it, problably end of august like I had first planned. So, its not like its urgent and he will die, but my head was set up to do it in 2 weeks. How long did your dogs have been on gabapentin for? I mean did they got it before surgery? After? How long? Im just wondering because Im postponing he will be on it for a long time, the vet suggested at least 4 months, but from what im reading, no one has been on that for that long.
A little pic of me and my boy chilling in the pool last week during my vacation....yep, you can now see why he has a hot spot now 😉
We have a real celebrity among us! That's a great publicity picture of him advertising that lroduct. Such an athlete!
I love the one with the two of you on the float. Novak is aa good looking bathing beauty!! And I love his little pals hanging out at the ladder just barely getting their paws wet. SOOOO CUTE!
I know it's frustrating to hsve the surgery delayed, but its for a good reason.
As far as the Gabapentin, many here have used it a short time before the surgery as well as afterwards. Nos, for how long I couldn't tell ya'. Not sure why he would wa t Novak to be on that particular med as his pain med for four months. Im certainly not a vet!
Hang in there! You're just on the roller coaster part of the journey. Things will settle down shortly.
Lots of hugs
Sally and Alumni Happy Hannah and Merry Myrtle and Frankie too! I
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!
My quad pug Tani had terrible arthritis and gabapentin was one of the meds we used to help her. I can't remember how long she was on it, but it was at least a year. When we added it to her regimen the plan was to use it for the rest of her life unless it didn't work or she had some type of bad reaction.
I've read different opinions on when you have to taper off gaba as opposed to stopping it cold. Some say that the dose used for pain management is low enough that you don't have to taper off (it is also used for seizures at a higher dose). I don't know if the length of time it's used is a factor in tapering or not, but I would think so. Something to discuss with your vet.
Karen and the Spirit Pug Girls
Tri-pug Maggie survived a 4.5 year mast cell cancer battle only to be lost to oral melanoma.
1999 to 2010
Change of plan....again LOL surgery will be done on july 28, yay! His skin is all heal since saturday night I removed his cone and he's not touching/licking the region at all. Very happy about that, cause seeing him walking with almost no weight on that leg made me feel terrible to have to delay until september, yep, september cause my "dream" team for this surgery was not available before that. I really choose the vet, the technician and the other members of the team to work on my by. So with the skin ok, the surgeon is ok doing it, she really wanted to have the perfect skin and that he got rid of that infection. The fear, the sadness is now replace with joy,hope and relief, I feel very confident about it all. I dream last night that he was running like a crazy dog the day after his surgery and I had to stop him before he got injured LOL
Oh and good new, I manage to get sort of a vacation minus 2 days to be with him!
Oh that IS a relief! Once you have a solid plan in place things feel so much better. I'm glad you got the time off too, that will help the transition.
Here are some posts about pain management and Gabapentin that give more info about how it's used (the first link is to a long list of articles about pre and post op pain control).
Tripawds Founders Jim and Rene
tripawds.com | tripawds.org | bemoredog.net | triday.pet
Thanks Jerry! I wanted to know, on the video with the GS with rear leg amputation for the harness, is that your dog? And if yes, I was wondering about the limb, we can see a "dangling" part and was curious how was the amputation done and for what reason?
Ok, I found out more about you and Wyatt, this web site is so big!!!! LOL
I have a question, about how long does the fur(long coat) grow back to normal?
And did you have any negative comments about your dog after surgery, I mean strangers coming up to you and feeling sorry for your dog, asking questions? I don't want people to be sad over Novak being on three leg, I want positive comments and encouragement.
voodoo said
Thanks Jerry! I wanted to know, on the video with the GS with rear leg amputation for the harness, is that your dog? And if yes, I was wondering about the limb, we can see a "dangling" part and was curious how was the amputation done and for what reason?
Why yes siree, that is meeeeeeee.
The dangling part is just muscle that is a nice cushion for me now. The vets call it a "mid-femoral" amputation and they told my people they do it to leave cushion so my hip bones aren't always hitting the floor. I agree, it works well for me!
Wyatt Ray Dawg . . . The Tripawds Leg-A-Cy Continues!
Read all about my adventures at my Tripawds Blog
Yay so glad you found more good stuff to check out!
Fur growing back really depends on the dog. Some it's just a few weeks, others it's months. I'd say if there's an average, maybe about 3 months?
Negative comments...oh sure. And you're right, if people can't say something nice...walk away.
When we do hear the "oh poor dog" then we tell them "Well he's got one more leg than YOU do!" and they get it. We have some great conversations about it here, check out this discussion:
Tripawds Founders Jim and Rene
tripawds.com | tripawds.org | bemoredog.net | triday.pet
Novak knows something is coming and that he has to learn to hop on 3, he's been praticing for his upcoming surgey! LOL ok, not really funny, but since the last 2 weeks he started to put less and less weight on his leg, so its really time that leg come off. Can't wait!
You can see him looking at those beautiful cows with that leg in the way!
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