Caring for a Three Legged Dog or Cat
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Hi everyone,
My 14yr old girl had to have a right forelimb amputation about 10 days ago. She begins therapy in a week, but meanwhile I was wondering if anyone had advice on helping her to walk straight - her back legs rotate clockwise pretty strongly when she tries to walk. We use a "help em up" harness to give her some support during short walks, but it's really tough and requires a lot of effort to keep her straight. If I don't guide her back legs straight, they swing out so strongly to the left she loses balances and sits.
Has anyone worked through this issue, and if so, would you happen to have any advice or tips and tricks to offer?
Thank you so much!!! 
Hi Irini and Fiela! I answered your other post here. Meanwhile,
I'm so super happy she will see a therapist soon! Next week seems like forever and honestly I would wait, just so that you don't do any unintentional damage trying to adjust her gait. It's challenging now but that therapist can help. Where is she being seen? Remember Tripawds Foundation can pay for your first rehab visit .
Oh how is the traction on your floors? If they are slippery this might be contributing to her mobility issues.
Also, pain medications might be making her woozy too. What is she on right now? How much and how often?
jerry said
Hi Irini and Fiela! I answered your other post here. Meanwhile,I'm so super happy she will see a therapist soon! Next week seems like forever and honestly I would wait, just so that you don't do any unintentional damage trying to adjust her gait. It's challenging now but that therapist can help. Where is she being seen? Remember Tripawds Foundation can pay for your first rehab visit .
Oh how is the traction on your floors? If they are slippery this might be contributing to her mobility issues.
Also, pain medications might be making her woozy too. What is she on right now? How much and how often?
Hi Jerry,
Thank you so much for responding - oh wow, no I did not realize money could be available for her first rehab! I checked the list and, sure enough, CRCG in Englewood, CO is listed!! (Alan Zidek, PT, CCRT, Canine Rehabilitation & Conditioning Group). How lovely - what an amazing surprise. The first visit is $300 so I'm very grateful to have anything go towards this.
That's a great point for me to be patient in case I end up causing more harm than help. She has traction on carpets, grass, and concrete - but not tile. That's fine because the only place there is tile is in the kitchen. For the first 7 days she was on tylenol w/oxycodone + clavamox + amantadine + gabapentin. She does not tolerate gabapentin well. She had it once before in the past and it made her very wobbly, but between the choice of her being out of pain and wobbly vs. more pain and less wobbliness we of course did the gabapentin. All meds have since stopped on Saturday except for the amantadine. She currently appears in no pain at all and so now I'm working on cleaning up her system, putting her back on her normal diet (Open Farm gently cooked).
She is currently weak as all exercise stopped right before the surgery. It's the one thing going against us because daily mobility exercises and walks are what kept her moving happily and smoothly. But... she will build it back up again so I just need to be patient. A few years ago she wrenched her shoulder and was diagnosed with MSI (medial shoulder instability). We had an entire exercise program with various exercises 3x day that changed every 2 weeks with progressively challenging exercises. At the end of 6 months, her shoulder had fully healed and she had pretty much turned into a circus dog
We both work from home and so are looking forward to working with her on her exercises.
Thank you again for telling me about the Tripawds Foundation
- so excited!!!
Online
Responded to your other post before seeing your response to Jerry. So yeah, you are definitely on the right path to helping your sweet girl get stronger and more mobile in a "properly" and in a way that allows for her age, arthritis, etc.
You BOTH are doing an excellent job!👍
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!
You know what to do, this isn't your first recovery rodeo! Sounds like she has an excellent medical team working to help her heal, and the rehab therapy will be fantastic to get her moving in the right direction again, and walking as normally as a Tripawd can.
And wow working with CRCG is really awesome. They are a gold-standard clinic! Alan will know exactly what to do for Fiela.
Nice to meet another Coloradoan here! I think we need to have a Rocky Mountain Tripawds Party! New Tripawd Ellie is in Fort Collins and so are we. And I know there are other members too.
jerry said
You know what to do, this isn't your first recovery rodeo! Sounds like she has an excellent medical team working to help her heal, and the rehab therapy will be fantastic to get her moving in the right direction again, and walking as normally as a Tripawd can.And wow working with CRCG is really awesome. They are a gold-standard clinic! Alan will know exactly what to do for Fiela.
Nice to meet another Coloradoan here! I think we need to have a Rocky Mountain Tripawds Party! New Tripawd Ellie is in Fort Collins and so are we. And I know there are other members too.
Oh it would be so awesome to to have a Tripawd Party!!! I'm in Castle Rock - I'm actually really excited for her therapy to start on Monday. Suddenly over the past 2 days, she has experienced massive improvements in her mobility. We still have to use the harness to guide her and give her support, but she even trotted for a good 10 seconds yesterday......!!!!!!!! This was a dog that could barely stand up 10 days ago. It's SO incredibly heartening
Yes indeedy, every "little" improvement is aHUGE improvement during recovery!!! She's getting her sea legs at her own pace in a safe way. Thanks for sharing the good news👍
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!
Aww I'm happy to hear the trotting is back! YAY! Definitely make time to celebrate all those little things that were once ordinary. This situation can suck but it really opens our eyes up to being in the moment doesn't it?
I hope the weekend has been even better. And yes I'm going to post about a pawty out here somewhere on the Front Range!
Yes, every day is no
jerry said
Aww I'm happy to hear the trotting is back! YAY! Definitely make time to celebrate all those little things that were once ordinary. This situation can suck but it really opens our eyes up to being in the moment doesn't it?I hope the weekend has been even better. And yes I'm going to post about a pawty out here somewhere on the Front Range!
Yes!!! every day is like an incredible blessing of new surprises!!!! Her progress is suddenly rapid - SO excited for the first PT session tomorrow, woohoo!!!!!!!
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