Caring for a Three Legged Dog or Cat
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Our baby girl, an 11.5 year old redbone/standard poodle mix had complications from a mast cell tumor removal surgery that resulted in her left front leg being amputated on October 22.
She spent two days in the hospital and came home starving. After a couple of days, her appetite went away and it keeps getting worse. Each day she eats less and we've tried everything. She refuses almost all food and most of her treats.
Thursday she had her staples removed and we've dialed back her restrictions hoping that as things are more "normal" she'll improve. She's no longer in the crate or wearing a cone (we have her in a t-shirt) but she won't leave the closet. We're lucky if we can get her up for 30/45 minutes a couple of times a day. She's drinking water but food is tough. I can get some chicken or fish in her if I hand feed her but that's about it.
I know she needs to rest but this is concerning. We've tried to get her outside so her friends can come see her but she just wants back in.
We're giving her some Carprofen now and have tried a bit of Trazadone for possible anxiety.
The whole situation has been a mess and very worrisome. Has anyone else had this experience?
Hi Chris and pup (what's her name?), welcome. First, you are not alone. Recovery isn't always easy and there are many ups and downs, especially for senior dogs. But don't panic, you two are going to get through this! Let us help you feel a little better and come up with a strategy for figuring it out OK?
You are so right, she does need rest, and I also agree that her behavior is concerning. So I have some questions that might help you have a helpful conversation with your vet.
First, did you mention it to your vet on Thursday? If so what were their suggestions?
When she does move, is shoe showing any pain signals like tucked tail, ears back, etc? Hiding in a closet is definitely one big sign that she is in some kind of pain or experiencing another internal issue.
What was her pain control like when she came home? Medications, dosages? Is she on any now? Even though her stitches are out, sometimes dogs do need a longer dose of pain control. The Carprofen is an NSAID, which is good, but she may also be having residual nerve pain from the amputation, and could need a longer dose of Gabapentin.
Trazadone can certainly make dogs not want to do anything. It's for anxiety and it really packs a wallop on some dogs so I would go easy on it or eliminate it altogether if your vet thinks that is OK to do.
What you are describing could be pain signals , or it could be something internally like an infection from the previous surgery. What kind of complications did she go through? Were there any issues with her incision healing?
Try to take a deep breath, and don't panic. This has happened to others, and it's not unusual for a dog that's had more than the typical amputation. She's been through a lot and is older so this may take time but it won't e forever. Typically it's a matter of dialing in pain control even this far after surgery, and sloooooowly getting things back to a new normal.
Hi Jerry,
Thank you for responding. Our girl is Sophie (technically Sophie Loren because her Momma was a pretty redhead 
)
We mentioned the eating issue at the surgeon's office on Thursday when we went in. They suggested dialing back on the pain meds because they thought they might be hurting her appetite. They also suggested the anti anxiety meds. Though you're right. The anxiety stuff knocks her out.
She was on 300mg of Gabapentin and 100 mg of Carprofen. We added in Tramadol when things got rough.
She's had a really tough time of it. The tumor was wrapped around a vein and after a week of beyond awful, the leg was no longer viable.(This was my first brush of trying to force food and then dissolving pain meds in chicken broth and syringing them into her mouth) And this surgery was just over a month after a bad tooth extraction.
The actual incision is healing and the surgeon's office was pleased with the progress.
She's the most sensitive creature I've known and the crate, cone and change have been stressing her out. The closet is one of her nap spots. About 10 days ago, we started letting her sleep in the master closet thinking having us close and having more space would be comforting. We've also slept on the floor with her a few times.
When she's up, she gets around ok. She's a bit stiff so I'll often spend time massaging her back and legs -- those muscles have to be sore.
It's a great suggestion to add some pain medicine back in maybe a smaller dose to keep the edge off.
We're planning to call our regular vet and take her there because this is a concern. I don't want to go back to the surgeon's office.
Thanks for being a resource. We feel like we've come into this with very little information and we want to do right by our girl.
Hello and welcome.
I can relate in two ways- my first Tripawd lost a back leg to mast cell cancer and my current Tripawd is super sensitive!
First- how much does Sophie weigh? And was that 300 mg gaba once a day or every 8 to 12 hours? It does sound like her behavior is related to pain and depending on how much she weighs the gaba dose may have been too low. It's very common to have to adjust pain med dosages and frequency to get the best result.
Maggie, my first Tripawd was very stubborn and set in her ways, she hated, hated, hated changes to her routine. She stayed in her bed most of the time for about 6 weeks post amputation. No medical complications and she could hop on her own the day of surgery. But it took her longer than most to get used to her new normal and then she hopped happily through life for almost 4 more years.
Elly, my current Tripawd, lost her back leg at 7 months old after being hit by a car. Elly is a 14 pound Pug mix and will turn 10 next month. Elly has severe anxiety and fear issues. The other day I was wearing a finger-less glove/mitten combination and had the mitten part flipped back. Elly wouldn't take a treat from my hand because the mitten flap scared her! And sedation doesn't help either. A couple years ago she had a dental procedure and had to spend about 6 hours at the vet. Although she was sedated she was still churning inside and developed stress induced colitis.
Sophie has been through a lot in the past few weeks and all of that is extra hard on a sensitive dog. I would talk with your vet as soon as possible and maybe get her back on pain meds. We see here sometimes that more mature pups take a bit longer to adjust and adapt. I've also found that the closer I can make things to normal the better my dogs recover. I tried sleeping on the floor with Maggie after her surgery and neither of us got any sleep. When I went back to our normal arraignment things were much better.
Let us know what the vet has to say.
Karen and the Spirit Pug Girls and Boy
Tri-pug Maggie survived a 4.5 year mast cell cancer battle only to be lost to oral melanoma.
1999 to 2010
Hi Chris,
Well this alllll makes sense now, her body has been through so much! And with Tramadol being an opioid that can certainly cause appetite loss for a very sensitive dog like her. I have the same questions as Karen about the Gabapentin dosage.
When it comes to appetite and pills etc., whatever you do don't hide pills in her regular food. Here are some appetite and medication tips that may help you with some creative ways to get her to take them:
http://nutritio.....g/appetite
Let us know what the vet says OK? And don't feel bad about not knowing anything about this situation, because very few of us did when it happened to our own dogs (myself included). You live and learn and become a better pet parent for sweet Sophie as time goes on. Stay strong, you can do this!
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