Caring for a Three Legged Dog or Cat
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My pup Frank is scheduled to have his right rear leg amputated on Tuesday, and a lot of things I've seen have said to cover up slippery surfaces. My problem is almost my entire house is tile and very slippery, and covering up all that square footage sounds expensive. What have y'all found to be the cheapest yet effective solution to prevent slipping?
Welcome and best wishes for Frank!
Carpet runners are the best solution to improve traction for Tripawds. You will find more information and recommendations in the Tripawds Gear blog "traction " posts. Simply click any -> traction <- link!
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Tripawds Founders Jim and Rene
tripawds.com | tripawds.org | bemoredog.net | triday.pet
You can buy yoga mats at places like Five Below (it's like a dollar store in our area). They run $5 and work well. Some have found industrial floor mats at places like Home Depot or Lowes. Carpet remnants can work for larger rooms, or you can get some nice rugs for a low price at Wayfare.com (and they have free shipping!). They have a ton of choices, so you might have to weed through a lot.
Donna
Donna, Glenn & Murphy
Murphy had his right front leg amputated due to histiocytic sarcoma at 7 years old. He survived 4 years, 2 months & 1 week, only to be taken by hemangiosarcoma at 11 1/2 years 6/12/17
Read about Murphy's Life on Three Legs
Hi Frank and family 🐾
We bought a few rolls of carpet, cut it more or less to measure and placed rubber underlay underneath for better traction .
Thing is you don't need to cover your entire floors, just create paths through the house and you'll see Frank will always use them as he will know he can slip outside those areas and will therefore avoid them.
Sending you hugs and cuddles 😘💕🐶
Eurydice 77kg/170lb Great Dane limping end of April 2016, amputation (right front leg/osteosarcoma) 4 May 2016 6 courses of carboplatin followed by metronomic therapy, lung mets found 30 Nov 2016. 3 courses of doxorubicin, PET scan 26 Jan 2017 showed more mets so stopped chemo. Holistic route April 2017. Lung X-ray 5 May 2017 showed several tennis ball size mets, started cortisone and diuretics. Miss Cow earned her XXL silver wings 12 June 2017, 13 months and 1 week after amputation and 6 1/2 months after lung mets, she was the goofiest dawg ever and is now happily flying from cloud to cloud woof woofing away :-)
the main floor of my home is all tile or hardwood so I understand your dilemma. I have a few runners on the floor for the main traffic paths, but I honestly have not found slipping to be a major issue for my boy. He's only been an amputee for 3 wks. I have clipped the hair on his feet and keep the nails short to ensure good contact of the pads on the floor.
Previous to his amputation, I have used grippy socks and they are fabulous. You can buy them for dogs, but there are baby socks with similar grips on them for much cheaper.
Tanya & Fawkes
I have an older Tripawd girl who gets anxious on tile and wood and a Tripawd foster dog who is not at all bothered by any surface. For my older girl, I have paths of carpet runners in the areas where she goes. We don't use certain rooms very much and she will cross an area of wood or tile that is 2 feet or less. She can walk on tile or wood but she doesn't like it.
I try to push her just a little to walk on those surfaces because she hates her boots and she does have to walk on tile when we go to the vet or to her physical therapist.
Also, keep nails trimmed and hair on paws trimmed to allow the best grip. This may take some work to get your dog used to have his paws handled.
As I said, my Tripawd foster dog will run, jump and climb anywhere. It depends on the dog.
Joyce Mader, Sophie and Lady (foster)
Joyce Mader said
I have an older Tripawd girl who gets anxious on tile and wood ...
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Tripawds Founders Jim and Rene
tripawds.com | tripawds.org | bemoredog.net | triday.pet
I use a variety of things, but primarily jute and seagrass rugs, runners and matting, which is relatively inexpensive. It gives excellent traction , and is also heavy enough not to shift easily, unless it's a very small piece. You can also get it with rubberised backing.
Ruby, Staffy, born June 2022, became a Tripawd, November 2023, adopted January 2024.
Also Angel Tripawd Meg (aka The Megastar), who died in April 2023, aged 14, after seven glorious years on three, and Angel Staffies Elsie Pie and Bille. In the pawprints of giants...
RubyRoo is incredibly flattered that you thought of her while outfitting Her Home Away from Home with Garden! with jute and seagrass matting. Although she was in the process of hiding her raft back her in Georgia, we now strongly suspect that perhaps she has " borrowed" it from a section of the matting there. Will speak with her about returning it as soon as possible with apologies to Elsie Pie. (Obviously Meg cut the section of matting out for RubyRoo's sailing adventure so no apologies going out to Meg. Really Meg and RubyRoo?!?! Scoundrels have nothing on you two!)
I have carpet runners and hate it! Seriously, what do you do for cleaning? Its been 9 months now and the worse part of a tripawd dog is the cleaning of the carpets LOL We have 4 dogs and 2 cats and removing the hair is so hard and of course, dirty feet, cats who vomit etc..impossible to clean. At work, we have rubber carpet in our consultation room and Im thinking of replacing the carpet with rubber runners, easy to clean and good traction . What do you think? Did somebody try those here? I went to home depot and they are expensive! Any idea where to get those cheaper?
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