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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Hi Everyone
I am brand new to forum. I just adopted a 1.5 year old shepard mix from the shelter I work at. He was hit by a car, brought in by our animal control and his front leg had to be amputated. The surgery was 7 weeks ago and he is doing very well. I have been fostering him the last 2 weeks and cant let him go! I also have 2 other dogs - a Lab and Cavalier. So 2 questions:
Car harness and safety in car:
Is there a good harness people use while taking the dog in car for a front leg amputee? He has a hard time staying balanced in the car while I drive. He is too big for me to crate him and have the other dog in car so a crate is out.
Play safety:
He and the lab love to play. They wrestle on the floor and play chase in the backyard. I was letting him guide me as to what was too much but now I wonder if that is wrong. He gets tired easy and then naps after play.
any feed back is great and please point me to any forums for new front leg amputees that has all the basics - he is not a cancer patient.
Thanks so much!
Hi there, thanks for joining and adopting that sweetie. What's his name? Glad that he's doing well and he'll have siblings. He won the lotto!
You ask great questions! This is a big issue for Tripawds because you're right, they do bounce around more in the car without that fourth leg. Front or rear, they all struggle a bit in the car. These Forum Search Results About Car Harnesses will give you some insight about what others have discovered to help keep their Tripawd safe in the car.
Many different dog harness companies make car riding harnesses. However only one harness is officially approved by safety agencies like the Center for Pet Safety, it's called the SleepyPod harness.
The Ruffwear Webmaster has a handle on top that you can use to run a seat belt through, but it's not tested for safety so that's not one of the ways we suggest using it.
Regarding exercise:
Front or rear, they each have their challenges but the main thing to keep in mind with any Tripawd is that it's critical for pet parents to monitor their activity so they don't overdo things. So, when he has play sessions with your other dogs, at some point you'll need to intervene and make him take breaks. It's hard but it's important in order to keep him healthy for life. He'll do all he can to keep up with the pack but it's not always the best thing for him. Of course you can certainly keep him around and having fun, such as putting him in a dog stroller when the whole pack wants to walk farther but he should not. Rehab vets tell us that a healthy, healed up Tripawd in good shape should take shorter, more frequent walks throughout the day of no more than 15 or 20 minutes at a time.
It's hard to limit a Tripawd's activity when you have other dogs in the house. Others with multiple dogs can guide you better on that subject, but for now I'll point you to our e-book, Loving Life On Three Legs , which has many exercise and fitness tips for Tripawds. Our Tripawds Downloads blog and Tripawds Gear blog also do.
Stick around here and you'll learn lots of ways to ensure he stays strong and fit. Oh, and if your shelter would like some of our free Tripawds Outreach Brochures let us know and we'll send some over OK? Thanks for all the great work you do with animals, you rock!
Tripawds Founders Jim and Rene
tripawds.com | tripawds.org | bemoredog.net | triday.pet
I've really struggled to find a harness for the car that doesn't shift around too much for my front amp, though I haven't tried the one Jerry suggested. We use a soft side crate, which I like because the sides catch her if she is standing and falls - since you don't have room for a crate, what about combining the harness with something like this backseat hammock? It would help catch him if he likes to sit up or stand in the car.
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