Caring for a Three Legged Dog or Cat
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Hi all!
Maybe some of you experienced something similar?
We are 5 weeks post op. We are getting on alright I think. Bärli sleeps in our bed with us but he is getting up at like 3/4 in the night and does little whimmers and cries. I dont think he is hungry, it is never toilet need, he doesnt want to be covered with a blankie... I suspect he wants to clean or scratch himself but cant? He tried to whipe his bum last night and sometimes during the day I can see him struggle scratching himself so I usually scratch him.Â
Any thoughts, experiences or tips?
ThanksÂ
RaphaelaÂ
Hmmm. Boy that could be any number of things. Does he stop being anxious when you scratch or massage him? What happens then?
Tripawds Founders Jim and Rene
tripawds.com | tripawds.org | bemoredog.net | triday.pet
Sometimes it helps and he calms down but sometimes also not... we tried everything we could think of at nights so we are really not sure. It takes some time like 30 mins and a lot of positioning around then he sleeps again. The scratching/cleaning himself was the only angle I could think of because he quite struggles to scratch the side with the missing leg. He just falls over. The other side is kinda ok.
So even if this isnt making him wake I would still be interested how other amputees get on with this or if some owners have dome tricks up their sleeves.Â
We bathed him today (which he hated hahahaa) but just in case anything on him annoys him. I also gave him an extra walk tonight in case he may just be bored?
Hmm that is a bit odd, it's so hard to tell what the anxiety could be from. He doesn't do it in the daytime?
As for the itching, we usually help Wyatt out with our hands or a back scratcher. It's so tough for 3-legged dogs to scratch behind the ears!
How nice that he had a spaw day!
One tip: use care with the extra walks. Instead of doing that, to help with boredom interactive brain games are awesome. Plus they don't put your dog's joints at risk. See:
Tripawds Founders Jim and Rene
tripawds.com | tripawds.org | bemoredog.net | triday.pet
Cool games! We will def play some. Thanks for the link! The extra walk is more a 5/10 mins sniff and pee but we might as well play a bit instead 🙂
Very tricky to find out what is bugging him at night... still is doing it.
But: he manages to scratch his face/ears on the amputation side from a lying down position. I still scratch him too. Guess that isnt the cause ...
My first thought also was needing to scratch for him. Sounds like you're doing that though.
One other thought. Dogs like to circle and "nest" and generally have a "favorite" side to sleep on. ,aybe he is adjusting to sleeping in a different way and on a different side??  Is it possible he's having leg cramps?
If you have any Gabapentin left, maybe you could give him a low dose at night before he goes to bed and see if that helps.
Glad that things are going well otherwise.
HugsÂ
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!
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