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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I was looking at the comments for getting your tripaw to pee and it seems like the male can do it pretty easily by leaning against something. How do you get a female to do it? We are worried about amputating our overweight sheltie's leg. So the vet taped her up as if she has 3 legs to see how she'd do. I finally got her to eat and drink (from a lying position) but I still can't get her to pee. I've put pee pads down so she can just pee wherever until we can figure it out outside. I'm afraid with her weight that she can't handle 3 legs. Thoughts would be appreciated.
Hello and welcome. What is your dog's name? And why does she need an amputation?
In my experience female dogs figure it out pretty quickly, since they don't normally lift their leg to urinate. Others who have had female Tripawds here can offer better ideas than I can though.
About her weight: how overweight is she? If the reason for the amputation is not quite urgent, perhaps it's a better idea to wait until she loses weight before amputating? If you and your vet are as worried as it sounds, waiting may be a better choice, since dogs can lose weight a lot faster than humans. Have you discussed diet tips with your veterinarian?
Tripawds Founders Jim and Rene
tripawds.com | tripawds.org | bemoredog.net | triday.pet
Excuse me being a bit daft.....Sooooo.....are you saying she"s still "taped up" as though she has three??? How long??
To me, that wouldn't be a completely accurate way to see how she would manage on three. You have to keep in mind that the weight of the leg is still
to throw her off balance, as well as the fact that she knows it is! This would not be the same experience she would have once the surgery is complete.
My Bull Mastiff Happy Hannah was. "fluffy and she did just fine as a rear legger when squatting with one leg to pee. Many of my girl dogs kinda hike up one of their back legs anyway, so they already naturally are just using one leg,
Hugs
Sslly 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!
Her name is Dana and she has a very aggressive sarcoma on her right front leg. She was fine one day and the next she had blood on her rough, so it's been a not so fun week for my husband and me (and Dana). She's 44.6 lbs and she's a small 7 yo sheltie, but my mother-in-law had alzheimers and kept feeding her and feeding her, and no matter what we or the vet does, we can't get the weight off. She has issues standing now with 4... we don't know how she'll do on 3. Yes, she still has her leg and yes, she kept pulling on it when trying to move. I started crying because I could see and feel her fighting the bandage and I just wanted to take it off. She ate and drank ok, but she didn't pee until she finally became Houdini and got herself out of it about 3am. So she had 3 legs for about 13 hrs. That's a great point tho about the weight of the leg.
Do they seem to have the phantom limb issue that humans have?
Thank you for helping us navigate this scary time and what is the best thing to do for her.
Our girl is a rear legger and figured it out fairly quick. I think getting the hang of balance was the key. We also had an older girl who was hmmmm shall we say plump lol. She kind of got down half way to pee and hopped for balance. She wasnt a tripawd but she might as well have been. Her back leg was seriously arthritic and pretty much usless.
Dogs are very good at figuring things out. Maybe a sling if she will tolerate it until she figures out the balance?
Hugs ❤ Bev, nurse Moe cat, Autumn's Angel Roane & Angel dog Gypsy 🐾
My sweet soulmate Roane was diagnosed with osteo in June of 2019. Had a rear leg amp on July 2nd & crossed the rainbow bridge to be with her sister Gypsy on the first day of Autumn Sept 23 2019.
My personal opinion is that 'taping' a leg up does not at all demonstrate how a pup will act as a Tripawd. A couple of my dogs hated anything around their chests so a bandage wrapped around them would make them sit absolutely still. It also makes a pup anxious because the leg is bound and probably really uncomfortable if not actually painful. FWIW- I'm not a vet.
Also- I think a front amp female Tripawd will have an easier time peeing since both back legs are there to support them. I've had two female rear amp Tripawds and they both figured out how to pee and poop just fine, although pooping took a bit longer.
Karen and the Spirit Pug Girls
Tri-pug Maggie survived a 4.5 year mast cell cancer battle only to be lost to oral melanoma.
1999 to 2010
I'm sorry your dog has cancer. Cancer super sucks! As for peeing and pooping she will figure it out. I tried to simulate the effect of my dog losing her front right leg would have on her ability to walk by wrapping her leg up in a bandage. The simulation was worse than the outcome (after she got past the initial very painful period where the stub is super sore). I didn't consider trying to see how she would pee I was just looking at how hard it would be for her to walk. It didn't occur to me that could be an issue. I only learned it was possibly an issue after my vet explained that the criteria for letting her come home after the amputation was that she had successfully peed and pooped. My guess is they give them support and help them through it. But they said some dogs have no problem and others take a while to figure it out.
My dog lost her front right leg when she was about 4 months old. She is now close to 15. I have been a complete control freak about her weight because I was trying to keep her strong and able to move as long as possible. There is the added bonus she is lighter to lift and carry around (which I have to do all the time now). She has always had her portions carefully measured. As she got older and less active I had to shift to smaller portions. I found it helped me feel less 'mean' to spread the smaller portions out over 3 meals a day rather than 2. I also started buying healthier snacks because as she became less active the choice was no snacks or fewer not as tasty snacks. You also have to make clear to the everyone else in the house that giving her snacks is not doing her a favor and is not allowed. People will not listen so you have to keep an eye out. I remember being on a multi-day raft trip when I decided my dog had a terrible disease and was near death because she was refusing to eat her kibble and appeared to have no appetite. My significant other laughed and said it was because everyone had been handing her their dinner plates to lick clean. I had failed to see this and no-one had asked permission. From then on I kept a closer eye out on what she got into and explained to everyone that as a three legged dog extra weight was extra hard on her (i.e. I guilted others into not feeding her).
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