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 my name is Nina and i live in norway,i have tried to get some information about three legged dogs i searhed the net and i found this site 
At the end of this month i get a dog with an amputeded hind leg.She is a stray dog from portugal,has never had a home,born on the streets.She is between 2 and 3 years old and a year ago she got hit by a car,someone nice found her and took her to the vet,the leg was so injured that they had to amputate it.
I have never met this dog since portugal are so far away from norway.But i fell in love with her the minute i saw picture of her,and i want to give her a home,she is very thin and needs to get fed well and get used to living in a house.But i have never seen a three legged dog in real life before,i guess they put them to sleep instead of amputate a dogs leg here.There is no information to be found in norwegian about this,so i turn to you for some help.What is it important to know about a dog whit only three legs?
Can they swim?
Can they go up and down stairs?
Jump into a car?
Hehe lots of question here now,but i really dont know much about this,and i want to do everything in my power to get this sweet little girl a new life where she can be loved.
Hope you will take the time to answer my questions
Hi Nina, welcome to the Tripawds family! You are our first member from Norway. How cool!
You are a saint for wanting to rescue this special girl. She will love you!!
As you can see here, three legged dogs can do just about anything a four legged dog can do. We like to say "all dogs are born with three legs and a spare."
Yes, we can go up and down stairs, we can swim, and we can get into cars (although it's wise to use care, you don't want them to jump too high and put them at risk of injury). Check out our Videos page for some cool movies of three legged dogs loving life.
Just take things slow, and try not to over do it until she completely recuperates. She will need time to build up her strength. For some dogs they only need a few weeks. Others might need a couple of months or so. But because she isn't dealing with cancer, you'll have one less thing to think about.
Here is some reading for you. Some of it applies to dogs with cancer, but some does not. Take a look:
Top Ten Questions About Amputation Part 1
Top Ten Questions About Amputation, Part 2
We hope this helps. Ask a thousand questions if you need to, everyone here is great and very helpful.
So what are you going to name her? When will she come to live with you? We can't wait to meet her!
Thanks again for joining us.
Tripawds Founders Jim and Rene
tripawds.com | tripawds.org | bemoredog.net | triday.pet
Hi and thank for answering =)
She is a stray dog and the leg was amputated a year ago,she has been living on the streets since she healed from the surgery,so ill guess she is pretty good hopping around on three legs since she has to look for food an so on.One of my friends try to help the stray dogs of portugal and gets help from a vet clinic there,they have given my dog rabies vaccines and all that is needed to be imported to norway,its just som paper work and then they can put her on a plane to me.It will be a long travel,and ill bet pretty stressfull for a street dog,but a day of some stress is better than a whle life in hunger with no one to love her.
We hope all the paper work will be done very soon,and if everything goes as planned we can get her at the 28 of this month =) We have to drive for five hours to pick her up,ill bet that drive will take forever since im so exited to meet her.She dont have a name,since she never has had a family.She has been livlin on a construction site her whole life with many other stray dogs.
I have tought about the name Bonita,who means beautiful in portugese,and she really is beutiful with the kindest eyes.
Here are the picture i have of her,just links to them as i dont know how to put a picture directly in the forums.
http://i367.pho.....ket.com/al.....G_3098.jpg
http://i367.pho.....ket.com/al.....G_3094.jpg
http://i367.pho.....ket.com/al.....G_3092.jpg
http://i367.pho.....ket.com/al.....G_3091.jpg
She is beautiful and you are so very kind to give her a home, especially from so far away! Please keep us posted when she arrives and I'm sure you will find that this website is great source of information from dog lovers all over the world. We are all so proud of our tripawds and have so much confidence that they can do, well, almost anything. Congratulations, I know she will be a wonderful addition to your family.
Karin and Zoe
Nina,
Welcome to this community filled with wonderful individuals who will share their collective experiences, provide excellent advice, and provide support. While many of us are facing amputation because of cancer which further complicates our recovery and treatment, there also are many who become TriPawds because of accidents. Your story is very heart warming and we want to wish you nothing but the very best. I am somewhat familiar with the name Bonita which is also the name of a hot springs pool in Yellowstone National Park. Now knowing that it means beautiful in Portuguese, I understand where the pool's name originated.
Addressing your specific questions:
Can they swim? YES - Jake's mom could tell you how much Jake absolutely loved swimming. Watch Jake in the pool! Doug and Heidi will tell you Molly loves her canoe trips and I have watched her swimming around the canoe. Watch Molly's recient canoe trip! You will note that both are using special float harnesses to assisit which is probably a good idea for these two front leg amputees.
Can they go up and down steps? Yes - For a front amputee like Cherry, going down steps is harder than going up while a rear amputee is going to have more trouble going up. However, that is just a very general comments because it will vary from dog to dog. Most of us have purchased a RuffWare harness which helps for many conditions including steps/stairs. Cherry has a red RuffWare and is comes in very handy getting into the truck or recreational vehicle.
Jump into the car? Maybe or maybe not! Clearly the spirit is willing because you will find that TriPawds can do nearly everything without assistance, but sometimes it is just too much. Cherry can get our car which is a full size sedan. However, getting into the truck, which is a very large 3/4 ton and used to pull a very large trailer, is just too much to do without assistance. However, even before the amputation, I would usually put her into the truck and she just absolutely loves going on our "camping" trips.
Hope that this helps and good luck!
Bob & Cherry
Bonita certainly IS beautiful! And it's fitting that she's moving to Norway since she's blonde 🙂 My dog, Jack, had his front leg amputated 5 1/2 months ago, and can do everything he did before surgery, including giving high-fives and rolling over. He has no problem jumping into cars, but even though he can jump out fine, I try to help him since I'm paranoid that he will break his other front leg (he doesn't have any spares left!!!). He must feel like he can conquer the world on 3 legs because he has even started venturing into the water which he was always terrified of. Let us know when you get her and can't wait to see pictures of her living in Norway with my people (my great-grandparents were from Norway, so I feel like you're family!!!). Best Wishes!
<3 Laura and Jack
FYI: I fixed your images. Thanks for the links! Here are instructions for adding images to forum posts. Basically you just paste the links you copied into the Image Url field when using the Insert Photo button (small tree icon) when posting your replies.
Tripawds Founders Jim and Rene
tripawds.com | tripawds.org | bemoredog.net | triday.pet
Thanks for all the answers,glad to hear three legged dogs do fine =)
I have started on a web page,tried my best to write in english.Its not finished yet,but ill work on it over the next days.Here is the adress http://dagandni.....eebly.com/
As you can see we have more dogs,we also have 2 cats and 6 birds,we really love animals hehe.I willl write more in the diary when Bonita gets here and how her life in a home will be,and its not long until there will be snow here,thats she has never seen before,so i wonder what she will think about that hehe
Hi Nina & Bonita! Welcome to this wonderful community of support and Love for tripawds. There is a wealth of information here and of course if you can't find the answer to your question, post it in one of the forums.
Our dog Chuy was hit by a car and lost one of his frt. legs. He does everything our other dog does and more. He loves swimming and goes to swim with a therapist once every 3 weeks (it used to be every week). We only take him swimming now to give him a little variety and help build his stamina. The therapist says, he doesn't really need it now.
Bonita is a beautiful little girl and very lucky to have you take her in. 
We have one suggestion for you, before you get her, if you have wood or tiled floors, get some carpet runners for her to navigate your home on. It can be difficult for a tripawd to walk on those surfaces. Chuy follows the runners in our house and gets everywhere he needs to be.
Keep us posted on that sweet baby!
Chuy & Eleanor
Chuy, showing everyone that Tripawds do everything 3 times better than regular dogs!
Hi Nina and Bonita!
Welcome to the Tripawds forum!! I just looked at your blog website and saw all the pictures and videos of your animals. They are all beautiful and Bonita is sooooo lucky that you are going to adopt her!! I can see that you really love animals, and they all have the best life with you!!
Keep posting information about Benita and all your other beautiful animals.
Jake's Mom
Jake, 10yr old golden retriever (fractured his front right leg on 9/1, bone biopsy revealed osteosarcoma on 9/10, amputation on 9/17) and his family Marguerite, Jacques and Wolfie, 5yr old german shepherd and the newest addition to the family, Nala, a 7mth old Bengal mix kittie. Jake lost his battle on 11/9/2009, almost 8 weeks after his surgery. We will never forget our sweet golden angel… http://jakesjou.....ipawds.com ….. CANCER SUCKS!
Hi Nina & Bonita,
What a beautiful little girl! Bonita is so lucky to have found you. Like others before me I want to reassure you that a three legged dog can do anything a four legged one can. My Emily could still run across the yard and jump on our trampoline. She ran up and down the steps and jumped in the cars.
I would suggest though that you start a joint supplement for Bonita. Something like glucosamine.
I wish you all the luck. Please keep us informed.
Debra & Angel Emily
Debra & Emily, a five year old doberman mix, who was diagnosed with an osteosaecoma. She had a right rear leg amputation on May 19, 2009. On November 10, 2009 she earned her wings and regained her fourth leg.
Emilysmom said: ... Something like glucosamine.
be sure to checkout our information about Synflex, we believe it helped Jerry.
Tripawds Founders Jim and Rene
tripawds.com | tripawds.org | bemoredog.net | triday.pet
Can i get this here in norway or is it someting i just can get in america?would be nice if there were something similar her,so i didnt have to buy from so far away..i give my other dogs Dr.Baddakys fishoil in their food,they get so nice and shiny coats,and i will give this to bonita also.But the product you speak uf i have never heard about.
Today i got the email to a lady that lives in portugal and tries her best to help these dogs with some food,She knows my dog better than anyone,so i have written to her and asked if she could tell me all she knows about Bonita.I really look forward to hear from her.I'll write her what she said 🙂
I have also contacted a vet in my area that have worked a lot in the US and in Australia,she is more used to a 3 legged dog than many other vets around here(the vets in norway prefers to let a dog go to sleep rather than to amputated)so we are going to this vet when Bonita gets here,she have to have some medicines for intestinal worms and get a health check to see that everything with her other legs are fine and so on..the vet i talked with was so nice,and she cant wait to meet my portuguese dog.
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