Caring for a Three Legged Dog or Cat
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Hi everyone, this is my first post & I did do a search. If I missed this topic already covered, my apologies & plz redirect me. My 9 yr old female chocolate lab, 70 lbs, had her back right leg amputated one week ago today. She's supposed to have confined rest for 14 days. I have to go back to work on Monday (day 10) & do medical day board at my vets. She goes there for day care so I'm not worried about emotional issues. But I am very worried about hoisting her up into my small suv sooner than the 14 day recovery period. I do have a belly sling. I called the vet who said we should be ok. It's the "should be" that has me nervous. Will she be ok? Thx for your comments.
Welcome, and best wishes for Moose's speedy recovery! Is that her name?
Your future forum posts will not require moderation. We've moved this topic here to the "Hopping Around" forum, since the question is not necessarily of a veterinary nature.
You might be surprised by what little help she needs. She may hop right in! Are you able to lift her? If not, the sling should suffice. There are also various ramps available. Or, with an SUV you might consider the Otto Step or Pet Loader steps.
Hope this helps!
Tripawds Founders Jim and Rene
tripawds.com | tripawds.org | bemoredog.net | triday.pet
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Thats great that your vet has a "day care" set -up! Sounds like your pup is doing well for so early in recovery! Please tell us more about him when you get time.
I agree, you may be surprised how easy this actually will be. My Happy Hannah was a 125 lb. Bull Mastiff (rear leg amp.and I was petrified about her first vet visit. I had no help. I basically found "material" around to make sort of a pallet so she could step up on thst, then go from there to the floorboard of the car. This lrobably is making no sense! She preceeded from there to lift herself onto the backseat with me gently helping lift her rear end. I had lots of soft blankies on the backseat. Oh, and I sprinkled a few treats into the car to help motivate ner.
Let js know how it goes!
Hugs!
Sally and Alumni Happy Hannah and Merry Myrtle 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!
Thanks for your responses! Lol, I saw "Hopping Around" & thought that was someone's user name! (I will get the hang of this forum thing eventually!) Admin, my dog's name is Piper. Moose was my other dog; a male yellow lab mix I got thru a rescue group. He & Piper and I were the three amigos for 8 yrs. Moose died of cancer right before Christmas. Piper had a lump on her leg that was benign & removed in early January; but its removal led to complications & trauma which resulted in amputation. So this has been a difficult few months & I find myself doing a lot of second guessing my abilities and decisions.
Piper does have arthritis in her left hip, so she will need a little help getting in my car. I was just worried that I might do her harm by moving her like that sooner than the 14 day confined rest requirements. I will look into the steps you suggested, thx!
Sally, I don't have any help either. My husband died 8 yrs ago when Piper was just a few months old. My friend brought over Moose for a two hour "play date" as a break from the shelter. Moose had been bounced around between 3 towns, 3 shelters & 2 fosters. I called my friend back after an hour & said just bring over the paperwork, ha! I know I could ask my friends or neighbors to help me, but sooner or later I'm going to have to tackle this myself. I'm just worried that at day ten, is she healed enough for that kind of movement when the post-op instructions say 14 days crate rest? Her sutures are scheduled to come out on the 12th, so I hope I'm not jostling her too soon. I think we both did pretty good getting out of the car when I brought her home from the hospital.....thx for the encouragement! The pallet suggestion is great! Piper has been a veteran car passenger all her life...guess I'm just being a worry wart!
Another thing that can help is to pull up to a curb. I did not have this option at home, but caroming out of vet we did. Helped with the hoisting of a large Lab into my car. I, like Sally, made a sort of stool for at home. There are also ramps sold online. I have seen them fairly reasonable. They fold and store in your vehicle.
TY GUY, Best Black Lab ever! Diagnosed and had amp in January, 2014. Kicked MRSA's butt. Earned his angel wings on April 16, 2014. Run Free my boy and don't forget a shoe. Ty is a proud member of the " April Angels". Ty sent us Daryl, a Tripawd rescue in Sept. of 2016. Daryl is 5 +or -. We are also Pawrents to Chandler, a Border Collie mix who is 15 and 1/2, Lucy, a Corgi who is 7, 2 minis, 2 horses, and a feisty cat named Zoe. Zoe had a non skeletal Osteosarcoma removed in July 2015. No Chemo, she was at least 16. She is going strong although she is now completely blind. She is now close to 20 and her hobbies are eating and sleeping in front of her personal heater.
Sorry, sometimes my tablet just stops writing. I guess express shipping would be in order to get it by Monday. Not sure what happened but was supposed to read coming out of vet. LOL I found that The actual getting in the car went better than I expected. Hugs, Lori, Ty and the canine 3.
TY GUY, Best Black Lab ever! Diagnosed and had amp in January, 2014. Kicked MRSA's butt. Earned his angel wings on April 16, 2014. Run Free my boy and don't forget a shoe. Ty is a proud member of the " April Angels". Ty sent us Daryl, a Tripawd rescue in Sept. of 2016. Daryl is 5 +or -. We are also Pawrents to Chandler, a Border Collie mix who is 15 and 1/2, Lucy, a Corgi who is 7, 2 minis, 2 horses, and a feisty cat named Zoe. Zoe had a non skeletal Osteosarcoma removed in July 2015. No Chemo, she was at least 16. She is going strong although she is now completely blind. She is now close to 20 and her hobbies are eating and sleeping in front of her personal heater.
4myty, thx for your reply - the curb is a great idea. I did buy a ramp when Moose had his tumor removed. Total failure, lol...he wouldn't use it no matter how many treats I used. I tried it for Piper after her first surgery - same thing. I think they both had/have the jumping in the car thing ingrained in their head. I did buy some small steps that she wouldn't go for either. Both the ramp & the steps got "adopted" by someone when I put them at the end of the driveway with a free sign. I think a pallet platform would work because she goes on to the scale at the vets quite easily, and I have seen pallets that look a little bit wider than that and just as long, I think that might work. And it would be good to have for future use anyway. The doctor said on xrays Piper's arthritis shows that I can expect pretty much a guaranteed advancement and mobility will be diminished. There's a chance Piper will live out her remaining years without her arthritis causing a major problem, so I'm keeping an optimistic outlook.
The one thing I don't want is me inadvertently ripping her stitches or hurting her. But she does seem to be healing well & I really can't take any more time off. One of those times you just have to have faith it will all work out, huh?
By the way, two unrelated questions: 1) - what part of the forum do people post ongoing helpful hints and back & forth discussion? 2) How did you put in your own profile pics? I thought I did that when I signed up. Is it too late now?
Thank you all so much. A friend sent me the Tripawds link one week ago today. I'm still navigating my way around, but this place has been an invaluable source of help.
Usually treatment and ongoing recovery and there are usually good ones under " Hopping around" as far as the picture, it is not too late at all, but I will have someone more tech savvy explain it. Good luck on Monday, I am sure all will be well! Another idea, ask someone at your vet to help you lift her. That would save some jumping one way. Lori, Ty and the canine 3
TY GUY, Best Black Lab ever! Diagnosed and had amp in January, 2014. Kicked MRSA's butt. Earned his angel wings on April 16, 2014. Run Free my boy and don't forget a shoe. Ty is a proud member of the " April Angels". Ty sent us Daryl, a Tripawd rescue in Sept. of 2016. Daryl is 5 +or -. We are also Pawrents to Chandler, a Border Collie mix who is 15 and 1/2, Lucy, a Corgi who is 7, 2 minis, 2 horses, and a feisty cat named Zoe. Zoe had a non skeletal Osteosarcoma removed in July 2015. No Chemo, she was at least 16. She is going strong although she is now completely blind. She is now close to 20 and her hobbies are eating and sleeping in front of her personal heater.
I have to laugh about this "tech savvy" stuff! Ive beennon here two years this minth...still dont know how to do a blog...took MONTHS before I jad an avatar picture of my Happy Hannah...and that was only because I emailed it to Jerry and she did it for me!! As far as typos...I've definitely mastered that!!
Just wanted to say how sorry I am about Moose. I know that he was one lucky fella once he found his forever home with you! I love tha the "play date" turned into a "date with a loving home"!
And it is rough when you have big dogs and are the inly one do k ng the vet trips, the lifting, etc. Just visualize it flowing smoothly and effortlessly and it willl.
Stitches coming out should not be a problem at this point. If I recall, I had to take my Happy Hannah to my regular vet at about nine or ten days because she had so much swelling. The stitches held just fine. Even if Piper does pull out one or tow...which I doubt...that k k nd of thing does happen a d it's no biggy.
A lot of us use "Anything Goes" as sort of a catch all to post things..."Hopping Around" is good too.
And I'm sorry for the loss of your husband. You and Piper clearly have some special Guardian Angles watching over you!
Can't wait to hear more about Piper and Moose too! And pictures...we love pictures! Jerry will chime in and give you a link for doingnpics.
As far as being a worry wart....yeah...we understand that all tok well! I find downing bags of chocolatw helps tremendously!!!
Hugs to you and Piper!
Sally and Alumni Happy Hannah and Merry Myrtle 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!
allmoosedup said
two unrelated questions: 1) - what part of the forum do people post ongoing helpful hints and back & forth discussion?
That's exactly what all the forums are for!
On the home page of the forums your will notice the forums are grouped into separate areas for discussing different topics. Pick the forum that best meets your needs, then search, and post if no answers found
2) How did you put in your own profile pics? ... Is it too late now?
Nope, never too late! You can change your avatar here anytime by clicking on the "Profile" button at top right to edit your Forums Profile. At the top of your Forums Profile, you will notice a link to edit your Tripawds User Profile. There, you can upload a new Avatar.
FYI: That last link will take you directly to your avatar (profiler pic) upload page. We've provided the other links so you can complete other bits of your profile to share more about yourself and Piper, or add a signature to appear under your forum posts.
Tripawds Founders Jim and Rene
tripawds.com | tripawds.org | bemoredog.net | triday.pet
You are doing GREAT so far, welcome!
Wow, your pack has been through so much, I'm so sorry. I hope that in the coming weeks we can be a source of support for you. It's not an easy journey especially when you're solo but we will do our best to help you and Piper.
Don't feel badly about the ramp not working out, you're not the first. If you ever want to try again here's an article we wrote about ramp training tips.
Tripawds Founders Jim and Rene
tripawds.com | tripawds.org | bemoredog.net | triday.pet
Thx Jerry! and everyone!! I fried my tablet & was doing this from my phone. As far as uploading a new avatar, I got as far as "crop your image"...the little box in the left of the picture wouldn't move when I tried to drag any of it. No problem, I will try again when I'm using a device bigger than my smartphone... which I clearly am not smart enough to use, haha! There is still so much of this site I'm exploring... it's like taking a virtual field trip!
SUV with running boards I taught my dogs to step onto the running board then into the car. Sassy was a rear amputee so she stepped onto that and I kind of helped her into the car after she put the front feet into the space between the front seat & back seat. I learned to do that after one of my first rotties who loved to jump into the suv had to have a knee surgery and couldn't just jump after recovery. Too big of a dog to lift too.
Hugs
Michelle & Angel Sassy
Sassy is a proud member of the Winter Warriors. Live long, & strong Winter Warriors.
sassysugarbear.tripawds.com
07/26/2006 - Sassy earned her wings 08/20/2013
05/04/2006 - Bosch, Sassy's pal, earned his wings 03/29/19 fought cancer for 4 months.
"You aren't doing it TO her, you are doing it FOR her. Give her a chance at life."
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