Caring for a Three Legged Dog or Cat
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Hi all
I have a Dobi/pit mix Toby that was hit by a car last week. His leg was not save able. First two days after surgery went well. He was eating taking his meds Tramadol, Rimadyl, Simplicef, drinking water. Then he started to be agitated. Called the vet and we upped the Tramadol and I gave him Benadryl to calm him. We were going into the vet the next day to get his drain tube checked and removed they gave him a shot to put him under.
Since he was restless on the pain meds the vet gave us some Gabapentin and Acepromazine. Once he was awake I fed him gave him water, evening meds I gave him 1 Gabapentin and 1 Acepromazine. He slept through the night. Morning he went potty then came back into the house. Then slept for another 24 hours no new pain meds or anything for about 38 hours. I could barely wake him. (This was scary) I called the vet they were ok with the sleeping she said he may just need some sleep since he was in such a traumatic event. He did wake ate and moved around a bit went out side etc. when I was able to finally get some meds in him again he was getting restless again so I gave him 1/3 of a Acepromazine with his Gabapentin he slept for another 22 hrs. (Next time he is only getting 1/4). He woke up this morning I gave him just the rimadyl and Gabapentin. He did well my son was home with him he was eating and wanting to go for a walk he just let him walk the driveway and back. When I got home from work he greeted me at the door. I need to make the appt to get the staples out on Saturday. (He will get an Acepromazine for that). Right now he is doing fine just being a couch potato.
We are almost out of Tramadol. The vet will give me more if I want it. When do you start tapering the pain meds off? Which is better for the next week. Tramadol or Gabapentin?
we haven't had to use the cone of shame yet but I have a feeling we will need it soon.
Sorry for the long post.
Thanks. Gail and Toby.
Sorry to hear you and Toby has to go through this! Ugh!
Most of us here had our dogs on Tramadol, Gabapentin (they seem to be a good compliment to each other), Rimadyl and an antibiotic. Generally, not always and every dog is different they are on the pain meds for "approximately" two weeks and then tapering off...some taper off sooner. So both the Tram and Gaba can be used the second week. I know it's hard to to figure out what works best. It's really a bit of trial and error. It IS major surgery and it does hurt! Again, the ACE basically knocked himout, but did nothing to stop the pain like the Trama and the Gaba do.
Now, about that ACE! Many of us are not big fans of it for exacw what you witnessed! It is a very, very lowerfuw sedative and it can be risky. It can surprew the respiratory system. If yiur doctor says he HAS to have a sedative for staple removal, I sure would give him a very, very LOW dose...not anything close to a whole one!
He needs to continue to take it easy and just have short potty breaks. If you have hardwood floors your want non slip scatter rugs for traction .
Eating and drinking, that's good!!
Stay connected and let us know how we can help!
Hugs!
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!
Yes the Ace is very powerful. And I will not give him more than a quarter of one again. He is about 66 lbs. so he is a good size dog. The vet said I could give him up to two pills. I will never do that. We are sticking with just Benadryl for now. He is the size of a Dobi so he is very powerful. So it will either be the Ace or have the vet give him a shot again. I will get a few more of the Tramadol since I only have two tablets left.
We are doing fine and I am thankful it was just his leg and there was no internal stuff going on.
Poor Toby and poor you Gail! The first 2 weeks post op are the hardest for sure. My dog Fionn went 27 hrs without peeing or pooping on day 5. Completely freaked me out. And he wasn't on Ace! I kept Fionn on both tramadol and gabapentin (he can't have any nsaids) through week 3 gradually tapering the dosages and watching him for pain signals
. The good thing about tramadol is that it is safe and, since dogs are excellent in hiding their pain, I made damn sure he wasn't in any if I could help it! He is at 2 months now and I just stopped the gabapentin today. He would yelp out of the blue when he wasn't even moving so I assumed he had phantom limb pain. His oncologist gave us 100mg capsules so I could easily taper up or down. He hasn't yelped in a while, but if he starts again, I'll put him back on it. I give him a tramadol here and there if I feel like he's done too much. Sally's advice is spot on. We were lucky that Fionn is a front amp so no need for the cone. Socks on his feet were helpful when his incision started to itch. I'm sure Toby will do great really soon! Just keep on keeping on and this too shall pass. 
Nancy and Fionn
Nancy- mom to the FABULOUS Fionn. He rescued me in 2015 when he was 6.
Right front leg amputation at age 7 for osteosarcoma 10/6/16. Taken too soon 6/12/17. Read about our journey here:
http://fionnsjo.....pawds.com/
We continued giving Tramadol into week 3. Originally 3 pills, 3 times a day. On the day the staples came out, day 10, the surgeon told us to try eliminating the midday dose. After a couple of days we eliminated the morning dose, and then took the evening dose down to a single pill. I think by the end of the week we were down to that single pill, which we eliminated a couple of days later.
Otis - 106 pound lab/Dane mix, lost his right front leg to osteosarcoma on Febuary 9, 2016. Four rounds of carboplatin completed in April, 2016. Lung mets August 25, 2016. Said goodbye too soon on September 4, 2016. Lost his adopted sister, Tess, suddenly on October 9, 2016. likely due to hemangiosarcoma.
Wherever they are, they are together.
So Toby is trying to move around a lot when not on Ace. I am trying 1/4 of a tablet today. He bumped his incision this morning. There is about an inch that has opened slightly between staples. It is not bleeding so vet is fine he just may have a scar there.
How do you keep an active dog still without the Ace? Benadryl does not work for him. I would crate him but he stresses out in a crate.
Maybe we will just give Ace in the evenings so he will sleep all night and see if he is semi concise in the day. Vet would like staples to stay in till next Wednesday.
hoping for a good day today. Going to go get more Tramadol this evening.
Thanks Gail
How do you keep an active dog still without the Ace?
Have you tried giving Toby a stuffed kong/food puzzles etc.? My Meg is very active too, and I've found that working her brain is surprisingly tiring, and obviously keeps her occupied too.
All best with it. This phase will pass, and Toby will soon be able to do more of the things he enjoys...
Meg, Clare and Elsie Pie xxx
Ruby, Staffy, born June 2022, became a Tripawd, November 2023, adopted January 2024.
Also Angel Tripawd Meg (aka The Megastar), who died in April 2023, aged 14, after seven glorious years on three, and Angel Staffies Elsie Pie and Bille. In the pawprints of giants...
My Happy Hannah's main form of exercising was snuggling on tne couch and begging for food, so I never had to worry about keeping her inactive!
She was quite "restless" sometimes at first because of keeping her pain managed properly. Is his movement more "restless" driven or more "I feel great and want to go on a run!"
He can walk around the house a bit, but no jumpiw, etc. Check out the site for I teractivew games for dogs. It keeps their brai s occupied a d stops them from being bored.
Also, IF you are there to watch him, you can leave the cone off. Some dogs done ever mess with their stitches, but some do.
And certainly if you need to use the ACE to prevent Toby from hurting himself, then smaller doses may be your answer. It is normal though to want to move about a little and that's okay. Try the games though and thst may help.
Really glad hesw feeling so well! Quite extraordinary this early in recovery!!
Hugs! You are doing a great job!
Sally and Alumni Happy Hannah and Merry Myrtle and Frankie too! I
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!
My Tess had cruciate repair, and reacted very poorly to the Ace. Didn't quite knock her out, but made her "drunk." I was afraid she would hurt herself just due to her lack of control and coordination. She was not overly active, but with both her and after Otis' amp., I found they did best if I stayed put. Basically, I brought everything I needed into the room they were in and stayed put. They were more inclined to stay put if I was there too.
Otis - 106 pound lab/Dane mix, lost his right front leg to osteosarcoma on Febuary 9, 2016. Four rounds of carboplatin completed in April, 2016. Lung mets August 25, 2016. Said goodbye too soon on September 4, 2016. Lost his adopted sister, Tess, suddenly on October 9, 2016. likely due to hemangiosarcoma.
Wherever they are, they are together.
Toby is doing fine today. I did give him I small does of the Ace. He woke up before me and climbed on my bed. He did bump his incision on some stuff next to my bed. It is fine and he didn't open anything up. We go in Tuesday to get staples out. I will get him some toys this weekend. (He is not known to have much of a brain to begin with maybe he will be smarter after this)
thank you all for all the suggestions.
Gail and Toby
Glad Toby is doing better.
Haven't heard of amputation making dogs smarter......but there's a first for everything!! LOL!!
Have a great, non- eventful weekend!
Hugs!
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!
I have a new rescue - I bought a brain toy to keep him occupied during the day. It's a ball you put treats in. The dog is supposed to knock the ball with his paw to get the treats. My new dog has still not figured this out, but one of the cats is a pro! The good thing is that once Toby's staples come out, he should start feeling better and slowly start doing more and more.
Otis - 106 pound lab/Dane mix, lost his right front leg to osteosarcoma on Febuary 9, 2016. Four rounds of carboplatin completed in April, 2016. Lung mets August 25, 2016. Said goodbye too soon on September 4, 2016. Lost his adopted sister, Tess, suddenly on October 9, 2016. likely due to hemangiosarcoma.
Wherever they are, they are together.
Hi,
Milo couldn't do NSAIDs either, or certainly no Metacam. He did Tramadol and Gabapentin for a good long while. We finally tapered off the last of the two at Day 32 or so. We did do the occasional Duromax (an NSAID) for days when he did too much, but it was a pill here or there for a day or two, so we weren't worried about his liver.
The vet gave Milo an ace-like sedative the day he came home because he had seemed agitated at the vet's. We could barely get his 80+ pound body out of the truck he was so 'calm'. There were 5 college boys watching and helping (2 mine, 3 friends.) Milo went over to grass, hopped around awkwardly on 3 legs, started to pee, fell over and continued to pee on himself. I did point to the pathetic scene and told the 5 boys, "This is why you don't do drugs!"
That was the last sedative he had. We stuck to Tramadol and Gaba from then on.
Milo did take a stumble now and then and bang his incision. When I went back to work a week after his return, I had one of the college friends dogsit. I came home to blood marks on the ramp out front and bloody paper towels in the trash. Milo came in "too hot" at the ramp and crashed and burned. We couldn't see much blood on the wound, and couldn't get it to ooze, but that impact squished something out! But all was fine. I did put ice packs along the incision whenever he banged it good. It healed beautifully in the long run.
Good luck with Toby. You've made it through the hardest week. It just gets easier from here. Maybe not easy... but easier....
Peace,
Jenifer & Milo
We are now 2.5 weeks since amputation Toby is doing well. We are trying to ween him off the meds. I am trying to give them to him every 10 - 12 hrs instead of every 8. I had to get more meds from the Vet today. We went for a car ride and over to a friends for a bit. He did fine. This experience is a tough thing to go through just wondering if you did the right thing or if your puppy is going to hate you forever. Those first couple of days where they look at you with that look of what happened. Then the next week of the look that says why did you do this to me. To now they are getting back to normal with the I am happy to see you. And let's go outside and play.
Thank you for all the advice here and just reading others experiences are helping also. I am glad I found this site during the night while we were waiting to see what other injuries he had if any. Reading the stories of these other pups doing awesome on 3 made it easy to make the decision in the morning.
Gail & Toby
Glad to hear that he is doing well!
Otis - 106 pound lab/Dane mix, lost his right front leg to osteosarcoma on Febuary 9, 2016. Four rounds of carboplatin completed in April, 2016. Lung mets August 25, 2016. Said goodbye too soon on September 4, 2016. Lost his adopted sister, Tess, suddenly on October 9, 2016. likely due to hemangiosarcoma.
Wherever they are, they are together.
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