Caring for a Three Legged Dog or Cat
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Hi, friends.
I haven't been here as often as I would like to be. In addition to losing a leg, my Fawkes had significant gi damage from all of the meds and stress. It took a lot, but he seems to be on the road to recovery now 🙂
This brings me to my question... Fawkes is a hind leg amputee and we are struggling with stairs. He's still quite underweight and needs to build strength. He does well with short sets of stairs, but I have a set of stairs to our bedroom. There is a landing halfway. He wears a harness and I help by supporting his rear. This still seems to be very difficult for him. He takes long breaks on the landing. I'm not sure if I'm making it harder on his front by helping the back, but it's just me and I can't support both his front and rear at the same time. He's too big to carry all the time.
Does anyone have any ideas or know of any products I could acquire to make this easier? He's thirteen and I just want him to have the best he can for his remaining time.
Thanks!
Tanya & Fawkes
It's really good to hear that Fawkes is doing well, even with a few bumps in the road 🙂 🙂 Senior tripawds just melt my heart!
I really don't have much input as far as a solution.
It's difficult for reat leggers to go UP stairs, but generally easier gping DONW stairs. And vice versa for front leggers. What ki d of harness is it?
My Happy Hannah never was able to climg the stairs to my bedroom. They were steep and nsroow. It absolutely broke my heart as she always slept in my bed. I basically just moved a mattress downstairs and slept on the floor with her. Or sometimes she slept on the sofa, and zi was on the floor mattress.
It takes a lot of "push off" for a rear legger to climb up stairs with just o e leg,and a lot of "pull" from the front legs. So I'm sure it is exhausting for Fawkes. Add being a senior to the equation...yeah, it's hard work! 🙂
Possibly a consultatiin with a Rehab Specialist may help.
Hopefully some others will jave some solutions for you.
It really was good to hear from you and Fawkes! Give that sweet pup an extra treat for us!
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!
Thank you, Sally!
He is so happy and really enjoying his life <3
Not coming upstairs is not an option for long term. I fear not doing the stairs anymore will cause him to no longer maintain that strength. I did sleep downstairs for a long time after each of the surgeries.
His harness is the Ruffwear webmaster which is a life saver! We have also been to rehab many times and now that he's feeling better I hope to get back to his exercises. I'm just hoping with some brainstorming we may have some ideas.
I'm thinking some sort of hoist set up maybe? To take some pressure off his front legs and also catch him if he stumbled. Still thinking!
It's nice to hear from you. What a relief Fawkes made it through that hard time with the meds. Yikes how scary!
Well Sally took the words right out of my mouth. Going up stairs is a ton of work for a rear legged Tripawd. Did you mention this situation to the rehab therapist?
Every day we assist our Wyatt Ray with the in/out stairs to our home. He's only 8 but he just doesn't have the strength to go up that steep flight of stairs so there's no problem helping him out. He hasn't lost any strength because of stairs, but he did lose strength due to muscle stiffness from other issues. Our rehab therapist gave him exercises to help, which you can read more about here.
I'm not a rehab therapist, but honestly I wouldn't worry that helping him with the harness on stairs will weaken him further. Keep focusing on strengthening the places your rehab vet told you about, and keep up the great work.
Tripawds Founders Jim and Rene
tripawds.com | tripawds.org | bemoredog.net | triday.pet
Do the stairs have good traction ? My little pug Maggie was a rear amp and never could go up more than 3 or 4 stairs on her own after her amp. She refused to go up or down the two stairs on my back deck without her traction rugs in place.
I think part of Maggie's stair issue (other than being a stubborn pug) was that I didn't work on her strength enough- back then I didn't know how important it was. My current tripawd is a little rear amp pug mix who is actually a little smaller than Maggie was. Elly flies up and down the stairs! She is not quite 3 years old and our longest stair flight is 8 stairs so she has that going for her. We live on a hill so we have lots of stairs- 3 different flights outside and two inside. I work on Elly's core strength regularly and I think that really helps. Both sets of indoor stairs have good traction , one flight is carpeted and the other has carpet treads.
How far out from the amp is Fawkes? With his extra recovery challenges he probably needs time to re-build his leg and core strength. Also- you might try some treats for going up and down the stairs.
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
Thanks for the replies. I'll see if I can answer some questions that came up.
I have talked to the rehab specialist, but it's been a while since we've seen here. She's 3 hrs away and with everything else going on, travelling has been difficult for him. I'm hoping to see her again soon.
I'm not concerned about continuing to help him up the stairs causing issue. It's getting hard on ME helping him up the stairs all the time in addition to how hard it is on him. I'm worried if I stop doing the stairs he will lose what strength he does have.
Part of the struggle is that he wasn't interested in food, so luring him through exercises was impossible. Either that or he can't have treats even if he wants them. I'm still working on this. Hoping since he's so much better that now he can have treats and may actually want them.
His amputation was early April 2017. He had already lost much weight and muscle mass prior to this surgery.
The stairs inside my home are carpeted so traction is not an issue. I'm in a hilly area too so stairs inside and outside. If he was stronger, I could let him outside from the first floor and let him in from the 2nd floor. It's just a hill then and not stairs. Even that won;t be an option in the snow.
He spends the days with my sister and is doing great overall. Feeling really good and actually wanting to run and bark at passersby again 
In part this makes me happy, but it also gives me the tired and sore part of the day. Given his age and the challenges, I've even considered getting him a cart (or something?) that might help take some of the strain off his body. Open to suggestions there too.
Thanks so much for all the support and suggestions. I wish this was easier.
I can totally see your concerns and now I understand why the stairs worry you. But think of it like this, there are many Tripawds out there who don't have stairs at home and they don't suffer the consequences of not doing them. Hind leg amputees will always have a harder time on steps because they have lost 1/2 of their propulsion ability to go up. All their power to move uphill is in one rear leg now, it can be hard on many dogs, especially senior ones. Tell me again, what is his breed type? Sorry I'm blanking on that right now.
Wheelchairs can be helpful but only a therapist can tell you if one is right for Fawkes. Here's an article that explains:
When and How a Dog Wheelchair Can Help a Tripawd
Tripawds Founders Jim and Rene
tripawds.com | tripawds.org | bemoredog.net | triday.pet
Thanks, Jerry.
That's a great point about those without stairs. I knew it would be hard for him, I just expected it would get easier even if I had to help always. It seems it's not getting better. He stops on the landing and pants and seems to want to avoid the second half even with my help.
Don't get me wrong, I'm thrilled that he is doing so well in the big picture 
I'll talk to my rehab specialist about cart options. I really don't want to take away from his mobility, but more looking at ways to prevent overdoing it while we build it 
Oh, he's a Belgian Tervuren...like Voodoo's Novak!
Ok I'm a total sucker for Tervurens! We MUST have photos!!!
One more thought: so it hasn't quite been seven months since he lost his leg. At his age, I'm not terribly surprised that stairs are so challenging. Our Wyatt took many months before he was adept at going up and he lost his leg at eight months. Still, he's never had the same stair-climbing abilities as our Jerry, a front-leg amputee. So what I'm saying is that your boy is doing pretty darn well for a super senior dog! Try not to worry OK? See the rehab therapist when you can and I'll bet that will put your mind at ease.
P.S. Have you seen the Get-a-Grip or Custom Support Suit harnesses? You can use a shoulder strap as an optional attachment, which will give you leverage when taking him up stairs. These are made just for older doggies with mobility challenges.
Tripawds Founders Jim and Rene
tripawds.com | tripawds.org | bemoredog.net | triday.pet
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