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.
Join The Tripawds Community
Learn how to help three legged dogs and cats in the forums below. Browse and search as a guest or register for free and get full member benefits:
Instant post approval.
Private messages to members.
Subscribe to favorite topics.
Live Chat and much more!
Register
Log In
Members
Add Topic
Offline
**Missing
Hey Friends,
So I've posted a lot in here about our tripawd Ivan and his cancer journey, but we also have another tripawd, Nikolay.
This evening while visiting my boyfriends parents he somehow hurt his front paw while I walked out of the room for one minute. My boyfriends mother came home, and within 30 seconds I heard yelps and screams that could only come from a horror movie.
I came down to see my Nikolay trying to stand on his hind legs because he somehow injured his front paw. I can see there is some kind of cracked toenail, and from what I read, it is possible that he broke his toe. I live in a major city, so the emergency vet prices here are *outrageous*. We will be taking him to the vet first thing in the morning, but I must ask, what do you do when your tripawd has injured one of their three remaining paws?
He is a front left amputee, and hurt what seems to be a toe on his front right. Every time he tries to get up he yelps and cries, so we are sitting on the floor with him trying to comfort him as best we can. Regardless of wether it's a toenail, a sprain or fracture, etc... He's not putting any weight on his front leg.
I've only had him since September, and our Ivan has only been a Tripawd since december, so I'm still very new to this. How do you possibly allow your dog to heal an injury when he has no other leg to shift his weight on? I'm so upset and stressed out, dreading the next 12 hours until he can get him to the Dr. A broken toe is my worst fear.
Has anyone else had to deal with this before? I feel so helpless for my boy. I have a sling for when he's ready to get up and do his business, but I can't imagine how we will get through 1-2 months of this should his toe be broken.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks!
Candice, Ivan & Nikolay
Nikolay (right)
Guardian to Nikolay the tripawd, Co-Guardian to Ivan the tripawd.
Silas Sebastien 2009 - 2017
Goodness graciius! What in the world could have happened??? I'm sure youve checked his pad over and over to make sure nothing is stuck up in his toe nail, his claw, his pad, etc. Anuthing involving toenails can be unbelievably painful.
Do you have any Tramadol you can give him to help him get through the night? I know it's hard to waie til morning for answers, but it may not br as bad as you think. Possibly it's something that can be treated, wrapped and he woukd only need to be off his foot for a day or two.
Once properly wrapped (if that's part of the treatment) and with some pain meds, he may be able to use it with the aide of a harness
Sorry I'm not much help. I know that solutions WILL be found regardless! Even if it means getting a set of wheels on a temporary basis, we can make kt doable, okay??
Try and hang in there for tonight. Keep using the sling as best you can. And update as soon as you get back from the Vet. All paws crossed this is just some minor owwee.
Lots of 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!
Ouch, poor doggie! Try not to worry, quite often something like this turns out to be a cracked nail and quite treatable. Do you have a harness you can use to aid him?a grocery bag cut open as a sling can also help.
Hope you’re at the vet not and getting some answers. Keep us posted.
Tripawds Founders Jim and Rene
tripawds.com | tripawds.org | bemoredog.net | triday.pet
How is Nikolay doing? I really hope he just split a nail that became brittle. Simple but painful. Just reading this now for the first time, keeping all paws crossed for you!
Hugs,
Jackie and Huck
Hugs,
Jackie, Bo, Andy, Oscar, Phoebe, and the coolest feral tripawd kitty Huckleberry 
Hey friends,
Thanks for reaching out. It may be a cracked nail now that I look at his foot. It had splintered a little and I had to trim it down. He's doing okay, but still yelps out in pain a little. Insisted on going for a little walk, so that's a good sign.
Unfortunately we couldn't get a Dr. appointment until Wednesday late morning, so we are taking him tomorrow.
I'll keep everyone posted.
I do hoist him up with a scarf and then he does this little circus poodle walk, but he seems to prefer walking on his own in pain. He's very skittish and sensitive now, so I'm extra careful. He is jumping up on the bed on his own, and walks okay, just lets out little whimpers now and then.
Unfortunately I do not have any pain medicine around to give him. Ivan finished all of his and is no longer taking anything for pain.
Let's hope it's a cracked nail.
Thanks again everyone, I'll post an update tomorrow!
Guardian to Nikolay the tripawd, Co-Guardian to Ivan the tripawd.
Silas Sebastien 2009 - 2017
Somehow it's hard ro envision handsome Nikolay imitating a "poodle dancing"! 🙂
Glad to hear he's holding steady. Clearly he's a strong-willed and determined doggy. And I know it's refreshing to see him want to do things like he normally does, even if it means he has to power through a bit of pain!
Update is tomorrow when you get a chance and, also, let us know how Ivan is doing too.
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!
So glad he has calmed down some, I really hope it's the nail. Maybe they can check his others too while you are there and make sure they get a good trimming if any of them have grown a little too long. Keepin' paws crossed, I will check back later to see how you did.
Hugs,
Jackie
Hugs,
Jackie, Bo, Andy, Oscar, Phoebe, and the coolest feral tripawd kitty Huckleberry
Hey all,
So it turns out it's a pulled/sprained muscle in his shoulder. His toes and nails are fine. His new vet said that because of his missing leg, he'll be more prone to shoulder injuries so I need to be careful. When he sits he keeps his right leg in the middle instead of on his side like a quadruped would.
Since he's hardly whining in pain and mostly mobile now, we opted not to put him on pain meds and just to a warm compress. He should be fine by tomorrow. She clipped his nails for me too since it's a two person job.
I have to think of creative ways to protect his shoulder. He's very muscular, but now I see how important that are of his body is for him.
Thank you again for chiming in, I really really appreciate it 🙂
xo
Candice, Ivan & Nikolay
Guardian to Nikolay the tripawd, Co-Guardian to Ivan the tripawd.
Silas Sebastien 2009 - 2017
OH WOW!!! On this journey, a sore shoulder muscle is good news!! 🙂
I think we were all.so focused on the paw, our light bulb just didn't turn on to remind us this could certainly be a shoulder issue! It's weird how a shoulder issue will present itself sometimes in areas that take our focus away from thst area.
Lots and lots of rest for now.
Just gonna throw this out and I'm not a vet and not giving Vet advice. If he's "barely whining" and still not fully using that leg completely normally,, then he's most likely still sore. From what we've seen here and from my experience with some of my own dogs, healing sore muscles, especially in tripawds, requires more than just a couple of days rest before allowing him to return to "normal" walks, etc. Clearly Nikolay is a stoic and determined dog and it will be hard to make him take things slow and easy as his pain subsides.
Lots of gentle massages over a warm towel shoild feel really good to him. One thing Frankie's Rehab Vet pointed out when massaging him ks to make sure I'm on the muscle area and not on the bones.
I hope you give yourself a big pat in the backfor being such a good advocate for Nikolay AND Ivan!! Goodness knows you've had some "hurdles", but you stayed the course and continued to look for solutions! 🙂 🙂
Glad things are looking up for ALL the pack! 🙂
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'm so glad you got to the bottom of it and it wasn't as bad as we thought it would be. Sally is so right, sometimes the simplest of things get missed looking for other things. The only other thing I might add if you don't mind is to keep an eye for signs of pain. He's a tough guy and will do his best to hide pain from everybody, it's just the nature of the beast, pun intended 
Have a wonderful evening now that you can relax a little more!
Big hugs,
Jackie and Huckleberry ❤️❤️
Hugs,
Jackie, Bo, Andy, Oscar, Phoebe, and the coolest feral tripawd kitty Huckleberry
Whew! Glad to hear it's nothing serious. Don't forget that if you'd like to take advantage of free rehab therapy for him, the Tripawds Foundation will even pay for your first rehab visit . It's super valuable for learning how to help him avoid injuries and stay strong.
Tripawds Founders Jim and Rene
tripawds.com | tripawds.org | bemoredog.net | triday.pet
1 Guest(s)
