Caring for a Three Legged Dog or Cat
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Hi all, I’ve been lurking on the forum for a while - what a great resource! So first, thanks to everyone for all of the information!
About four months ago I adopted a 3-4 year old tripawd. She had her right rear leg amputated after being hit by a car almost two months before I adopted her.
Unfortunately, Cricket has a severe fear of people (aside from my husband and me), so she is on Prozac and we are working with a behaviorist. When we first adopted her, we met with a PT who gave us some exercises to do with her, but her fears are such that we’ve now been advised to refrain from doing any “training” with her - for example, when we tried to get her to do doggy sit-ups, she would become especially anxious. So now we have had to put her rehab exercises on the back burner, while we focus on her behavior modification training, and massage. She was also too scared to continue after her initial swim class. On the advice of her PT, she is taking Dasuquin with MSM and fish oil for her joints.
Please forgive the long post, but I have a few questions:
She gets around perfectly, though lately her stamina is very low. We normally take her on two short potty breaks plus two approximately 10-20 minute walks a day. The first couple of months we had her, she happily walked 15-20 minutes, and would have kept going but we didn’t want her to overdo it. In the last couple of weeks however, she tires very easily. Almost immediately on taking her out, she is now stopping, like she needs to catch her breath. During a five minute walk she will lay down at least once. I'll be taking her to the vet next week, but was wondering if there’s a way to tell if it’s a stamina issue vs being in pain? I’m wondering if her other joint(s) are bothering her? She does jump on and off the sofa many times a day. We got her some steps, but she avoids them. It’s a relatively low sofa, but is it dangerous to allow this? We don’t however, allow her to jump in or out of the car. Also, I notice people on the forum have mentioned paw issues - we have to keep her on the paved road, avoiding the taller grass along the side of the road because we are in very bad tick area. In our lawn, she gets to be on the grass and loves it. Is it bad to make tripawds walk on pavement? Her paws don’t seem to be bothering her.
She has been on the Prozac for eight weeks now, so I think if that was causing her fatigue that would have happened more in the beginning and she would have adjusted to it by now. But of course I’ll bring it up with her vet as well. We’ll probably also have to do a Lyme test, etc.
Thanks in advance for any thoughts you can share!
Welcome and best wishes for Cricket! Is your vet a CCRT or CCRP ? If not, please consider taking advantage of The Maggie Moo Fund an getting a free certified rehab vet/tech evaluation.
FYI: Walks do not build strength. There are also many starter exercises you can do, and Loving Life On Three Legs is packed with more helpful tips.
Prolonged use of Prozac can indeed facilitate fatigue, so a professional opinion is best.
Please keep us posted, you future forum posts will not require moderation.
Tripawds Founders Jim and Rene
tripawds.com | tripawds.org | bemoredog.net | triday.pet
Welcome! She's lucky to have found you - you sound like you're doing a great job managing all of her needs. She reminds me a bit of my Jack, who had her amp at age 2 as a result of a bad break when she was a puppy. She's also quite fearful and we do all of our rehab at home because she's too frightened to let the rehab vet touch her.
Can you describe how she looks when she lays down on walks? There are a few things I could think of that are going on - pain and stamina are two candidates for sure. If it's a stamina thing, you may see her compensate as she gets more tired by moving differently, sinking into her remaining back leg or taking smaller steps. If it's pain, does she look like she's favoring any part of her body?
Two other possibilities come to mind - is she out of breath at all? Jack has chronic bronchitis and that has definitely impacted her stamina, but it's clear to me it's related to her lung capacity by her breath.
And then last, I wouldn't be surprised at all if it's related to Prozac. You mention she's been on it for 8 weeks - Prozac takes about 6 weeks to build up to therapeutic levels in the body, so the timing is about right. Jack was on it for nearly two years (we just weaned her off this spring) and she had general lethargy in the four months after being put on it. If you look at my post history, you'll see that we visited the vet a lot in the summer of 2015 about two months after she started on the medication trying to figure out why she was no longer able to walk more than half a block. It was nonspecific, like you describe, and even after imaging and specialist visits we couldn't figure out why she would only walk short distances. I had some suspicions it was related to the medication, but it eventually dissipated and we stopped looking for a cause.
Thank you for the quick replies! Cricket's vet is not a CCRT but he did refer us to one, who gave us some good information and exercises/massage to do with her. That's also where she had her initial swim lesson, before we realized she was too fearful to continue with that at this point.
DC Jack - As for how she looks when she lays down - she doesn't seem to be in any obvious pain, though I guess she could have some soreness. I'll start keeping a closer eye, to see if she's moving any differently. But she does seem a bit out of breath - and the way you describe Jack's experience with the Prozac sounds very similar. She does, however seem to have endless energy for play time, but I know that is a different kind of movement. And even then, she starts panting quite quickly.
Do you think I should make a more concerted effort to keep her from jumping on and off the sofa somehow? Just in case her hip is sore from overuse?
Hmm. I can see why you're confused - from your description, it is not obvious to me what might be going on. Could you try video taping it and uploading it to Youtube. Maybe we can spot something from that.
About the couch, if it's low to the ground I wouldn't worry about it too much given the fact that she has a rear leg amp. I would talk to your behavioralist first - given her anxiety and trust issues, my priority would be not to push her in places that aren't absolutely necessary (and it sounds like she loves the couch and does not prefer the stairs!).
I'll see if I can capture her walk on video. The couch isn't super low - about 15" off the ground. But I agree it wouldn't be a good idea at this point to stress her out about getting on the sofa - unless it's going to do some real damage.
I'll keep you posted after the vet visit. Thanks again!
giantsquid said
Do you think I should make a more concerted effort to keep her from jumping on and off the sofa...
Yes!
Tripawds Founders Jim and Rene
tripawds.com | tripawds.org | bemoredog.net | triday.pet
Could you use a single box or step to help her on and off the sofa? Just a single step, or a solid box, might be enough to make all the difference (and be less off putting than the sort of 'pet steps' you can buy). And can you take the legs off the sofa? Mine unscrew, and just removing the legs makes a big difference. Plus I use a box step at each end.
Here's a pic of some boxes I used to build steps up to my bed. I use exactly the same ones for the sofa, only just on their own as the sofa (minus legs) is so low.
Because the steps are so solid, and have a non slip (cork) top, neither of my girls have had the slightest hesitancy about using them.
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...
The steps I have are similar in size to the boxes you use - it's basically a single step, with the top step almost level to the sofa. I can't take the the legs off the sofa, and it would only lower the sofa by about an inch, even if I could. I guess I'll work on training her to use the steps, with treats, etc. - I'll try to make it fun so it doesn't add to her anxiety. I just wasn't sure if it was really bad to let her keep jumping.
Thanks for the suggestions!
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