Caring for a Three Legged Dog or Cat
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I can't pinpoint if it's all the time, or some of the time, or rarely, but on occasion, like the other day, we went to the dog park since she has been so ANNOYING because theres nothing to do in winter, but it was an okay day so i'm like what the heck. We played solo in the little dog pen, chased a few balls through the snow (I maybe threw it like 15 times in the whole hour), she made snow angels per usual, dug around for the ball (while laying down though lol!) it was very chillaxed, not a lot of hard playing or anything, but we came home, everything was fine, I did homework and some other stuff for a few hours, and then relaxed at the computer, and I noticed Ellie wasn't able to fully use her back leg, she could use it a little, but not much, which this usually happens when she lays on it (she's a tripawd, only has one back leg) for a long time on something hard, but she hadn't, and i even had her lay on the pillowed foot stool to see if maybe her pillow bed wasn't enough, but it didn't make any different, a few hours later, I went to put her to bed, and am by the door and she's not coming and i'm like what the heck, so I look, and she's still in the living room, still can't use her back leg to stand and walk, she hobbles to the kitchen floor and thats impossible to walk over in her condition, so i pick her back end up and we walk that way to the kennel, and she hobbles again, into it (at top speed lol). She doesn't act at all like shes in pain, just sort of like when you work out too much and your legs are really sore and wobbly and stiff, except imagine only having one leg. And I don't remember this happening EVERYtime we play, so I could be because we hadn't played in a while, or maybe because she was laying down most of the time after that, or both? But does anyone else get this and know a for sure answer? We played in the snow for like an hour or two one night, deep snow, with a ball (not much fetching involved, more like soccer) and she was fine, when we go on our 2 mile walks in summer prob occasionally, she usually is fine, sometimes it's too much for her so we'll lay around for a while until she feels good enough to walk home. We've never had a problem from swimming either.
I usually massage her leg after walks because she goes slower at the end of the walk, and I do notice it helps a little when her leg doesn't want to work.
Kess has always gotten much more tired from walking, seems to take the most effort for her. I limit our walks to 1 mile, and romps in the dog park are usually around 45 min to 1 hr, but she gets a minimum of 15 minutes of fetch per day. Kess will easily over do it if I let her. It was most likely a combination of the cold weather, and exercise after a period of inactivity. Has your dog gained any weight recently? Even a couple of pounds can make a huge impact in a tripawds life. When I can tell Kess has over done it I generally give her a good massage and stretch session and a heat pack. It's also a really good idea to do stretches immediately after exercise, especially if you think they might have over done it.
I didn't even think of the cold affecting it! I don't know if she's gained weight, we don't go to the vet but once a year or so, she looks like she normally does. I try to keep her as healthy as possible, the vet when we saw her last year said she was fine. I usually massage her leg too w/ a vibrating massager thing w/ 4 legs, and that usually helps, but this time she was fine when we got home, and i dont know when it started, i know she laid down the rest of the evening and rested, which maybe going from playing, to resting for a long time didn't help either?
Not saying that weight is an issue, but here's a nice chart you can look at for weight. http://dogs4ppp.....hart_dogs/ Most vets will not tell you if your dog is overweight, people tend to get very angry/defensive and vets loose customers that way. It's sad, but they are trying to run a business (it's kind of a well known issue in the pet biz).
Here's a blog post with a little more insight on the pet weight vet conundrum http://www.bree.....obese_dog/
Kess gained a few pounds after I retired her from dog sports, she really slowed down, but she's 11 so I thought she was just getting old. Several of my dog friends had commented that Kess looked like a "house dog" now. Finally someone said Kess is to fat to be running and jumping, she lost 4lbs and was back to her same plucky self. Now mind you Kess's "house dog" look was still much leaner than most pets I see as she was still getting 15min of running a day, but was also often helping finish the kiddos porridge and snacks throughout the day. So the kids got better about putting their plates in the kitchen and I reduced Kess's food by 1/4 cup for a month and we were back on track. It's soooo important with tris to make sure they are at optimum weight.
with snow on the ground I wouldn't be at all surprised that cold was a factor, not much insulation on dog legs.
She's a 5 based on that chart. My vet is very good, I even asked her if she was overweight for having 3 legs and she said she's fine still. I fill ellies food bowl up, and sometimes she'll eat it all and sometimes she doesn't. It's about 3-4 cups. Sometimes it takes her 2 and a half days to eat it all lol! Ellie LOVES the snow though, LOVES it. Snow and water are her favs.
Probably, she strained or pulled something, like Sid did at Christmas.
Deep snow makes exercise three times as much work - and there is resistance in it, too, so that if a dog plants a leg and turns or stops quickly - as they do when chasing a ball - the snow will exert a certain amount of pressure and prevent the leg moving as freely as it normally does. You might have noticed something similar if you've ever run through deep snow yourself. If it's up to mid-calf, it makes running really hard work and it's easier to twist a knee or an ankle. Of course, if it's up to your mid-calf, it really is very deep for a dog, especially a tripod. They can be fine 9 times out of 10, but the tenth time they'll plant a leg down wrong and hurt themselves.
Personally, I'd restrict playing in snow unless it's only a couple of inches, and even then caution is necessary with many tripods because there isn't as much traction as usual ... I guess it depends on the dog, too: age, fitness level, breed (whether they are working dogs/lap dogs/smart dogs/not so smart etc). We experienced this, again with Sid, a couple of years ago. I let him play in a snow covered playground and he ran and had a lot of fun ... but when he went to stop he had no brakes, and he fell and slid about ten feet, screaming all the way. He'd built up a fair bit of speed, being a greyhound, and I felt so guilty!
It's hard to be sensible for our dogs, but sometimes we have to. *Sigh* I don't encourage Sid to run in snow anymore. Swimming is hard work, but also supportive with no sudden movements, so it's less likely to cause a problem. He's fine with that!
I'd rest Ellie, and use warmth and massage to try to help free her leg up a bit. If she's not walking on it fairly normally in a day or two I'd take her to the vet. Sid needed some heavy duty anti-inflammatory painkillers when he pulled his gastrocnemius (the muscle at the back of the hind leg between the knee and the hock).
You might want to keep some PawZ dog boots or Woodrow Wear 'Power Paws' in the house for times like this, because they help enormously with slippy floors when a dog is feeling wobbly.
Hope to hear she's up and running with no problems very soon!
Could be, but it doesn't seem like a pulled anything, seems just like the leg is weak and unable to hold her heavy butt up. She drives me NUTS if we don't play, she acts up, usually the snow isn't too fluffy, and i tried to throw it around the packed down snow and not piles, but it did end up there sometimes. Ellie's great at catching a ball, she's learned how to manuver with the one leg, never falls, or anything. For the first couple months post surgery she couldn't, but she acts JUST like there would be a leg there, you'd never be able to tell in the way she does anything! Her leg only didn't 'work' for that night, the next morning it was fine back to normal like It always is. Also, she's not feeling wobbly, she just couldn't stand on the hind leg at all.
Thanks for replies.
Here's a blog post I made regarding a similar incident http://kesstheb.....at-a-time/
pretty much sums up your own thoughts, but it's an experience many of us have shared.
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