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.
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So question to fellow tripod parents....my Lexi has been a tripod since August 2015. She has done amazingly well at adapting. My question is do any of your tripods have occurrences of where they start to pace and seem anxious almost out of no where? It only seems to happen at the end of the day and always after more activity than normal. It only happens every 4 to 5 weeks seems when we let her be a dog than restrict activity. all points to over exercition but I guess it would be interesting to hear feedback to support this. FYI...she is a rear leg amputation. All other functions are completely normal with the exception of this behavior. Her leg removal was from benign skin cancer and chest xrays were clear.
Hi and welcome to Tripawds, your future posts will not have to wait for approval.
What kind of dog is Lexi? How long do the episodes last? Are there any muscle spasms or twitching around the amp site?
Pacing and panting can be signs of pain and/or discomfort.
My current tripawd is a small pug mix named Elly, also a rear amp. She too is about 8 months past her surgery, she was hit by a car. Once in awhile she seems to have some muscle spasms or twitching around her amp site (different than when she does the 'air scratch' and tries to scratch an itch with the missing leg) and it does seem to happen when she might have been too active or played harder than usual. Elly doesn't pace, she sits while it happens and is clearly uncomfortable. I have found putting my hand on the area of twitching muscles and doing a gentle massage helps calm things down.
It doesn't happen as much as it did when I first brought her home at 10 months old, she is nearly 16 months old now. I have been diligently trying to learn what a good overall activity level is for her and what mix of activities is best. Tripawds really need core strength so we work on that every day with training, exercises and games. We try and walk every day but don't take long walks, although since she has some beagle in her I think she would go for miles following her nose!
Have you considered seeing a rehab specialist? If Lexi has some body weakness they might be able to give you some exercises to work on to build her strength.
We would love to see some pictures of your girl!
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
Howdy and welcome!
All my fur-babies, tri or quad, pace at night when something isn't right. I say that because it can be physical or mental. Harmony paced when she had limp tail and when her cancer advanced before her amputation.
Meesha only paces when her tail is asleep (limp tail).
We haven't figured out why Melody paces yet as we haven't found any physical problems. However, we do know that she's anxious and nervous all the time. She's more like the baby or child that didn't take it's afternoon nap and has a hard time relaxing for the evening.
Any-hoo, my point, it always seems to be at night when they're uncomfortable for whatever reason when they start to pace.
pam
Harmony became a Tripawd on 10/21/14 (MCT). She left us way too soon on 11/1/14.
"We miss you so much; our love, our heart, our Harmony."
- Pam, Ron and Melody, Meesha, Doublestuff and Mariah Carey
No twitching or movement around the site....I do see her do the air scratching thing often. Definitely at night always and I think its when she finally lies down to relax she must have muscle spasms. She has been to her specialist and he agrees it could be from overdoing it. She is 10 years old so age may have some roll in it. She is a Catahoula breed. To be honest the amputation is the easiest hurdle she has had...she is also over 4 years remission from Lymphoma Cancer which was totally unrelated to amputation. She sees her oncologist every 6 months and we know that the Lymphoma is quiet so this is all related to her thinking she can as much as she could when she was 4 legged and way younger. Not that she can't do all of those things I just tend to forget to limit her and have her relax a little more. By the next morning no signs of this issue anymore and she is back to her old self until the next time a few weeks or month later.
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