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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Just adopted a dog from a rescue. He had a limp, but the rescue told us they had it checked out by a vet and he was fine, it was an old injury and he was so used to not using the leg that now he doesn't.
Well a week in I took him to the vet because I realized his weird behavior was pain, not just new-dog-settling-in behavior. The vet did an x-ray and told us that his leg was broken in three places and was actively hurting him. We looked into other options, but because he is a small dog, having metal put in his legs would be too much. Only option was to amputate.
Poor bud has been doing great and getting better every day. But one thing I noticed is that without the lifting movement of his back leg, he ends up peeing on his front arms. I give him a baby wipe bath when we get in the house, but I am wondering if anyone has any advice? I wonder if this will work out as he heals up more? Or if we just are going to have a pee-pee pup?
So grateful for this community also. It helped through those first few tough nights when I was so worried for my friend. 
Hello there! Your future posts won't need to wait for approval so post away.
Good for you to be able to spot that it was more than "old injury." You listened to your intuition to help him get out of pain! But geez I'm sorry he had to have his leg amputated. It's great that he recovered so well, overall.
What I'm guessing is that he may not be able to have full extension of his 3 limbs right now. That might be due to the fact that he walked around for so long on a broken leg, and his body crunched up to compensate for the pain. Or, he could still be in some type of post-amputation pain now. How long ago was surgery? What was his pain management like after surgery, when he came home?
I do know that when our Wyatt Ray was tired, or got injured (he was also a rear-leg amputee), he would pee on his front paws too. But when he had therapy, felt good, and had full extension, the stream went right where it should even though he couldn't raise that fourth leg to aim.
So, my suggestion to you is to get your pup evaluated by a canine rehab therapist asap. They can determine what's causing the scrunch, and how you can work to correct it and basically stretch him out so that he has better aim. This happens through exercises, gentle stretching, etc. And the best part is the Tripawds Foundation can pay for your first rehab visit ! So please take advantage of the program OK? Let us know if you'd like help finding a therapist.
We are glad you found us too!
Tripawds Founders Jim and Rene
tripawds.com | tripawds.org | bemoredog.net | triday.pet
Hi Jerry,
Thanks for your response! His pain management was 25 mg Carprofen every 24 hours, 50 mg Gabapentin every 8 hours (changed to 6 hours at the vet's recommendation because he was shaking because of pain towards the end of the 8 hours), and 10 mg Tramadol every 8 hours. Surgery was on Tuesday last week (October 11) so maybe I am just expecting too much progress too fast, as it's not even been a week since his surgery.
Thank you for the recommendation of the canine therapist! I will check this out.
You are so very welcome!
So for a dog his size it does sound like his pain medications were pretty typical and spot on. Yes, it's suuuuuper early in the recovery process. Give him time to figure things out and get his sea legs, he'll get there. And yep, the addition of a therapist will definitely help!
Keep us posted, we are here for you two.
Tripawds Founders Jim and Rene
tripawds.com | tripawds.org | bemoredog.net | triday.pet
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