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
We have mostly wood floors on our main level. Do most tripawds need yoga mats/nonskid rugs forever, or are wood floors less of a problem once they're mobile again?
Just deciding whether to invest in a roll of something neutral at Home Depot, or stick with the mishmash I've got going, now. 
Our big boy had his LFL amputated yesterday, and will hopefully come home tomorrow. He got around just fine before surgery -- the slight limp didn't slow him down at all. I've got a set of Pawz coming in the mail, but I've read they're not a good 24/7 solution.
Thanks in advance!
xo
Mom of Koda, 150 lb male Anatolian Shepherd age 6 1/2 (DOB 10/4/09).
TPLO both knees - one 11/2012 and the other 2/2013;
Underpants-ectomy (a/k/a blockage removal) 8/2013;
Osteosarcoma in front left leg diagnosed 3/1/16;
Joined Tripawd Nation 3/4/16
Forever missing Koda's big brother, Sully (a/k/a James P. Sullivan), our first Anatolian and the Original Big Man (tm), who passed at age 10 1/2 from degenerative myelopathy on 6/27/13.
I think you are going to have to see how he does once he is healed up.
I have tile floors that both of my Tripawds have been able to navigate just fine. When my quad pug Tani got older and had some mobility issues she could not walk on the tile floors and I had to go to yoga mats. I had a trex deck at my old house and Maggie (first Tripawd and a rear amp pug) could navigate it just fine, except for the two stairs. She insisted on a couple of rugs on the stairs, she wouldn't go up or down without them.
It may be that Koda will be able to walk on your wood floors, but not get up.
I did use the Pawz Booties for quad pug Tani when we went to the vet, those floors were like a skating rink for her. The PAWZ worked great but her feet did get wet after a bit.
Something that worked for Maggie was to keep the fur between her toes and pads trimmed short. I also used Musher's Secret on her pads.
Karen
Tri-pug Maggie survived a 4.5 year mast cell cancer battle only to be lost to oral melanoma.
1999 to 2010
Yeah, agree with Karen, see how he does. For now get some cheap non slip scatter rugs and go from there.
My Happy Hannah (rear legger) liked to walk on her scatter rugs. Frankie, a front legger, does just fine on hardwood floors. So just wait and see how Koda does.
The Pawz are good. As you've mentioned, they shouldn't be worn for long spans at a time. They're kind of tight around the cuff so they wont slip. Also, some have poked little holes in them so they don't get so hot.
Now go get so.e rest!
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!
Trin needed a bit to get used to the flooring in our house in Houston. We had bamboo flooring in the living room that was a bit more difficult for her, but she quickly got the hang of it. Nearly 7 years later, any new flooring still takes her a bit to acclimate to; it's almost as if she needs to do an assessment before walking on it. She has her "happy" spots: her two rugs, her beds, and the one ratty t-shirt of my husband's that she drags around with her. 
Roxy
We used Pawz recently when our quadpaw Toby had his paw bandaged for a broken toe. They worked great keeping the bandage dry, but my concern about using them 24/7 would be the sweat. Dogs sweat through their paws and the Pawz are just like having a rubber bootie on. I can imagine all sorts of yeasty things growing!
We did buy a roll of rug runner at Home Depot and cut it to size (mostly hallways). We got the kind w/ a rubber back so they wouldn't slip. We also have almost all hardwood on the first floor, with rugs in the rooms (except kitchen). We kept them down the whole time. Ellie might have been able to manage w/o but honestly, it was easier to just leave them down.
We also moved the dining room table to one side (giving her a direct path to the back door) but that meant Bill kept banging his head on the dining room light. So we tied plastic bags to the lamp (hanging down like tinsel) that would hit Bill in the forehead and remind him to duck. I'm such a Martha Stewart that those things are still hanging from the lamp today!
Denise, Bill and Angel Ellie
Active 10+ Pyr mix suddenly came up lame with ACL tear in left rear leg. Scheduled for a TPLO but final pre-op x-rays indicated a small suspicious area, possibly OSA, which could have caused the ACL tear. Surgeon opened the knee for TPLO but found soft bone. Biopsy came back positive for OSA. Became a Tripawd 9/18/14. Carbo6 with Cerenia and Fluids. Pain free and living in the moment. Crossed the Bridge on 7/12/15 after probable spread of cancer to her cervical spine. A whole lifetime of memories squeezed into 10 months. Here's her story: Eloise
I know it really stinks to cover up hardwood floors. We had beautiful ones in our home when Jerry lost his leg (original in a 1908 home!). But what we found was that the spills he took on them were not worth it. Now that we live in our RV, the flooring in here is too slick for Wyatt, we have runners. And I take one with me when I visit my folks with him, because they have laminate floors that he is terrified of walking on.
Tile can be OK with some Tripawds but hardwood is like asking your pup to ice skate every day. It puts lots of stress on those muscles and joints for them to walk, much less on those days when they have the zoomies and end up doing a face plant or going "Splat!" on the floor. Through the years we've seen a few injuries happen that way.
To me, giving a dog the confidence to walk without fear in his own castle is more than worth the effort and somewhat unaesthetic look of carpet runners.
Tripawds Founders Jim and Rene
tripawds.com | tripawds.org | bemoredog.net | triday.pet
I think I was nesting before Koda came home... trying to take care of things around the house that I could control.
He seems to appreciate the mishmash mats, but he's only been home a day. I'll wait and see how he does before handing my credit card over to the folks at Home Depot.
Thank you all for making this somewhat bearable! xo
Mom of Koda, 150 lb male Anatolian Shepherd age 6 1/2 (DOB 10/4/09).
TPLO both knees - one 11/2012 and the other 2/2013;
Underpants-ectomy (a/k/a blockage removal) 8/2013;
Osteosarcoma in front left leg diagnosed 3/1/16;
Joined Tripawd Nation 3/4/16
Forever missing Koda's big brother, Sully (a/k/a James P. Sullivan), our first Anatolian and the Original Big Man (tm), who passed at age 10 1/2 from degenerative myelopathy on 6/27/13.
1 Guest(s)
