Caring for a Three Legged Dog or Cat
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Hi - two weeks ago we adopted a beautiful approx 10month old rottweiller/doberman mix who had her right hind leg amputated almost a month ago - she's doing reasonably well walking, altho is unable to put much weight on her remaining hind leg, she's using it more for balance than support and her back is quite hunched. The front leg diagonal to the amputated leg is slightly splayed out at the knee joint and quite shaky, she can walk for 50ms before sitting to rest, but is then game to continue. I don't know her history other than she had been dumped and was unable to walk, on being x-rayed it was found that as a puppy she'd had a pin inserted into the hind leg, the pin must have worked itself loose and the leg had a bad infection and was unable to be saved, quite possibly she had not been able to walk for some long time. We live in Indonesia and there is little access to support items, or trained professionals to help with the rehab, hence I'm asking for advice on the best exercises and suggestions on how to help her gain strength in her back leg and take some of the stress and weight from her front legs. Any advice would be welcomed! Many thanks in advance.
Hello and welcome! We are SO glad you joined us and gave this sweet puppy a chance at a wonderful life. You sounds like awesome pet parents, especially for being so observant of her gait and potential issues.
There is a LOT you can do to help her get strong. Check out some of these tips from our Tripawds Gear blog :
http://gear.tri.....gged-dogs/
and our e-book, Loving Life On Three Legs , is all about staying strong on three.
Keeping her weight down, making sure she gets the right kind of exercise as we describe in those links, and just being observant about her activity levels like you are doing now is going to help her tremendously.
Also, since you don't have good access to rehab therapists there, you might want to consider a long-distance consult with Debbie Gross from Wizard of Paws. She is a good friend of ours and does phone and Internet-based consulting. She also has an online course you can buy through her website, and since the Tripawds Foundation is currently offering reimbursement for 1st time rehab therapy visits, if you did decide to do a long-distance consult with her, we would be happy to cover the cost of that first consult. For details see:
http://tripawds.....-tripawds/
I hope this helps. Let us see some photos of your sweetie! Here's how to add images to forum posts.
Tripawds Founders Jim and Rene
tripawds.com | tripawds.org | bemoredog.net | triday.pet
Hi Jerry,
Hi,
Many thanks for your quick and helpful response. I checked out your gear blog and was about to purchase the AST Get-a-Grip harness , but then saw the Help-em-up harness and think that would better suit Kula's needs as it gives more support to her hind quarters where she is definitely weaker, also it is a lighter harness and as we live in a constant 30degree climate, would probably be more comfortable. I've emailed their site to ask a few questions as it is not specifically for amputee dogs so need to check that with a rear leg amputation which has been cut very high up, that it will fit well. Any comments you have on the two harnesses, or an alternative one would be greatly appreciated.
I shall be delving into your site for tips on strengthening her legs and hopefully curing her hunched back which I'm sure is pretty uncomfortable for her. Yesterday I took her swimming as I've read that is beneficial, I can't say she particularly enjoyed the experience, but by the 3rd time in she was more comfortable and when held in a stationery position she exercised all three legs well, when we let her go she immediately swam to the side to try to get out!
Many thanks also for your suggestion to consult online, and also pay for the first session - I shall definitely look into that.
I'm adding a photo of Kula and our 3 other adopted dogs - all at the gate ready for a walk - including our guinea fowl who is convinced he's part of the dog tribe! There's also a single shot of Kula in which you can see the hunching of her back, she only does part of the walk through the forest, the others continue through the rice fields but hopefully over the coming months she'll be strong enough to complete the whole walk.
Lastly a big thank you for building such a fantastic site, what a great support this is, so much information - I could get lost for days in the site![Image Can Not Be Found][Image Can Not Be Found]
Be well, Tabetha
I see the photos didn't get added, which is odd as they seemed to be there when I sent the mail - I uploaded them from Dropbox, but maybe that doesn't work? I'll try again ......
[Image Can Not Be Found][Image Can Not Be Found]
Let's see if that works, they seem to be there ......
Tabetha you are so welcome, we're glad to be of help.
Please be careful with swimming. Sometimes it can make things worse, especially when the dog doesn't have enough endurance. Swimming is great but first you need to work out the tightness in the muscles with massage, then build up muscle strength on land, and finally endurance (cardio) comes next.
It sounds like Kula is trying really hard to keep up with your other dogs (which is normal, all dogs will try to keep up with the pack). If there is any way you can keep her on shorter walks for the time being that will help. I'm guessing she is very tired from trying to keep up.
Sorry about the photo problems. You can definitely post images that are hosted in Dropbox but you have to follow these directions for adding photos. If you'd like some help just private message me through the Forums (the little envelope icon to the right of my name). Can't wait to see the photos.
Tripawds Founders Jim and Rene
tripawds.com | tripawds.org | bemoredog.net | triday.pet
WELCOME! Thank you for giving Kula and her other "siblings" a wonderful furever home!!
Jerry, as always, gave great advice! It's still fairly early in recovery and Kula still needs to be taking it easy and not overdo. It is major surgery and adapting to three legs takes a lot of energy and can be very exhausting. There is a lot of pressure put on her remaining jpints, bones and muscles and they need to adapt slowly. You have the extra tiny hurdle in that she's still growing and developing as she adjusts to her new gait.
Just take it slow and enjoy some leisurely walks with her. I'm sure it's hard to get a puppy to go in "slow" mode though! Distance will come, but always with short rest breaks.
Cannot wait to see pictures of your crew...your very lucky crew!!
And thank you again Tabetha, for opening you heart to this very special pup...to all of your very special pups!!
Love
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!
Jerry and Sally - thank you so much for your responses and very helpful comments - yes, I shall definitely follow your advice and take it slowly - I wish the other members of our dog tribe would be more compassionate, poor Kula gets quite depressed that she can't be part of the fun and games, they mainly ignore her as they find her quite an oddity, but there are also bouts of jealousy and aggression to be dealt with as well .... not easy integrating a new dog into the pack, especially a tripawd 🙁
Do you feel that the Help-me-Up harness would be a beneficial aid to Kula - I wasn't thinking of it just for helping her into the car or up steps (we actually don't have an upstairs, but our house is on stilts so there are a few steps to go up into the house, which mainly Kula is coping with), I was hoping that by attaching a back lead I could help straighten her back, but maybe that won't be the case?
I'll try again to add photos as I set up a blog as suggested ..... here goes!
Again, many thanks for your advice and support! Tabetha
Tabetha you did it! You added photos! And what a gorgeous pack you have there, all the doggies (and the bird!) are gorgeous.
Yes, the harness might help you help her, but harnesses with leg loops don't always work well with rear-legged Tripawd dogs. See this Gear Blog Post for a trick to help the Doubleback Harness (and others like it) fit better. Remember it won't actually support her but it will enable you to lift her up stairs and that sort of thing. The thing is that it will not be of any benefit when it comes to straightening her back. To me, and I'm not a vet, but that looks like she is in some sort of pain. We've seen that type of stance here before. Please see what you can do about emailing Dr. Debbie Gross and see if you can get a consult with her so she can guide you with her expertise on how to help Kula. Other than taking it slow with her I'm not really sure how to help her so she's back to normal function. Let us know what happens OK?
And keep on posting photos if you'd like, your doggies are so lucky to have you!
Tripawds Founders Jim and Rene
tripawds.com | tripawds.org | bemoredog.net | triday.pet
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