Caring for a Three Legged Dog or Cat
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Hey all! I thought I would share a few Youtube video's of Maggie doing a Buja board(balance board) and cavaletti's 
Maggie used to do these when she had four legs as well. The Buja board is a training aid to get a dog used to movement for training for a seesaw in agility…but now, it is going to be Maggie's rehab tool(one of them)… The cavaletti's are also for body awareness and strength work. I also have her do "figure 8's" around two large cones but I couldn't tape that and direct her at the same time last nite…
Tracy, Maggie's Mom
Maggie was amputated for soft tissue sarcoma 10-20-09
Maggie lost her battle with kidney disease on 8-24-13
Wow! That is awesome physical therapy for Maggie! She seems to be doing so well!!! 
Keep up the excellent work!!
Angel Jake's Mom
Jake, 10yr old golden retriever (fractured his front right leg on 9/1, bone biopsy revealed osteosarcoma on 9/10, amputation on 9/17) and his family Marguerite, Jacques and Wolfie, 5yr old german shepherd and the newest addition to the family, Nala, a 7mth old Bengal mix kittie. Jake lost his battle on 11/9/2009, almost 8 weeks after his surgery. We will never forget our sweet golden angel… http://jakesjou.....ipawds.com ….. CANCER SUCKS!
That is AWSOME!!!
Not that I'm partial to Maggies or anything.
Are you still surprised by her tripawd abilities or are you getting used to it? You sound pretty excited in the first video!
Karen
There are more times that she really, really surprises us and other times that are sad, like when she fell down New Years Day...but last week one day after I got home from work(so no camera in my hand!) she did her "greyhound laps" around our very large yard....just flying!!!! And never fell down and still could outrun little sister 🙂
She has, since being amputated, had a fear of my entry of my house as she passes by the cellarway entry...I've been clicker training her for that and she's getting way better. She's not a fearful dog but being 3 legged has brought some of that to head 🙁
Tracy, the other Maggie's Mom 
Maggie was amputated for soft tissue sarcoma 10-20-09
Maggie lost her battle with kidney disease on 8-24-13
Tracy,
My Maggie still falls once in awhile.
It used to make me sad- especially at the beginning when she would get so discouraged. But now she uses her butt and amp side as sort of a pivot point, and she never gets discouraged!
I used to miss some of the things that she couldn't do anymore- but I finally realized that Mag didn't miss them, it was just me, and that makes it a bit more tolerable.
Its interesting that she is scared of an entry way- did she fall there? My Mag has fears of some surfaces- but at this point I think it is a vision issue with her.
Karen
It is interesting to read your Maggie's issues with getting discouraged at first. I have read so many people where their dogs just run and do well like nothing has happened! Not my Maggie…and apparently, not yours either. The first few times she fell, she was so depressed about it…
Yes, she has fallen in my entry way a few times before I could get the ENTIRE floor covered with rugs..which now almost every nook and cranny is covered.. It's just not like her – at least when she had four legs – to be so fearful. She had done agility all her life until this and was trained on so many different types of equipment/surfaces… But having three legs just is tough at times for her..
But then other times, she impresses the hell out of me! Oh and speaking of using the amp. side as a pivot point…YUP! I have started doing Rally-O training with Maggie and there is one maneuver that is a pivot and she does it AWESOME! Better on THREE legs than when she had four! Get a load of that!!!! ' class='wp-smiley' />
Tracy, Maggie's Mom
Maggie was amputated for soft tissue sarcoma 10-20-09
Maggie lost her battle with kidney disease on 8-24-13
That is excellent therapy, look at Maggie go! Thanks for posting the video links.
FYI: If you can paste those video page URLs in your post, you can embed the videos here in the forums so members don't have to visit YouTube in three separate windows to watch your videos. Simply click the embed media button (the small filmstrip) and paste the URL there. It's that simple! Here are complete instructions for embedding videos in forum posts. Hope this helps.
Tripawds Founders Jim and Rene
tripawds.com | tripawds.org | bemoredog.net | triday.pet
krun15 said:
I used to miss some of the things that she couldn't do anymore- but I finally realized that Mag didn't miss them, it was just me, and that makes it a bit more tolerable.
Karen you are so, so right. The more pawrents realize this, the more they will enjoy the time they have with their best friend. In fact, a rehab therapist we recently met said the very same thing you did.
We love the videos, and added them to our Tripawds YouTube playlist.
Meanwhile, hope you don't mind but we moved this thread to our "Hopping Around" discussion about fitness and mobility.
Tripawds Founders Jim and Rene
tripawds.com | tripawds.org | bemoredog.net | triday.pet
Don't mind at all Jerry!
I apologize for the bad lighting...but I couldn't turn any more lights on that weren't turned on my house! I'll make some better one's when it's daylight 🙂
Tracy, Maggie's Mom
PS Can we embed photographs on the forums? How do I do that?
Maggie was amputated for soft tissue sarcoma 10-20-09
Maggie lost her battle with kidney disease on 8-24-13
Tracy,
Yea, I had read some stuff about how fast dogs bounce back (this web site was not here yet), and even one of the vets I talked with said- oh she will act like nothing ever happened.
WRONG-
Mag did go through chemo too, so that slowed her down. But in the first couple of months after the amp- boy she would get discouraged. I was constantly having to coax her to get up when she fell- and it took weeks to get her to come up the one stair into the house.
Now none of that is a problem.
Rene,
Just another lesson in being more Dog.
Karen and the pug girls
That is fantastic, Maggie and mom!
You never can tell what spooks the 3-legged ones...vulnerability for the most part. According to Comet, there are ghosts that live upstairs in our loft. When in the formal living room, she looks up at the second floor and worries the ghosts are coming out. And she'll hide under the desk sometimes when you go upstairs to do a chore or something.
Comet - 1999 to 2011
She departed us unexpectedly January 23, 2011 at the age of 12 1/2.
She was born with a deformed front leg and a tripawd all of her life.
The two weeks after Maggie's surgery was PURE HELL. No if's, ands or buts about it. I wasn't sure she or I were going to survive it...but we did... SHE DID! She went off her food 5 days after surgery and ran a low end of high temperature. NO vet could tell me why!!!!!!!!! Stomach meds did no good, different antibiotics did no good, pain meds did no good, NO meds did no good...it was a MYSTERY. Nobody could give me an answer to what was going on. THANKFULLY, she drank(alot) thru the two week span. And I did get her to eat some things, one piece at a time out of my hand...but what a struggle. I demanded we put her on fluids one day thinking whatever SHE was trying to flush out of her system by drinking so much, we'd help that along...the vet told me "well, I don't think she needs it - she's not dehydrated"...I said DO IT. Slowly after that by the end of the week, her fever broke and she started eating again. I have no idea if the fluids helped but they sure as heck didn't hurt!
Recently, I decided to test her for the MDR-1 test...she has herding breeds in her so thought MAYBE that would tell me she was 'mutant/mutant'....but nope, she's 'normal/normal'!!! No drug/anesthesia sensitivities!! And then just this week, I've heard that the company that makes Ketamine is having recalls on their anesthesia...that is what Maggie was on in her IV pain drip after surgery...don't know what type of anesthesia..the bill only says 'anesthesia'...but for sure, Ketamine was in her drip bag after surgery cause it said that on it(my sister is a Vet Tech and she noticed it written on the drip bag).
So, when I read how so many dogs bounce back so easily the following day of surgery....wow, mine sure as heck didn't!
Tracy, Maggie's Mom
Maggie was amputated for soft tissue sarcoma 10-20-09
Maggie lost her battle with kidney disease on 8-24-13
maggie said:
Can we embed photographs on the forums?
Certainly! Here are detailed instructions for adding photos to forum posts. If you have any related questions, please ask in that topic.
With Maggie's blog for uploading them, it is simple. Just copy the image file location and paste that into the image url field after clicking the Insert Image button (the small trr icon). Hope this helps.
Tripawds Founders Jim and Rene
tripawds.com | tripawds.org | bemoredog.net | triday.pet
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