Caring for a Three Legged Dog or Cat
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Hi there,
I wanted to start this discussion from a question I had about my dog, Ruthie. She is missing her back right leg after being hit by a car last June. She currently does well with running around and doing everything my other, four-legged dog does, but still has some trouble with slipping. We have hardwood floors on the first floor of our house (upstairs is carpet) and she's okay walking on it, but when my other dog wants to run around and play, she often slips or can't keep up. I'm afraid she might hurt herself. I argue with my aunt, who I live with, all the time about whether or not we should put a bootie on the single back leg that helps with traction . My aunt doesn't want to carpet the downstairs, so that's not an option, but I believe a textured boot would help. My aunt thinks she should learn to strengthen her leg on her own and that a boot would stop her from doing so; I believe the opposite, I think a boot would be extremely beneficial. I would be curious to hear others' opinions. Would you use one singular boot? Boots on all three paws? No boots at all? Any feedback is much appreciated.
Thanks,
Kayla
Improving traction is important for all Tripawds, and boots can certainly help. But every dog and situation is different. Putting down non-slip runners is the best first step. Then consider trying traction socks or PAWz booties to see how well Ruthie adapts to wearing boots. See more dog boot reviews in the Tripawds Gear blog .
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Tripawds Founders Jim and Rene
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All the strength in the world is not going to keep a Tripawd from slipping, especially on slippery surfaces like hardwood. Without the spare leg to help keep their balance they are going to slip. My little rear amp pug mix Elly occasionally slips on our carpeted floors when she is running fast and tries to stop suddenly.
Your Aunt is right about the importance of strengthening the one back leg, core strength is critical too. I don't think wearing or not wearing booties is the way to build strength however. I work with Elly every day on her strength and balance using food puzzles, games, obedience training and balance equipment.
Our most slippery surface is tile, which Elly navigates just fine when she goes slow, but she is not quite 2 years old so she rarely goes slow! We have throw rugs around the kitchen and hallway where the tile floors are.
You could try trimming the fur between Ruthie's toes and pads and use something like Musher's Secret to keep her pads supple. That is what I did with my first Tripawd Maggie.
We would love to hear more about Ruthie and maybe see some pictures!
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
How about area rugs? I ended up buying one nice indoor/outdoor rug for a room, and industrial floor mats for halls and the kitchen. Yoga mats also work, but not as well for long term, especially with active dogs playing. (And hard to vacuum).
Otis - 106 pound lab/Dane mix, lost his right front leg to osteosarcoma on Febuary 9, 2016. Four rounds of carboplatin completed in April, 2016. Lung mets August 25, 2016. Said goodbye too soon on September 4, 2016. Lost his adopted sister, Tess, suddenly on October 9, 2016. likely due to hemangiosarcoma.
Wherever they are, they are together.
As you can see, you and Ruthie have come to the perfect place to get some support on your I sight about Ruthie needing some sort of traction ! Yes, she needs help with traction ! As Karen said, strengthening her leg isn't going to prevent the slipping.
You have some good links to check out booties. The PawZ are inexpensive and certainly worth a try. You don't want to leave them in all day as the "cuff" is tight and they are pretty much "air tight"
And yeah, almost all of us here have non slip scatter rugs for traction . Dogs actually tend to stay on the path of the rugs.
Yes, we would love to hear more about Ruthie...with pictures too!!
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!
I have used the rubber Pawz, but they make the paw pads sweat and can't be left on for long periods. I got these for my front leg tripawd:
dogquality.com/products/grippers
I really like them and so does Fionn. You measure your dog's feet to get the right fit (and they can help with that). I put them on all his feet. You could just try one on her back foot and see how Ruthie does. I use them when we go to the vet or other places where the floors are slick and where he might get excited. At home he mostly naps and gets around fine on the hard floors. The socks have a rubber coating on fabric all around so if they shift, the dog still has traction . Fionn has not messed with them and they have never come off. The fabric inside helps reduce the sweaty paws. I agree with everyone else, it's not about strength. All tripawds will have issues with slipping especially when running and playing.
If you go to my blog (link in my signature) there are some pictures on the last page.
Nancy- mom to the FABULOUS Fionn. He rescued me in 2015 when he was 6.
Right front leg amputation at age 7 for osteosarcoma 10/6/16. Taken too soon 6/12/17. Read about our journey here:
http://fionnsjo.....pawds.com/
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