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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Jasmer,
Regarding which size of RuffWare harness, there is an excellent sizing chart that should do the trick. I could not believe the size that it recommended for Cherry, but I order the recommended size and it workes great. Standard Poodles have a very deep but narrow chest, thus sizing on total girth worked great.
You will not be undergoing chemotherapy so the need for a coat or sweater is different than those of us who did. Most humans who undergo chemothapy will tell you that they have a very difficult time keeping warm. Thus, I modified a knit sweater pattern for a front amputee. The difficulty is that you want to make a leg-hole on the side of the remaining leg but want to make a tube on the amputation side. You could just make all the decreases on the leg-hole side but that would result in the center of the underbelly panel ending up at the shoulder. You have to shape each side of each panel differently so that it fits. You can see the results with this link.
Good luck and remember to let us know when you are closer so that we can make suggestions that may help the recovery process.
Bob & Cherry
Hi Jasmer (is that your pup's name?)
I live north of you, previously in Alberta and now in Manitoba. Both of my dogs did not like boots indoors but were fine once we got outside. Of course boots have a tendency to fall off, and I see Ruffwear sells single boots, probably for that reason.
I have an order for the grippy boots you mention, so can let you know how they are in another couple of weeks. We will have lots of ice here, but so far have been incredibly lucky with the weather.
Did you see the ruffwear fleece? It looks great and I will definitely try that. I ordered one fleece sweater from Orvis. It is rather large and hard to get on a tripawd dog. Your dog's fur should grow back pretty quickly. It is that darn chemo that slows down the regrowth for many of us.
Susan & Tazzie 2
Cherry -
I'm getting a jacket because of the huge area the vet will shave for the amputation. In North Idaho sub-freezing temperatures are common in winter as are cold arctic air currents coming from the North. A half-naked dog would be absolutely miserable and these temperatures last well into February, and often into March. Another reason I'm getting the boots is protection against salted sidewalks. Thanks for the sweater link. I'm not entirely sure how I'm going to alter the sweater, whether I buy the fleece dog jacket from Orvis or make one myself. Any suggestions are very helpful.
Tazzie –
It'd be great to know how the boots work out for you, especially once the snow and ice start accumulating.
FYI: We just added the Ruff Wear Climate Changer dog sweater to the Tripawds Gear blog . Full product review and demo video coming soon, but we love it and so does Wyatt!
Tripawds Founders Jim and Rene
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