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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Holy Cow!!! How in the world I missed all these --quite Frankly....really scarey and disturbing posts!
What has happened is anything beyond my comprehension!! But now Zoey is home and you can focus on recovery!! This is yet one of many reasons almost all of us voiced pretty strong opinions about taking her home the first night.....
There will be plenty of time to discuss "learning lessons" from this situation later....for now just focus on surrounding Zoey with calm and confidence and strength.
Seeing her in pain, confused and loopy from the meds is hard to watch....very hard. And it is perfectly normal. Your vet said you could her 24 Mrs. So do it! She needs to help walk you through this. We are here for you and
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!
Sorry...it freezes up. Anyway call your vet and tell her about what must happened. I'm not familiar with infusion tube...does she have any type of e-collar or e-pillow on??
JUST HANG IN THERE AND O THAT ZOEY WILL RECOVER SOON. It's almost impossible to "prepare" for all the side effects of this surgery. Just co to UE to love on her and love on her some. Ore....get a tail wag from her a d know all is well.....or t least on the road to being well!!
You are. not alone....this will get better....you are in the roughest time frame of recovery for several more days and. Rights. We are by your side the whole way:-) 
Sending you extra courage and bravery to add to the huge bucket loads you already have:-)
Sally and Happy Hannah
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!
My first chance to check in today. Had a much better day. Zoey has even stood up on her own a couple of times to reposition herself. She stood up to get a better angle of her food dish and even took a few steps to check out our other dog's dish. She has even gone outside (assisted with a sling) to pee twice today.
I slept right next to her on the mudroom tiled floor last night and will gladly graduate to the sofa tonight.
This is hard, harder than I thought I was prepared for. I thank all of you who are helping me with encouragement and advice.
Phewwww--I am so glad to hear that things are going well--it's hard for awhile, but it sounds like Zoey is doing really well! Remember that you have all of us to lean on--so lean whenever you need some support. Please give Zoey a huge hug and kiss from Lily!
Joan and Lily
Our beautiful Lily was diagnosed with osteosarcoma in her front leg on 12/14/11 at age 8 and had amp on 12/16/11. She completed 5 rounds of carbo. She was so brave and kicked cancer's butt daily! She lived life fully for 4 years, 3 months, and 15 days after her amp. My angel is a warrior princess. I miss her so much.
The recovery process is starting--slow,y but surely:-) Pretty time consuming for us humans, huh? Gosh' I think if you can. migrate to the sofa tonight that's impressive!,
Zoey is peeing and eating and that causes a hugeWAAAA HOOOOOOOOOOOOO over here in Tripawd Land!:-)
You and Zoey are two very strong individuals and have already been through sloop much these last few days. And it is finally going g to get better.....may be rough for a little bit longer.....but. not has rough as what you've already experienced!!
Her sparkle will be back soon on a consistent basis and we definitely will be celebrating every custody with you all g the way:-)
Get some rest when you can and be sure and take care of you too!!
We are here for yo, Sally and Happy Hannah
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!
Her progress sounds great! Really, considering where she started from, this is fantastic.
I hope you both got some better sleep tonight and today is a better day. Keep us posted!
Tripawds Founders Jim and Rene
tripawds.com | tripawds.org | bemoredog.net | triday.pet
She's hopping around a bit more today. We went to the vet and she hopped all the way in by herself. We got the IV removed from her back leg and that removed a huge source of irritation for her.
I do have another question. A few times, when zoey is laying down, she'll start almost screaming and we can't find anything that's wrong. Has anyone else experienced this?
Also, will it be ok for me to leave her alone for an hour or so starting tomorrow? We have her in a gated room. She can get to her water and she has a t-shirt on to prevent her getting to her sutures.
The screaming is one sign of phantom pain . It might or might not be but it cant hurt to talk to you vet about gabapentin to ease the symptoms.
As for leaving her alone, she will probably be Ok but to be safe I would use the cone of shame , most dogs can still get to stitches even with a t-shirt on
Tripawds Founders Jim and Rene
tripawds.com | tripawds.org | bemoredog.net | triday.pet
Thank you, Jerry. She is on gabapentin, but I did find one discarded capsule (she spit it out while we weren't looking) on the floor today so perhaps she didn't get her full dose.
Cone of shame - great idea. The vet warned me today that if Zoey pulls out her sutures, she'll have to be sedated again and that is not something that she wants to do.
Oh sorry I missed she is on Gaba, that's good. I wonder if maybe the dose needs to be upped? Just a guess, ask your vet.
Tripawds Founders Jim and Rene
tripawds.com | tripawds.org | bemoredog.net | triday.pet
Zoey is really doing great at navigating around:-) Glad the IV tube is out so she will feel even better----and so will you!!
Happy Hannah pretty much whined and cried and yelped for the first several days so I don't think it was phase tom......just her surgery site hurt like heck........it was really a nasty looking site for quite awhile----not as "nice" looking as the photos I saw here.
Once I added gabapentin back to the mix with tramadol and rimadyl, it seem to give her periodic relief.
Others can chime in on if hot or cold compresses worked for them.....Hannah didn't want me touching it so I obeyed her wishes:-) I just held her and comforted her and lover her through it. If the yelping is short-lived each time maybe that is phantom..
What I do know now and can definitely speak from experience......Zoey will continue to get better and better and she---and you--will forget this rough poi t in the recovery and yo will continue to be amazed at how well she will do as recovery conti ues:-) She's still so early in the process and is already "ahead of the curve" considering everything your little hero has been through!! What a grooper:-)
You hang in there and pat yourself on the back for doing a really good job!! See' I'm watching and I don't think I saw you reach round and give yourself a pat........now....let's try that again..............YAY! That was much btter:-)
Hugs to you and Zoey:-)
Sally and Happy Hannah
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!
Thank you benny55/Sally and Happy Hannah! It's so good to get such encouraging comments from those that have gone through the same thing and are now in the "enjoying life" phase.
Zoey went outside this afternoon and laid down for about 20 minutes. I think she was glad to get out of the house and smell some good backyard smells. I'm get so nervous watching her hop around - I don't want to see her fall. I guess that is common for a new tripawd parent.
It's all really good news! Zoey is finding her groove and you are getting glimpses into what normal will be now. This is excellent! Zoey will undoubtedly take a tumble or two, but don't fret when she does. Just give her some love. It's part of how she learns. If she does X and falls, she knows that X isn't achievable right now. But maybe next week it will be!
Listen to Sally when she talks about Hannah's recovery. I don't recall anyone coming here more at rock-bottom than Sally. I think she will be ok with me saying that. I thought I was going to have to get on a plane and pull her off the ledge. Hannah is a very big girl and had some unique needs due to her size. Sally was overwhelmed and, well, desperate. But she turned that corner and is not looking back. Hannah has her groove on and so does Sally. I can absolutely without a doubt say that if they can do this, you can do this!
Shari
From abandoned puppy to Tripawd Warrior Dude, Dakota became one of the 2011 February Furballs due to STS. Our incredibly sweet friend lived with grace and dignity till he impulsively raced over the Bridge on 12-15-12.
Dakota's thoughtful and erudite blog is at http://shari.tr.....pawds.com/
Zoey, if I could add something Jere and kinda' hijack your site a moment:
SHARI, I LOVE YOU:-) (in a tripawd community sort of way):-)
You were ready to get on a plane for us??? Now that's a soul who's committed to helping others:-)
Of course I don't mind your comments AT ALL!! Nothing could be more true!! The sad truth is, my posts were made "after" I pulled myself out of the depths of despair to the height of suffocating desparation so I could "come across" as being strong and optimistic!!! HA! HA!! Those posts were me on a "good" day:-)
Happy Hannah and I got to where we are now with us joyously treasuring every sacred beat of her heart and staying deliciously alive in the moment because of caring souls like Shari and EVERY compassionate and caring being on this site who helped me break through the stagnating fear. They were with me every step of the way every single hour of everyday AND those long nights. And each person on this site was either going through their own challenges with their dog OR cat or their loved one already crossed over to the other side of this life. And here they are, reaching out with selfless love for others so desperately afraid and sooooooo. alone!
Happy Hannah and I are not going anywhere! We are committed to giving back in any way possible as the ETERNALLY PRESENT Dakota Dog and Shari and llthose like them...have done forums. JERRY SHOWED US ALL THERE ARE NO STRANGERS WHEN IT COMES TO LOVE FROM THE HEART:-)
Shari was gonna get on a plane for us..............I LOVE THAT PART:-) Flying on over to Virginia............LOVE IT:-) The airports here though are a little behind times....propeller plane only!
So Zoey, you never know where a simple post of good news will lead...........:-)
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!
Oh yeah Shari we're eating whoopers over here in your honor!
Much love to all---and I mean it:-)
Thank you Zoey...and as you can tell for sure unequivocally------it only gets better:-)
Sally and Happy Hannah
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!
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