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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Karl is a 6 1/2 year old lab mix. He had been limping while out on walks. So I took him to the vet. My husband can't imagine amputation and seems to be in denial about the need for it. I know we're all in shock. Chest X-ray came back clear. Amen. I want to wait a week to do the surgery. Is that ok?
Welcome to Tripawds, your future posts will not have to wait for approval.
I'm sorry cancer has brought you here, but this is a wonderful place for information and support.
People have waited for one reason or another. As long as Karl has decent pain management and you restrict his activities to protect the leg it should be OK. What did the vet say? How bad does the x-ray look?
The risk in waiting is a fracture of the leg which would be awful, but you need to get the family on the same page and get yourselves ready.
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
So sorry you find yourself here. Under the circumstances , there is no vetter place to be for information and support.
It sounds like your Vet thinks Karl is a good candidate, right? Clear xrays are good!
For whatever it's worth, I'll share my experience with my beloved Happy Hannah (a somewhat chunky 125 lb Bull Mastiff). She limped off and on a couple of months and was treated with Rimadyl, which seamed to work...until it didn't.
I remember the shcok,,the absolute shock, I was upset beyond words. Somewhere in there my Vet through out the word "amputation". I said "Absolutely not! I wouldn't do that TO her! I wouldn't put her through that!" This was BEFORE I even knew this site existed.
I did at least go talk to the Surgeon and an Oncologist. I could not imagine my big girl could walk as a tripawd.
And then her pain was getting worse. I was having to increase the pain meds. The day she held up her paw, instead of "just limping", was the day I scheduled the surgery. I had been doing research. I found a great book The Dog Cancer Survival Guide . I still had not found this site. I scheduled the appointment. I cancelled it. I rescheduled.
BEST DECISION EVER!!!! Recovery was no.picnic, that's for sure. Everydog is different! Some recoveries are smoother rhan others. Most dogs are up and walking with 24 hrs., some take several days. Although my Happy Hannah was walking quickly, it was about three weeks before I coukd happily say I did this FOR her and not TO her!!
Happy Hannah, like so many dogs here, was so full of life...except for that stinkin painful leg. As her pain got worse, I knew it would be just a matter of weeks.before she would no longer be with me. It sounds like Karl is still full of life and wants more rime for spoiling and loving!
Dogs don't look at a calendar. There is no timeframe on Karl's butt. He doesn't give a rip about statistics or diagnosis. That means nothing to him. Karl is living in the moment!
When a dog is limping, his leg hurts. The main reason for the amputation, is to get rid of the pain!! It gives a dog a chance at a quality pain free life.
This IS major surgery and it does have risks. Talk to your vet about all that.
Stay connected! You are not alone! Any decision made out of love is a right decision. We are here for you regardless, okay?
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!
Just wanted to add a video for you to watch with yiur husband of tripawds rocking three legs!
Also, what specific concerns does your husband have? Maybe we have information on the site that coukd help with is concerns.
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!
Hi Karl and Family, welcome.
We're sorry you found yourself here, nobody ever dreams they'll get that bad news from the vet. It's never an easy decision and we too instantly thought "No way!" But after we gave it a few days and talked to others whose dogs were doing well, we decided to go for it. Like Sally and over 95% of our entire membership, we don't regret a thing.
While there are no guarantees that any dog will beat the odds and live life past the statistical prognosis, what is guaranteed is that whatever time your dog has left will be spent without the horrible pain of disintegrating bone. Your pup is so young, odds are great that he will bounce back from recovery and go on to have happier days ahead. Like life itself, we can't ever predict how long that will be, but it's much better than spending those last days in pain.
Look around here, check out Jerry's Required Reading List and let us know if we have any questions OK? We're here to help.
Tripawds Founders Jim and Rene
tripawds.com | tripawds.org | bemoredog.net | triday.pet
Welcome and so sorry your diagnosis brought you here. We know how hard it is to get and accept this diagnosis. As others have said the biggest worry at this stage of the game is a fracture. We do this journey to get our dogs out of the pain they endure with this type of cancer. The pain of recovery is managed with medications and dogs do very well as tripawds as Sally's videos show. We'll help you through this journey one step at a time. Please keep us posted on Karl's journey. As Sally said any decision made out of love is the right one. Hugs!
Linda, Ollie, Riley & Spirit Mighty Max
Hi Karl & Peeps,
I'm sorry you find yourself here, but we're here to help!
Your experience is all too typical---just a little limp sends you to the vet and you come away w/ a diagnosis of cancer. And not only the word "cancer", which is bad enough, but then the word "amputation". It is all very hard to process, especially when it seems like just a little limp.
It is important to remember though that dogs are so so stoic, it must hurt a lot for them to limp. And if the x-rays show clear signs of OSA, then whatever pain he is in now will just get worse and worse. The bone is being eaten away and it is very very painful. And pretty soon there will no medicine you can give him that will take that pain away. So, yes, the choice is to amputate and get rid of the pain. Then at least whatever time Karl has left (and we hope it is lots and lots) can be w/o the pain of OSA.
There is probably not one person here who did not initially recoil at the thought of amputation. I know our first thought was that Ellie was too big---how would she possibly manage? But dogs are very adaptable and they'll surprise you every time. Sure, we had a rough few weeks post-amp. Some do seem to sail through, but not our Ellie. And even for the "easy" cases, it can be a real rollercoaster ride those first few weeks. But once the acute pain of the amputation is gone, most dogs here just get on w/ living. Our Ellie did and Karl will also. He'll be able take walks, run around the yard, chase balls, swim and lay in the sun. And he won't really care that he only has three legs!
Denise, Bill and Angel Ellie
Active 10+ Pyr mix suddenly came up lame with ACL tear in left rear leg. Scheduled for a TPLO but final pre-op x-rays indicated a small suspicious area, possibly OSA, which could have caused the ACL tear. Surgeon opened the knee for TPLO but found soft bone. Biopsy came back positive for OSA. Became a Tripawd 9/18/14. Carbo6 with Cerenia and Fluids. Pain free and living in the moment. Crossed the Bridge on 7/12/15 after probable spread of cancer to her cervical spine. A whole lifetime of memories squeezed into 10 months. Here's her story: Eloise
Back in October 2012 is when Murphy first starting limping. Multiple vet visits, some x-rays, pain medications, ... Murphy did OK when he was on medication, just a little bit of a limp, so really we thought he must have just strained something. Our dogs take off like idiots when we open the door, so it wouldn't have been a surprise. But by January when his prescriptions ran out again, he wouldn't eat or go outside, and he yelped so badly when he did, so I asked for the referral to the orthopedic specialist. Unfortunately, it took a few weeks to get in for an appointment. So it was February before we got there and I was told the suspicion of cancer. We 1st did a biopsy (I would never put him through that again), and went home to wait for the results. In March we found out that the biopsy was inconclusive and the 3rd set of x-rays showed the growth of the tumor. So it wasn't until April, 2013 that Murphy finally had his surgery - more than 5 months from when he started limping. His final diagnosis was histiocytic sarcoma, which is highly aggressive. Thankfully, despite a prognosis of 12-18 months, Murphy is still with us ... hopping around, chasing squirrel and barking at everything. 🙂
So, a week should be ok, but I would limit activity. You don't want to run the risk of a fracture. The first couple of weeks after surgery can be tough, but after that most dogs do really well. Karl will be out of pain, and will be back to his old self. And we will be here to support you throughout the process, so please don't hesitate.
Donna
Donna, Glenn & Murphy
Murphy had his right front leg amputated due to histiocytic sarcoma at 7 years old. He survived 4 years, 2 months & 1 week, only to be taken by hemangiosarcoma at 11 1/2 years 6/12/17
Read about Murphy's Life on Three Legs
Ahh thats such a lovely story Donna. So glad Murphy is still loving life 3 years later! That gives us all lots of hope for the future 
Hi Karl and family!
So sorry to hear about Karl's diagnosis. I just wanted to offer some support. We are only a few weeks ahead of you in this journey.
Our 7 year old GSD Beau was diagnosed with cancer in his leg (we are still waiting on the amputation biopsy for a definite diagnosis but highly likely to be osteosarcoma) on 02/02/16. Before that, everything was normal, we had no limping or signs of pain, just a lump that came up on his hock. Like you, we were in complete shock. The though of amputation was almost unthinkable, especially as he wasn't showing any signs of pain, we thought, how can we do this to him. He's going to wake up, with a leg missing and have no idea why. We didn't think he'd be able to cope, we researched every other option possible and on that journey we found this incredible website. The more we looked, the more we realised amputation was the absolute best choice for Beau. We'll never know if his leg was hurting him at the stage we found the lump, I'm sure it must have been to some degree, but one thing is for sure, it would eventually have caused him a lot of pain if we had left it as it was. We looked into his eyes and knew it wasn't his time to go yet, we knew he could fight this and amputation would give him the best shot. We also thought about what he would want. Of course, he had no idea whats happening, but if we could have explained the situation to him, knowing our pooch, I'm in no doubt his answer would have been: 'oh yeah, take it off, if that means I get more time to play and be with you". He's pretty cool like that.
We are now 15 days post amputation and he's doing great. The first two weeks are no picnic, its been tough, but we have definitely turned the corner, his pain is under control (which took over a week to get right), he loves his food, is desperate for his walks and is exactly the same dog as he always was (still just a little bit dozy from his meds, but we are getting there). Turns out, none of his personality or spirit for life was contained within his leg 
. He loves us exactly the same as he always did and we squeeze him just that little bit tighter, and cherish him even more than we did before. Your Karl will still be your Karl. Every lab I have ever met has such an incredible spirit for life, I'm sure Karl is just the same, and in a few months time, he'll be far too busy playing to even think about how many legs he's got!
It's such a tough decision to make, but your family and your pup are stronger than you think. The thing I found most helpful was reading through this forum for all of the stories of hope. And when I feel down, I looked up on youtube all of the videos I can find of Tripwads. Running, swimming, jumping, playing, and loving life (tons of videos from Jerry G Dawg, but lots of others too). That gave and continues to give me and my family so much hope for the future and we can't wait to see our dog doing these things too! We've got lots of fun things planned with our pack for the summer! We just hope us inferior 2 leggers will be able to keep up with our Beau
Thinking of you all
Hannah, Beau & Family
Thank you so much everyone for all your posts. It's been hard for me to figure out this site, but I'm getting there. I was at the fourth vet on Monday, this one is awesome. I kept praying and this vet is the one. Amen! Because of the small possibility of fungal osteomyelitis this vet wants to do a biopsy first. I really feel bad about causing Karl any additional pain, but many vets were consulted and I agreed for him to have the biopsy Friday. This whole thing is so hard, The vets think it's osteo, but they want to be sure, if the results come back next week positive for Osteo , then the surgery would be later in the week. Ouch. Can I do this?
You are so welcome, whatever we can do to help. If you need some assistance navigating our site Start here.
Nobody ever thinks they can do this but the truth is we, and our pets, are so much stronger than we think. The amputation journey isn't easy but it does bring us closer together, which I know sounds weird, but true.
Keep us posted.
Tripawds Founders Jim and Rene
tripawds.com | tripawds.org | bemoredog.net | triday.pet
Okay, you have a plan and you have a vet team you like. You're moving forward and, shouldnyou need to proceed with amputation, you know you've done everything possible to eliminate any other cause.
He may be sore after the biopsy and sometimes they come back inconclusive. I say that merely so it won't be ...hmm...."upsetting" or unexpected shoukd this happen. Actually, to clarify, NOT inconclusive as far as whether it's fungal or not, more so as to whether it's osteo or not. Make sense?
We are here with you!! We all know how difficult it is to wrap your head around the whole scary scenario! You will ALWAYS do what's I. Karl's best interest because you love him so much. And yiu WILL find the strength to do whatever is necessary for Karl's well being because you love hi so much! Yeah, stren from love is a powerful thing!!
Love and 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!
Hi Karl and family....I saw your post in the chat room earlier, about how a friend? didn't sound very supportive of the surgery decision. Just wanted you to know that is not an uncommon reaction from loved ones and friends; my own mother was very negative of our decision, and it was really hard for me to deal with that negativity when I was already stessed out beyond belief. In fact, I withdrew from her, and wouldn't let her see my Dobe (Nitro) for months afterwards. Nitro is now 20 months post amp for osteo sarcoma and doing great. My mom finally admitted we did the right thing, the best thing, we could for our boy.
This is why the Tripawd Family is so awesome......we GET IT! We understand like no one else what you're going through. The helpline is a great tool if you want to talk to someone about whatever you need to. Good luck, we're here for you!
Paula and Nitro
Nitro 11 1/2 yr old Doberman; right front amp June 2014. Had 6 doses carboplatin, followed by metronomic therapy. Rocked it on 3 legs for over 3 years! My Warrior beat cancer, but couldn't beat old age. He crossed the Bridge peacefully on July 25, 2017, with dignity and on his terms. Follow his blog entitled "Doberman's journey"
"Be good, mama loves you".....run free my beautiful Warrior
Thanks Paula for letting js know Karl's mom was javing this "challenge".
I learned VERY quickly not to share my plan for Happy Hannah's amputation! I jad not found this site at the time, so I had a couple of people I initially shared the situation. BIG MISTAKE! The first "dog lover" friend said, "Oh no! I would never put my dog THROUGH that! I wouldn't do that TO her!"
My brother merely said he would support whatever decision I made. Right answer! He's also the one who came and bui a really long and sturdy ramp for her prior to the surgery so she could get used to it.
Keep in mind that none of yiur friends and family jave done the research! None have talked extensively with vets likenyiu have! No one knows Karl like yiu do!! Just stay here with us. We understand!
I just learned to say the vets and I developed a really good treatment plan and we are proceeding. Thank you for yiur good wishes!
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!
Thanks so much for the support, I couldn't handle this without all of you. Tomorrow is Karl's bone biopsy, I hate to do this to him. I've got the car ready for him, but I have a few steps getting into the house and I'm not sure how he'll be able to walk after the biopsy.
I need to associate with supportive people right now and I'm truly blessed to have this group.
Please if you pray, say a prayer for Karl tomorrow morning.
Blessings,
Karl and mom Julie
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