Caring for a Three Legged Dog or Cat
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Tazzie - never a need for apologies. I understand that things that are said might not be what we always want to hear (this is not the case here) but it is important to hear the truth and voice of experience.. This is part of what I find so valuable here - everyone working together to gather and share information and to help one another with experience in this new journey. Tanks for the heads up on the post for Jake, I will look that up in a little bit and thanks for the tip on the runs. I'm afraid I may have overdone Dakota a bit with 3 pills - eek - lesson learned! I guess I will keep an eye on him and see what comes out?
Do you give butter with the fish oil? haha.
Dakota and Gerry..
Fish oil stands on its own, no butter needed. (I am probably killing his poor pancreas with all this fat.) I cut open the pills and let it ooze over his food. He loves it. We are up to about 3 pills after a few weeks now. But I think I initial runny problem was just related to the brand. Changed brands and it has been fine.
Hi Gerry:
First, and it's funny how you can tell through posts. But YOU sound better, and I'm glad of that. Everything is so overwhelming at first.
Tika was thought to have some mild hip dysplasia when we went in the surgeon consult, both hips. Still, we did the same route, glucosamine/and Omega-3. (On that note: I'm digging up a recipe for some dog cookies that are VERY high in Omega-3 and I plan to post it under the food topic)
It sounds like you are getting closer to the amputation decision. I think Dakota will do fine. I really do. I found that most of the artic dogs I am around are problem solvers. You can see them figuring things out. Tika is definitely like that. So, a missing leg? NOOOO problem. I would suggest closely monitoring how he reacts to pain pills, I recently found out that another malamute owner in town has problems with his dog and any sort of pain pills (ACL surgery for that dog). We actually pulled Tika off of all of her pain meds about 4-5 days post op, she calmed down, she literally slept it off for the next 10 days or so.
Also, my biology is a bit fuzzy, but if they remove part of the Thyroid it might affect Dakota's metabolism (PAM...HELP!) You'll see a lot of chagrined posts about doggies gaining too much weight because we spoil them, bribe them (for meds), etc. You'll need to make sure of that, because I assume Huskies are like Malamutes and have a naturally lower metabolism. Tika eats half of what our German Shepherd does and still can gain weight! Eeeek! And she has 20 lb of the shepherd!
Oh, one last thing, we buy both our Omega-3 and Glucosamine from the pharmacy or grocery store. Your vet can give you the dosage. We dump ours on the food (helps with.... well, you know....HAZMAT issues)
--GOOD LUCK.
--Kim and Tika
Kim and Spirit Tika http://www.tika.....ogspot.com
Did they say your dog had a thyroid tumor or a parathyroid tumor? A dog has 2 thyroid glands which each have parathyroid glands. Taking out 1 thyroid/parathyroid is okay because the other one would still function. The thyroid regulates metabolism and the parathyroid does calcium. I have seen benign thyroid nodules and some pretty malignant/aggressive ones but it sounds like from the MRI they are not too worried.
Pam and Tazzie
Thank you all for the posts!
Pam - She said "left Thyroid mass" in her report and when on the phone with me she called it a thyroid tumor - I remember asking her if dogs have two thyroids as I was immediately concerned and remembering my cousin having to be on medications for the rest of her life when she had her thyroid removed.
Tazzie - No runs! yay! will go down to 1 fish oil anyways and work our way up to three daily as well.
Tikaani - I can;t wait to see the cookie recipee - I will make em for Dakota, and any other doggies that want to come visit! Dakota does put on weight really easily - but he has been good for the past few years and I have no had to measure his food - bowl always full. I may have to change that and will definitely keep an eye on it. Tikaani, thanks for the info on your journey - it is really good to know and reassuring. I suspect that I am like most of you - I just want to be as certain as I realistically can be that I am doing the 'right' thing for Dakota and not the selfish thing - based on Tikanni's results sounds like I am on the right path...
Hey, also - was at CVS this morning - they have glucosamine chondroitin (sp?) opn sale there and a lot of the glucosamine chondroitin based products with MSM. It was a really GOOD sale - like buy one get one free. I grabbed a bottle of the triple strength 120 pills for $35 and got a second one FREE - this same was for a BUNCH of different products right in that area. After seeing the prices and getting sticker shock when I first saw them on the shelf I thought this would be good news for anyone here useing this stuff. Also, I see the Dasuquin is VERY expensive - I wonder is some of those products at CSV that are also BOGO are a good deal - might be like getting a free bottle of that Dasuquin?!?! Thougths?
As final precautions I have an appointment with an oncology group on Monday at 9:AM and then a neurologist on Monday at noon. I will feel better knowing that these two specialists have an opportunity to view the report and the dog to confirm that they believe we are on the correct path. Back to work - type more later...
Dakota and Gerry..
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