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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Finally got a photo to work! She is the one on the left, her 6 year old brother Wrigley is on the right. 🙂
Love the avatar pocture!! Such a good looking happy crew!! 😁
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 knew she'd be beautiful 
Hugs,
Jackie, Bo, Andy, Oscar, Phoebe, and the coolest feral tripawd kitty Huckleberry 
Awww what a beauty! And Wrigley is a handsome fella!
Let us know how the Monday visit goes. I hope she's feeling better today.
Tripawds Founders Jim and Rene
tripawds.com | tripawds.org | bemoredog.net | triday.pet
Hi sweetie 🌸
Zoey is such a beauty and so is her brother 💕
Enjoy your weekend with your baby knowing her pain will soon be gone, I took a few days off with Eurydice just before surgery and have to say although I was very anxious, whenever she looked at me I knew in my heart it was the best decision for her.
She lived a little longer than foreseen (13 months and 1 week) but like all others said this journey is not about how long we have with our babies.
It is about being happy and enjoying each and every single day to the full.
Carpe Diem, Seize The Day.
Sending you an avalanche of kisses and zillion tummy rubs and ear scratches to your cutie pies 😘😘🐮💫✨🌟🌹
Eurydice 77kg/170lb Great Dane limping end of April 2016, amputation (right front leg/osteosarcoma) 4 May 2016 6 courses of carboplatin followed by metronomic therapy, lung mets found 30 Nov 2016. 3 courses of doxorubicin, PET scan 26 Jan 2017 showed more mets so stopped chemo. Holistic route April 2017. Lung X-ray 5 May 2017 showed several tennis ball size mets, started cortisone and diuretics. Miss Cow earned her XXL silver wings 12 June 2017, 13 months and 1 week after amputation and 6 1/2 months after lung mets, she was the goofiest dawg ever and is now happily flying from cloud to cloud woof woofing away :-)
Hi Zoey,
So Sorry you got the diagnosis. My Cookie was diagnosed in late Feb and we had the amputation within a couple weeks and have had 2 chemos. Being that it is an aggressive cancer and dogs handle chemo quite well I felt I almost had no choice but to give her the chemo.
The lungs were clear at amputation so I can only hope that she gets through the chemo and I can get her on the vaccine. It is a DEVASTSTING thing to hear certainly.
I hope Zoey does great and it is especially heartbreaking when they are so young. I got great advice every step of the way and a GREAT deal of much needed encouragement on here and you will get the same.
Cookie is NOT in pain and has a very good quality of life for now. We have a lot of tail wags in our future but we never know how the disease will go so we must take it one day at a time and remember they do not know they are sick. Only we as their parents know and that is a blessing
Cookie has adapted very well to three legs as most do, so try not to let yourself feel any guilt as we do this FOR them not TOO them
I wish you many more years whatever your decision may be regarding treatment!
Hey Everyone,
Thank you for the responses and kind words! On Monday we took Zoey for her consult. We discussed options for treatment. The amputation was much more costly than I first thought (our local vet without overnight monitoring and no frills/without meds mentioned an estimate of $1,000, and these guys are at $3,000 all in with meds, etcetera).
We discussed chemo as well, and at this time I think we may not proceed with that. They indicated that treatment was every 3 weeks for 6 rounds with X-rays and blood work frequently in between. As this vet is over 45 minutes away one-way, and Zoey does get anxious with car rides and vet visits, it just seems like a lot to put her through, and I’m not sure her quality of life would be there with all of the time on IV drips and rides back and forth. We can always change our mind after the amputation, but I think that’s where we’re leaning.
Right now we are scheduled for amputation Tuesday morning, with an ultrasound to check for (hopefully) lack of any other lumps on Friday.
My MIL mentioned hearing from someone about a bit closer vet that was cheaper for amputation, but I feel like the place we are scheduled at is top-notch, and I’m not sure if the other would have all of the extras and additional monitoring. Should we be looking at other financial options or getting further opinions?
Any tips for this next stage are greatly appreciated! For a dog who is generally a bit anxious with new/different things, should we look at alternative cones? Are there recommended harnesses for back legs?
You might want to see if they have Care Credit . You might be able to make payments over time at a low interest rate. That's what I did with Mitchell. Huckleberry cost us around 3000.00 total, problems included. They started lower but the vet didn't have the experience I had hoped for. I think an experienced vet is a better option, just my opinion.
Cones are truly individual to how much of a Houdini you have. One step at a time. Some have a regular E cone and do just fine. Some need an additional donut collar with it but not as many. Some do well with just a donut collar. I really think some of it has to do with how limber and inventive they are and their comfort level.
We've seen some that need no collar and wear a t shirt with great success. I think it will be a day by day judgement call.
My general thought, if you don't mind, is BREATHE! you have a great support group here. If the doc sends her home with a cone, give it a try and see how it goes. You'll have a rocky ride for a couple of weeks either way but it GETS BETTER!
There are great harnesses to help both of you. I know somebody in here will chime in before I can find it but it's here in our home page. I will look for the link.
Please breathe and take this one step at a time. Right now is surgery and recovery. The rest will follow as it comes and we are all here to try and help you.
Hugs,
Jackie and Huck ❤️
Hugs,
Jackie, Bo, Andy, Oscar, Phoebe, and the coolest feral tripawd kitty Huckleberry
You're doing your homework, and that's terrific. First, don't feel badly if you cannot do chemo. It's not required and it doesn't guarantee longevity. We've seen it go either way. Some dogs have chemo and do great, some don't. Either way it's a big crapshoot. What matters most is that you are not stressed about paying for vet bills. That's what Zoey wants for you.
However, $1,000 is incredibly cheap for the surgery, and that price worries me. When you say it doesn't include medication or overnight care, I'm assuming that they would definitely provide those things, right? Please say yes. The $3,000 estimate is more in line with what we see around the U.S. Sometimes it's higher depending on the location and practice type, but generally between $2500 and $4000 is the range.
When it comes to price shopping for a major surgery like this, there are drawbacks to going with the cheapest price. Oftentimes when a lower price comes in it's because that particular practice doesn't have the latest equipment, training or overnight monitoring. You don't necessarily need to have a specialist do the surgery, many general practice vets are more than capable of doing it. But what you want to make sure of is that they don't skimp on protocols like pain management , anesthesia and nursing care. These articles may help give you the confidence you need to chose the best vet you can afford:
Why Pre-Surgery and Pre-Amputation Diagnostic Tests Matter
How to Choose a High Quality Vet Practice for Your Dog’s Surgery
How to Choose a Veterinarian for Amputation Surgery
As for your other questions:
Any tips for this next stage are greatly appreciated! For a dog who is generally a bit anxious with new/different things, should we look at alternative cones? Are there recommended harnesses for back legs?
See:
The Tripawds Recovery Shopping List
And a bonus, here's an article about harnesses:
What a Tripawd Harness Will (and Won’t) Do
Tripawds Founders Jim and Rene
tripawds.com | tripawds.org | bemoredog.net | triday.pet
Don't feel bad about considering finances in your decisions. We wish we had unlimited funds but it's just not the case for most all of us. Besides, when you are dealing with cancer all the money in the world won't necessarily change the outcome. We make the best decisions we can and move forward.
My quad pug Obie has had two knee surgeries and I used the donut type inflatable collar and it worked well. Of course he has a short pug nose so it was fairly easy to keep him away from his back legs.
As far as harness, I love the RuffWear WebMaster. I've used that harness for both my Tripawds, on Obie for his knee surgery recoveries, and on my quad Pug Tani when she had mobility issues.
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
Thank you all.
I did get a rough estimate from another more local vet that was between $1,200-1,700 without medications included. After discussing with my husband, I think we are sticking with the $3,000 place. The cheaper one did not have overnight monitoring, and much of the highest costs are the included ultrasound being done tomorrow to check for other lumps or bumps or spread and lots of medications, including morphine, cefazolin, metronizadole, famotidine, IV fluids, and the overnight monitoring and daily exams for a two-night stay. She’ll also be sent home with lots of meds for after-care pain management .
We both think the price is worth it if it means better pain management , technique, and expertise.
That's really good news. I have to agree with you on all of that. I had a young inexperienced doctor. I was quoted that smaller price and after all the incidentals, problems, and rehospitalization we payed somewhere around $3500.00. If I knew then what I know today I would have done things differently. I have learned so much from this site, it's amazing.
Sending you positive energy and thoughts, you're going to get through this just fine and you have a great group here to lean on.
Jackie and Huck ❤️
Hugs,
Jackie, Bo, Andy, Oscar, Phoebe, and the coolest feral tripawd kitty Huckleberry
Ultrasound came back good!
We are scheduled to go ahead with surgery Tuesday. The vet did ask if we were interested in a CT scan. It would be an additional $500 and would be done immediately prior to surgery.
Did any of you make a decision as to CT? We are planning on amputation only at this time because of zoeys non-love of vet visits and car rides. Since for so many it has already metastasized I’m not sure if the cost if worth it if treatment would not change, but my husband thinks it’d be better to know.
For my Happy Hannah, I just did the xrays, no CT, no ultra sound. Many here just do the xrays. Quite frankly, I don't even recall her Surgeon even mentioning them as options.
We'll be cheering for Zoey Tuesday! Stay connected!
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!
How did surgery go?
Is Zoey coming back today or is it tomorrow?
Thinking about you both and sending pawsitive energy your way 😘😘🐮💫✨🌟🌹
Eurydice 77kg/170lb Great Dane limping end of April 2016, amputation (right front leg/osteosarcoma) 4 May 2016 6 courses of carboplatin followed by metronomic therapy, lung mets found 30 Nov 2016. 3 courses of doxorubicin, PET scan 26 Jan 2017 showed more mets so stopped chemo. Holistic route April 2017. Lung X-ray 5 May 2017 showed several tennis ball size mets, started cortisone and diuretics. Miss Cow earned her XXL silver wings 12 June 2017, 13 months and 1 week after amputation and 6 1/2 months after lung mets, she was the goofiest dawg ever and is now happily flying from cloud to cloud woof woofing away :-)
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