Caring for a Three Legged Dog or Cat
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I gave her 100 gaba, and 30 minutes later she was resting quietly.
The oncologist/surgery place just called, and ok'd 200mg gaba twice a day, so I'll up the dose.
And yes, I told them last week the sooner the better, so they will let me know if they have any cancellations and could do the surgery sooner.
Again, thanks everyone your your helpful comments and encouragement.
Paul
Oh good, glad you got approval to up the meds. Glad she's resting more comfortably.
Thanks f0r keeping g us posted. Hopefully she can get the surgery sooner, but the pain ,Ed's should help in the interim.
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!
You have had some great advice. Just wanted to add to what Sally said about Trazadone that is more of a sedative and no pain relief at all but my vet also told me Gabapentin has a slight sedative affect as well. so that could be why she was really groggy. I hope things go well with Caroline's surgery.
Sassy is a proud member of the Winter Warriors. Live long, & strong Winter Warriors.
sassysugarbear.tripawds.com
07/26/2006 - Sassy earned her wings 08/20/2013
05/04/2006 - Bosch, Sassy's pal, earned his wings 03/29/19 fought cancer for 4 months.
"You aren't doing it TO her, you are doing it FOR her. Give her a chance at life."
The meds seem to have done the trick. We went for a 5 minute walk last night, and she slept through the night. We have the stairs blocked off so she can't go upstairs. I slept on the couch. Will probably be doing that for the next month or so.
This morning I could tell she really felt good, she wanted to go for a walk, and I had to verbally settle her down so she didn't jump and run around the house in excitement.
We went outside, I kept her calm, but a minute later I noticed a slight limp, so we turned around, and just spent ten minutes sniffing around our front yard.
Fingers crossed she keeps feeling ok until the surgery next friday.
I ordered one of the wraparound things so hopefully we won't need to use the cone to keep her from bothering the stitches.
So glad you've found the right "med tweak" that works for her.
Good job of managing her outside time. It"s good that she feels better....but it also gives he2rmthe false illusion she can do more. Silly dogs.
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!
WHEW! Really glad to know her pain is being managed well. It's such a tricky situation to stay on top of but you are doing it!
We have our paws, fingers, tails, and toes crossed for more mellow days of no pain. Keep us posted.
I doubt if the exact schedule matters, but given the dosages approved by her vets, here's the schedule that is working for her.
The carprofen is supposed to be used with food so that schedule is pretty fixed. Then I spread the 400 mg of gabapentin out to fill in the mid-day gap, and doubled up on it for the 10 hour overnight period.
8 AM - 9 AM: (after eating) 100 mg gabapentin and 50 mg carprofen (1/2 of a 100mg pill)
3 PM: 100 mg gabapentin
6 PM: (after eating) 50 mg carprofen
10 PM: 200 mg gabapentin
Again today she really wanted to go on a long walk, I had to convince her to turn around.
One more week of waiting...
Oh the schedule does matter a lot, so you can stay ahead of the pain. It sounds like a really good dosage schedule to make that happen. She is so lucky you are home with her so you can do that. Clearly she's still feeling great if she wants to take her walks. That's a good sign that she will bounce back easily after surgery.
One week will be over before you know it!
Another good walk today, we went a little further. Surgery is in one week.
I've been trying to, uh, acclimatize myself to what the new Caroline will look like. I know she will quickly adapt to her new physique, and I want to do the same.
One thing that is helping is watching videos of dogs in a similar situation. Here's an owner's videos of "Buster," showing his recovery and him having a lot of fun with only three legs.
I'm watching these at least once a day, and it's helping my brain adapt, so instead of feeling sorry for poor, disabled, Buster, I'm starting to see him as just a happy dog. And I love to see happy dogs.
YAY for a good day and no pain!
I love that you're watching videos. They do help don't they? I know that if it wasn't for one video of Moose the Great Dane digging for gophers after he recovered from surgery, we might never have gone through with amputation for our Jerry.
Thanks for sharing Buster's channel. I hadn't seen Buster's story and added it to our Tripawds YouTube Channel playlist. This is one of my favorites that really shows what a good recovery can look like:
First day home!
Caroline had surgery Friday, and came home Saturday (yesterday), and is doing great.
She’s quickly adapting to her situation, and when taken out to the front yard to pee, wanted to go on her normal 20 minute walk. But that’s not happening for a few weeks.
We have the stairs blocked, and have her confined mostly in the family room. I slept on the couch last night, and will do that for a couple weeks.
So far so good!
.
WOW she looks fantastic! Her alertness and mobility is stellar! 
I think you might have a challenging time keeping her occupied without doing her usual outside activities, she looks a little too energetic for a dog just out of surgery! 
Really glad she's on the mend. Enjoy the snuggle time with her and keep us posted.
Hi Paul,
I'm just checking in to see how things are going. I hope everything is OK. Please update when you can. We are thinking of you and Caroline 
Caroline is doing great- now going up stairs, and walking once or twice a day. She had her first chemo and all went well, and her second is this Friday.
I do pick her up when she’s getting in our bed or in or out of the car to protect her rear leg from overstress.
Here she was a couple weeks ago.
.
She is looking really great. <3 Don't be surprised if her white cells drop and they have to delay a chemo treatment. That can happen and is normal as chemo wipes out the immune system. (not saying that will happen at the 2nd one but can happen at anytime). Sometimes vets will push out the chemo to give the body a chance to rebound and some vets even go as far as antibiotics to prevent infections.
Keep up the great work
Michelle & Angels Sassy, Bosch, Baby Simba and Sweet Snickers.
Sassy is a proud member of the Winter Warriors. Live long, & strong Winter Warriors.
sassysugarbear.tripawds.com
07/26/2006 - Sassy earned her wings 08/20/2013
05/04/2006 - Bosch, Sassy's pal, earned his wings 03/29/19 fought cancer for 4 months.
"You aren't doing it TO her, you are doing it FOR her. Give her a chance at life."
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