Caring for a Three Legged Dog or Cat
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Oh that is really good news! One less thing to think about, so you and Dunkel can get on your way. March 8 is a ways, did they put you on a cancellation list?
By the way, how did Dunkel get his name? It's so original! Sorry if I missed that earlier.
Hi,
an earlier appointment was possible but they felt it was not super-urgent and more importantly that it was more important that they have a 'good time-slot' for him than to do it asap as with his heart there is more risk of complications and it would not be ideal if it has to be squeezed in into the schedule.
Dunkel got his name because a few years ago I had a dream that we had a Rottie Puppy called Dunkel. Coincidentally Dunkel means Dark in German which is the main language where I live although it is not my mother tongue. My mother tongue is Dutch and my first name 'Jeroen' is like the Dutch equivalent of 'Jerry' 🙂
As a kid we had Golden Retrievers at home and I always thought it would be great to have a dog again if at some point in my life I would be in a situation that allowed for it. With Covid we moved out of the city to a more nature area so that gave the opportunity. We got a Rottweiler as as a kid my aunt had one and I always really liked them, additionally initially we were living in a bit of a remote house and my wife was super scared to be there alone. And well Golden Retrievers do not have the same burglary prevention effect as Rottie's..
Although I hope we never have to find out, I am not so sure if Dunkel is a great guardian dog... he is extremely people oriented and just loves meeting people. I.e. if the burglar is willing to play with the ball or rope and has some snacks he may let him rob the house empty without issue. (Well except the fridge and his toy basket... Pretty certain he will protect those!)
Jeroen
Awww what a cute story! Thank you for the background on your sweet guy, now it all makes sense. He's your dream dog! Maybe not the ultimate watchdog, but hey, he looks the part 😉
I didn't even realize you were outside of the states. And you taught me two new words today, I had no idea Dunkel = Dark and Jeroen = Jerry! Love it!
Makes sense about waiting, you really do want all of the team to be prepared and not in a hurry for this. That's a good approach. As long as his pain is being managed as well as possible until then, and you're super careful with his activity, it should be fine. Keep us posted.
You definately have a solid Vet team looking out for Dunkel. Glad they are waiting for the best later time slot versus taking one sooner that doesn't allow for all the attention specific to Sunkel's needs.
Loved your take on "Rottie Guard Dog" versus "Golden Retriever Guard Dog". Yeah, not sure that your people friendly Rottie can uphold the "image" of being a fierce burglarizing prevention guard dog 😉
Thanks for the backstory on his name. Very interesting. Would love to see some pictures of Dunkel. Here's a link for adding images . In the meantime, I'll PM (private message) you my email and you can send me some that way if you'd like.
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!
Drum roll please 🥁🥁🥁 You' are about to see a very handsome and Noble Rottweiler named Dunkle! I know you're going to be just like me and try to smooch the screen when you see the close up of that mug of his. It's such a joy to see his playful side too as he smiles for the camera and poses in front of his birthday cake. This guy just exudes personality.
Thanks for making us smile with these wonderful pictures.
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!
WOW! 
He is SUPER good looking! And really fit. Dunkel should have no issues with recovery (paws & fingers crossed!). Thanks for sharing these Sally. OMD that last photo ... what a face!
How is he doing?
Hi,
the surgery went well and we just brought him home. It is quite a shock to see him as a new tripawd but everyone will have to adjust to the new normal.
At the clinic they told us he walked a bit with them in the morning, I carried him home and at home he has taken a few steps and is now lying down.
He is obviously quite scared (ie tail between the legs and shaking) and a bit disoriented. Growling at us a bit as well when we approach him as such we haven't taken his muzzle off yet. I guess we will give him a bit of time to accomodate and then take the muzzle off.
Will update later but at least another major step, ie the surgery itself, passed well.
Jeroen
YAY! That's terrific he is home. What pain medications is he on? How much and how often?
Try not to panic if he doesn't 
. As long as he is urinating on his usual schedule that's what's important.
YAAAAAAY!!! Surgery is done and Dunkel is home!!!
We have some great pictures to celebrate! Dunkel is standing tall and taking some first steps!! 👏👏
Love the picture of his close up.....he looks quite "happy" thanks to some good drugs!!!
Welcome home sweet boy. You are so loved💖💖
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!
For now the clinic said just 1 onsior (40mg) a day and no more gabapentin. If he seems in a lot of pain we can give additional gabapentin. Before the operation he got 1 onsior and 3x300mg of gabapentin a day, so it is a lot less painkiller.
I was honestly a bit surprised by this as previously the doctor told us that we would probably continue with both gabapentin and onsior after the surgery and gradually reduce the dose. We had a different doctor when picking him up and she said to try without the gabapentin as it can make him sleepy and impact his coordination negatively.
Other than that we are supposed to give him antibiotics twice daily which so far is proving a challenge. Like a lot of dogs he is quite suspicious of any pills so usually we have to pulverize them and mix them in his food. The onsior he took this way but the antibiotics so far not. Guess he still smells something is 'fishy' about that food.
He urinated one time so far and it was the biggest one he ever did. I am guessing he has been holding it in since the surgery... He is drinking a lot as well... and a few minutes ago managed to go to his drinking bowl by himself.
We think he is quite hungry but are a bit reluctant to give him a lot of food as long as he keeps refusing the antibiotics. So we will try to give him the antibiotics a bit longer before giving him 'non suspicious' food.
I guess overall for a first day he is doing ok, he is obviously still very scared and has trouble finding a comfortable position but he is starting to 'hop around' a little bit by himself and it will take some time before he regains a sense of balance and confidence I think.
Great he got through surgery and is back home!
In my opinion onsior by itself is not enough after an amp surgery- it is a NSAID. Keep a close eye on Dunkel and add the gaba back in if you see pain signs. And talk with your vet too... keeping pain under control from the beginning is easier than trying to get it back under control.
Yes, gaba can cause sedation, but getting the right dose should help with pain and not make him too wonky. And right now he should just be resting anyway.
On the pills- it's not a good idea to mix them in with food- once he knows they are there he won't eat... maybe what you are seeing. I've had good luck with what I call the cheesy plate- see the video below for the cheesey plate and other ideas that work for me. He needs to eat so give him some 'non-suspicious' food. Don't give him the drugs in what ever food he will eat. Try cheese, or peanut butter, some people have luck with cream cheese or lunch meat.
Karen and the Spirit Pug Girls and Boy
Tri-pug Maggie survived a 4.5 year mast cell cancer battle only to be lost to oral melanoma.
1999 to 2010
Dunkel looks great! How are things going? Drop us a line when you can. I hope his pain is controlled and he's eating.
Hi,
we *think* he is doing fairly well, meaning he eats normally does not seem depressed and gets a bit more confident 'hopping around'.
I state *think* as this is also new for us so we have no real reference points.
He also managed two huuuuuuge number 2's. The second one so big it didn't even fit in a doggie bag 
The issues we have mostly right now are:
- Our own anxiety, sometimes it almost feels like it is bothering us more than him at this moment. I.e. will we be able to play fetching a ball or tug of war again which he loved to do. (*)
- Licking lips / hunting non existant flies. We noticed he is excessively licking his lips or like 'biting the air', i.e. as if he was trying to catch a fly. We googled that a bit and as with everything there could be a 1000 reasons for that, in his case most probably seems to us that it is anxiety which would be quite normal in his situation.
- sleeping. Last few days he slept more during the day but very little at night as he seems more anxious then (which also meant we had little sleep)
- monitoring: as he has a tendency to try to remove the cone or scratch where the wound is we cant let him out of our sight for the time being, Sometimes he also seems to want to scratch with his back paw where his front paw used to be, I guess that may be phantom pain .
For pain we luckily kept on giving the gaba and on monday we reached the doctor who did the surgery and he said we definitely should keep giving it. Glad we did so as it is probably much more difficult to get it back under control once the pain really hits.
(*) In there it would be great if people have some suggestions on more things to do with him while he has limited physical activity or in case his 'new normal' forces us to rethink some games. We do 'search' games with him as well (eg hide pieces of sausage in the house and make him search for them) but I have seen some more advanced type of these games (including on this site) where they have to look for a specific smell and then if they find ut get a reward, Question is just on how to teach this sort of game to him.
End of this week / early next week we will get the full pathology report, fingers and paws crossed that the initial low grade chondrosarcoma diagnosis gets confirmed...
One more 'positive' thing.. he got a Snoopy doll from a colleague of my wife to cheer him up. Normally he would put a paw on it and tear it to pieces in seconds. It seems that now these sort of gifts will last a lot longer 🙂
Oh one thing I forgot to mention...
The ear infection: It turns out Dunkel has an ear canal and there is liquid in it but the canal is closed. The vet told us he had never seen this before and it is probably some birth defect. 
Surgery for it is possible but complicated and as long as it does not cause too much discomfort he recommended to leave that as is for now.
For now we will just treat that as another surprise and an explanation for his 'selective' hearing.
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