Caring for a Three Legged Dog or Cat
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Hi guys,
Escher just came home this afternoon. They wanted to keep her a bit longer to manage pain etc. I cannot believe how good she is doing already. She hopped right into the room, and seems to be doing wonderfully. She also had an incredible appetite so that made me happy as well. She tires quickly when she is up and moving about, but I image that is normal. When I say tire, I mean her other back leg starts to fail a bit. Otherwise, all smiles over here so far.
Thanks everyone, couldn’t have done it without you!
Yay! Welcome home Escher!!
Oh how lovely to hear that you rocked it through surgery!!! Right on Escher!!!
Okay Mum, now it’s your turn to take over. She has shown you that she has no problem with this Tripawd thing at all! So, you are going to need to hold her back from wanting to do what she wants to do for a few days and listen to her Mum... It is critical that she gets as much rest as possible over the next two weeks. Your are going to have to be very strict with her
and tell her if she eats all her meals and takes all of her medicines, plus drinks and pee’s like a champion, then she can get let out of her meager confinement’s in two weeks when her stitches come out!!!
Until then Escher, you need to listen to Mummy and be a very good girl. We are going to be supporting your Mum through your ruff daze, when you’re not quite feeling like yourself. So do what you are doing and hopping merrily into hoppier days!!!
Well done the both of you! Get lots of rest when you can, you will be having some sleepless nights, but just know that it all gets better and if ever in doubt, CALL YOUR VET!
All the very best for recovery
Petra, Stewie 🐾 & his Pride >^..^<
Remember...“live in the moment!“ 
WELCOME HOME ESCHER!!!! 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 HOME SWEET HOME IS SO MUCH SWEETER WITH ESCHER IN IT!!! 🙂
Ditto Petra...slooooow and easy. Her back leg isn't used to doing the eorkmof two and needs to adjust slowly. Rehab work will do wonders once she recovers.
Thanks for the great update!!! Keep em coming! 🙂
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!
Yay Escher, welcome home! So glad to hear you're up and around, and eating too. What a rock star
The tiredness part is normal for a few weeks. Just take it slow and don't overdo things, there will be plenty of time for fun and games when you're all healed up. For now, leashed and very short potty walks are the only exercise you need.
Keep up the great recovery!
Tripawds Founders Jim and Rene
tripawds.com | tripawds.org | bemoredog.net | triday.pet
We put Rufus on a different diet with antioxidants, but that's counter productive to chemo which oxidizes. Our internal medicine doc said go back to regular food.
Rufus is 4 months, 8 days post amputation and life is back to normal. He's such an athletic boy . he turned 8 in November, about a month after diagnosis.
He had 4 carboplatin IV chemo every three weeks. He was a little woosie from the sedation, but no major issues. His WBC was low at his two week checkup so had antibiotics and another time we had to wait 4 weeks to administer since WBC was low.
I was with Rufus 6 days post surgery just to let him know we're here.
I'm glad Rufus is doing well. So many great stories and great people here. All the information I've obtained from this site has been 100% helpful and accurate.
As far as an Escher update goes. She also amazes me. She is doing so well. She wants to go on walks that I have been limiting, and yesterday night she apparently was tired of sleeping in the front room. We live in an apartment were the bedrooms are upstairs, up 15 stairs. She stood by them, and I thought ok, I guess she wants to go upstairs. Do I help, do I carry her. After trying to help, with no success, I then attempted to pick her up (as I did for weeks prior to the surgery). She leaned into me hard. I was paralyzed on the second step wondering if she was struggling or falling. After what seemed to be 4 minutes, but was actually 11 seconds, she walked right up the entire fight of steps. The lean, I think, was "mom leave me alone I got this." Do any of you feel concerned with her taking on stairs while she still has stitches? Other then that, she is eating like a fat pig, as usual, and getting lots of rest and belly rubs.
Thanks for everything, I cannot tell you how grateful I am for you all.
What a go-getter!
I'm not a vet, but I would be more concerned about a front-legger doing stairs with stitches than a rear-legger. However, when our front-legger Jerry was recovering he had tackle 18 steps in and out of the house just to go potty (carrying 75 pounds up and down just wasn't going to happen). He did the stairs with stitches, which made us nervous, but with the help of a Ruffwear Webmaster harness and us gently guiding him up and down (never letting him go at full speed), he was fine.
If you have a harness for her, see if she will allow you to guide her up and down so she doesn't gain too much speed, or become too tired.
Tripawds Founders Jim and Rene
tripawds.com | tripawds.org | bemoredog.net | triday.pet
Oh, okay suddenly my once nightly trip upstairs doesn't seem so bad. Thanks for the info. I do have a harness for her that we use on walks. She didn't seem to struggle much with the stairs at all. I'll keep and eye on her and use the harness if things get worse.
You are Exceptionally Extraordinary Escher!! Way to rock this recovery!!!
You got great input from Jerry on the stairs. Escher is quite an athletic gal! Nothing's gonna hold her back 🙂
Keep on piggin' out Escher!!
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!
Yay Escher!!! Didn’t we figure that you would rock this recovery thing!!! Keep taking those little walks with Mum for a couple more weeks okay, I know you are going to want to be running through the woods and having a right hoppy time, but you have a lot of stamina to build back up. Just keep telling yourself that you have just been through major surgery!
Stewie scared the crap out of us by tellling us that he could do the stairs by himself one day! We decided to block off the stairs unless we were taking him down with his harness on. It was super hot and the basement was his cool spot. So going down was a big thing for him. We just didn’t want to risk him missing a stair, plus I see how much his front leg takes when he bounces down, it’s a lot of weight on those joints. Even now I supervise when he goes down, and tell him to go slow. He listens very well! He still scares the crap out of me!
Good girl Escher! You are doing a great job of hopping through your recovery and way to go Mum, you are obviously doing a great job too! Be sure to not get too far ahead of yourself though okay girlie?!
Petra, Stewie 🐾 & his Pride >^..^<
Hola,
We made it passed the two week mark, and all seems mostly well. Escher’s personality is returning, and she is almost running the house the way she did pre-diagnosis. Yesterday, we went out for a beverage. We were gone for an hour. She busted through the gate, somehow removed her cone, and took herself upstairs lol. Her wound was healing nicely, but as of yesterday there is a pea-sized area raised up and red. It looks almost like a blood blister. I will be sending a photo to the vet in the morning to see if there is any need for concern.
I’m writing today, with chemo questions. Have any of you gone through it? What are your thoughts/recommendations? If her wound is okay we are scheduled for round one Thursday. Scary.
Also, the remaining back leg has been giving out on her more. It doesn’t seem to bother her, she just keeps plowing through her short walks. I noticed it seemed to begin when I ran out of Rimadal. Could that be the cause? Should I keep her on that? What about hemp oil/edibles as a natural alternative? Any of you try that?
YAY! Congrats on the two week ampuversary. Sounds like her spunk is coming back! Glad she was OK from her jailbreak.
I’m writing today, with chemo questions. Have any of you gone through it? What are your thoughts/recommendations? If her wound is okay we are scheduled for round one Thursday. Scary.
How about hopping over to Treatment and Recovery now that Escher is past the diagnosis phase? You can share her experience there and also find lots of feedback from others about chemo. For example:
http://tripawds.....;include=2
Also, the remaining back leg has been giving out on her more.
This is often discussed in Hopping Around and usually it's the result of too much activity too soon. Yes, cutting back the Rimadyl probably contributed but before you start giving it again or spending money on any other supplements, we recommend working with a rehab expert to pinpoint her exercise needs. Generally speaking it all comes down to what kind of physical shape she was in before surgery. If her body's core and rear leg/hip muscles weren't strong to begin with, the remaining leg is doing all the work. How long have her walks been? What's her activity level like when she's at home? And what is her weight like? Even a pound of excess weight can cause a lot of stress on the body.
Our best recommendation is to 1) read our book Loving Life On Three Legs , which talks a lot about getting into shape, 2) visit the Tripawds Gear blog for exercise tips, 3) slow down on the activity and 4) more importantly, consult with a canine rehab specialist who can evaluate her for strengths, weaknesses and show you how to get her in shape so she can do the things she loves again. The best part is the Tripawds Foundation will even pay or your first rehab visit !
Tripawds Founders Jim and Rene
tripawds.com | tripawds.org | bemoredog.net | triday.pet
Way to go Escher!
Chemo sounds scarier than it is. Rocky had five rounds of Carboplatin before moving on to some other forms of chemo (his cancer started spreading before we could finish the Carbo). His oncologist said 90 percent of her patients experienced no side effects. Rocky handled each treatment just fine.
Good luck!
David and Rocky (and Baxter now too!)
Rocky had his right front leg amputated on Valentine's Day 2017 after being diagnosed with osteosarcoma.
He joined the September Saints on September 3, 2017.
He is the toughest, bravest, sweetest and best friend I'll ever know.
Escher lovey,
don’t be scaring Mum with little sores okay? I hope it turns out to be nothing! Your only a couple of weeks out of your surgery, try to still take it super easy!!!
Stewie also went through 6 rounds of Carboplatin Chemo treatment and suffered no ill effects. He was a little tired after, but his appetite and attitude were all the same!
don’t let it scare ya! Escher doesn’t know any better, so keep positive k?
All the best
Petra, Stewie and his Pride of kittens
Jerry gave you good inputand solutions on Escher's leg "issue"
As far as chemo, it really is a personal decision and there are no guarantees one way or another. So just knkw that there are no right or wrong decisions on chemo.
I did pursue four rounds of Carboplatin chemo for Happy Hanna. She had zero issues with side effects. She didn't mind going to the Vet and she liked carrides, so thst was important my decision to proceed.
Chemo can be stopped at any time if there are bad side effects. Usually if there are side effects, they are mild. Some dogs experience some nausea and the Vet gives Cerenia for that. They may be a bit more tired for a day or two or not hungry for a day or so.
Some have tried a form of hemp oil znd maybe they'll chime in. I'm not good at putting in the right words under the right xearch thread, but if you "search" proper@y, you can find topics and posts on it
Keep us updated
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!
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