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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So Polly had a mass cell tumor on her elbow. Big, ugly, ulcerated thing. We are lucky that we are near University of Florida Animal Hospital and have been working with them. Because of size and location, amputation seemed the only way to go. In doing other tests, they did find some cells in the lymph. Polly had her surgery today and they removed the lymph while there. This was a hard decision, but we felt it was in her best interest. She is 10 going on 11, we have had her for 5 years as we adopted her as a rescue. I found you guys today while researching and love hearing all your stories. It gives me SO much hope that she will not be limited by losing a front leg. She is such an active girl and it would have crushed me if she could no longer run. Hoping maybe we can bring her home tomorrow, I know it will be hard in the beginning, especially the first 2 weeks, but she is strong and I look forward to the next chapter in our adventures together.
Hello and welcome to you and Polly.
I saw you posted in Barkley's thread, I'm glad you started your own here for Polly.
What kind of dog is Polly? How big is she?
My little Pug Maggie lost a back leg to a MCT. You can read her story and about her amp and chemo if you are interested, the links are in my signature below.
You sound like you have a great outlook on this next part of your journey with Polly! Stay positive for Polly as she gets through the next couple of weeks. Not all dogs have a bumpy recovery, but this is a big surgery so some down time while they learn their new balance and gait is expected. And then there are the meds they have to deal with too.
Have you seen the Required Reading List? Lots of info there on what to expect with amputation and recovery.
It's great that surgery is done and she is on the recovery path. Let us know when you get her home.
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
Welcome Cara and Polly <3 Our pup is 3 weeks out and for what it's worth day 8 was the worst and day 11 was the turning point. And she is SO much improved from week 2 to 3. You're right that this community is so great!
I wanted to offer, if you hadn't already found, that we've been working with a holistic vet who trained at this spot in Florida https://www.tcvm.com/ -- not sure if it is near you but he has been great so something to look into if you're interested in complimentary treatments.
Following and thinking of you and sweet Polly
Devo's Tripawd Story here
Alrighty, surgery is done and Polly is on the road to recovery! Polly is on some good meds roght now and probably seeing some pink elephants. Try and get some rest yourselves while you can.
Yeah, the first couple of weeks can be a little rough. Proper pain management , patience and pawsitive attitude go a long way to help make recovery relatively smooth.
Short leashed potty breaks and back inside for rest. Peeing amd drinking are important. Pooping and eating may be off for a few days.
Yes, your sweet Polly will be Polly again, but with a painful leg!! We have a member here named Hatteras who just returned to competing in dock divinity. Griffin was walking on 1 and 2 mile trails within weeks of his amp.
That said, not every dog recovers as quickly as these two, but point is they will recover at their own pace. The sparkle will come back!
STAY CONNECTED and let us know as any questions arise, okay? We look forward to jer homecoming and celebrating all the tripawd adventures the two of you will be sharing! The bond you already have will even be deeper than you ever thought possible. ❤
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!
I'm so so hoppy you posted here! That's awesome. How is she doing today? I hope things are good.
She couldn't be in better hands than the experts at U of F. If you gotta have cancer, they're a great place to get treated.
Keep us updated on how she's doing and let us know what kinds of questions you have OK? You may want to check out our What to Expect series of articles about bringing home a new dog amputee, etc.
Tripawds Founders Jim and Rene
tripawds.com | tripawds.org | bemoredog.net | triday.pet
Polly got to come home today. They kept her an extra day to make med adjustments as she was too drowsy. She was so excited to see us. We adopted her from a rescue 5 years ago and she has only stayed with family when we had gone away. I can only imagine that she must have thought we ditched her. She has mainly been sleeping today, but is eating and drinking good. They gave us a sling to help her but she walked out on her own and it's mainly a safety net. She had two accidents in the house which is not something she does, but we attribute that to the situation. We have 20+ acres and over 80 tortoises, and 8 lizards plus Polly, so she normally spends a bunch of time outside and lets us know if she's inside and has to go. In between the drowsiness of the meds, she has spurts of energy and wants to roam the house but we are trying to keep that tampered. She is a boxer/hound mix according to the adoption paperwork, we figure there's more, but never bothered with DNA etc. The Dr's sent off her mass and lymph and we should hear from pathology in a week or so. Really appreciate everyone's support and info, and I am sure I will have questions once my brain clears. Looking forward to us all getting some good rest at home tonight.
Yep, already thought of a question. How do I know if she's in pain if she doesn't cry or wimper??
Welcome home Polly!
Here are some blog posts on recognizing pain:
Pet Pain Signs in Dogs and Cats
How Dogs Show Pain and What You Can Do About It
How To Help Your Tripawd's Post Amputation Recovery Pain
The pain meds can do a number on them, going potty in the house isn't unusual during the early days of recovery. Eating and drinking are good!
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
So glad Polly is home!!! Home heals!!
Eating, drinking and mobile already?? Good signs!! Pooping may take a few days because of the meds.
Usually dogs come home with Gabapentin, Tramadol, Rimadyl and an antibiotic. After all the hospital meds are out of her system, the doses and frequency may need some tweaking. Karen gave you some good links of pain signs. Aou ds like things are pretty well managed now. The "accidents" are to be expected sometimes at first because of the meds.
She just had MAJOR surgery and has to adjust to three while on pain meds. Poly's getting all this figured out and is doing a good job at it! So are you!
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!
Polly is doing really well today. She tolerates the icing well. She/we had a good uneventful night sleeping. Because of her medication sensitivity, she is only currently on gabapentin. We have other meds in case, but she is a super med lightweight, so we are holding off unless it is necessary. She is not happy having to be carried down our few steps to go out, and last night after potty, she bolted up the stairs. We are trying to curtail too much of that until her incision heals, but she caught us off guard and went. This morning I went to get her some food before meds, with the thought that I would bring it out in the living room, but as soon as she heard the container open, she was right there a her normal feeding location. Of course after all these little adventures, she is tired and goes to lay back down, but we expected this. Just SO happy to see her behaving normally overall. Think the hardest thing we are going to be dealing with at the moment will be keeping her from attempting to resume some of her normal things until her sutures are out. She has already been eyeing her favorite chair, a big double recliner.
[Image Can Not Be Found]
SO that chair she was eyeing.....I turned my back for 5 minutes and this is where I found her.
Oops! The photo isn't showing up. We would love to see it. Here are instructions for adding images to the Forums. Let me know if you'd like help.
- Upload pics to a photo sharing site like imgur.com or your own Tripawds blog!
- Right click and copy the Image URL or just copy the image if you’re on a phone
- Return to your Tripawds Forum post and paste the image URL (or the image itself) in your post. It should automatically appear.
If you’d like help figuring out the process let me know.
I'm so glad she's getting her spunk back! Sure sounds like she's handling recovery pretty darn well.
Tripawds Founders Jim and Rene
tripawds.com | tripawds.org | bemoredog.net | triday.pet
Cara said
[Image Can Not Be Found]SO that chair she was eyeing.....I turned my back for 5 minutes and this is where I found her.
Thanks, I am having issues getting the photo to a place where this will work.
Think I got it... https://pollym.tripawds.com/pollys-post-surgery-day-4/
Hi Cara! You're soooo close! Now that the image is uploaded, all you need to do is tap on the image, choose "Copy" then return here to paste it, like this:
So adorable!
Tripawds Founders Jim and Rene
tripawds.com | tripawds.org | bemoredog.net | triday.pet
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