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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My dog of 11 years was diagnosed with bonce cancer this past Monday. Her amputations surgery is tomorrow. I am a nervous wreck. All week I have been on a roller coaster of emotions. From ugly crying in the vet's office to trying to focus on the fact that she is still here and how grateful I am for that. And of course a lot of other messy emotions in between. To say Emma is my best friend doesn't even come close to describe how much I love her. She has been my one constant in the past 11 years. She came into my life on my 18th birthday so she has been with me pretty much my whole adult life. I can't imagine the rest of it without her. There is still so much to do. So here we are. Surgery is tomorrow. In less then 24 hours they will be amputating her front leg. And for the most part I'm ok with it. I know it will bring her great relief and she will not be in pain anymore. I think what scares me the most is that this now becomes real. My dog has cancer. My dog was just given an estimate to the length of her life. My dog. In combination with the roller-coaster of emotion I have been keeping myself busy planning. Reworking my budget and raising money for her surgery and chemo. Researching treatment plans, talking with vets, browsing for harnesses, working a full time job while also going to school full time. And of course, loving her, getting her extra yummy can food (that's a rare treat in our house!), bringing her to work when I can, and keeping her comfortable.
But now the big day is upon us and I feel completely unprepared. My head is spinning thinking of all the things I need to do to make sure she is comfortable and happy during the healing process. I'm trying to prepare for all the million "what ifs" that my brain is so good at creating. And the kicker? This is just step one. This surgery wont fix it. From here we move on to the unknown world of chemo and whatever that brings. And I know the in-between of all of that is the good stuff. The extra time I have with her, making memories, and just sharing life like we've always done. And that is what matters. I know this. I'm just scared. And sad. And angry. I don't want to lose my dog. None of us do, but here we are, trying to make the best of a super shitty, horrible, situation.
I've written all this and just realized I haven't asked a question, which is what I think this forum is here for. I have a million questions but I think if I started typing them I would write a whole book. I think I just need to say all these things to someone who hopefully understands. I think I'm looking for some type of guidance on how to navigate through this. Thanks for letting me ramble.
Hello and welcome. Thanks for registering, your future posts won't need approval.
First, breeeeaaaaaaattttthhhhhheeeeee. B R E A T H E
I know it's overwhelming. Most of us are here because of cancer, and it is not what any of us ever wants to hear. I am so sorry you are going through this, but know this: you are most definitely prepared because you found your way here, you posted and you have an entire community to lean on. So give yourself some cred for that OK?
Now, I know she got the diagnosis, and it's not a pretty one, but look at it like this: yes, they give you estimates and timeframes and longevity expectations and all that, but is there really any point to focus on that? Because in reality, with or without cancer, nobody ever knows how long they've got. We humans have "life expectancy" guesstimates but do we spend our time worrying about it? Nooooo. You just can live your life like that, and neither can your sweet pup, nor will she. Because if we learn anything at all from cancer, it's that it teaches us to slow down, focus on today and making the most of it. Our animals are GREAT teachers, all we have to do is watch and follow their lead.
OK, so first, have you seen Jerry's Required Reading List ? Or the Tripawds e-books ? Start there. Most of your questions will be answered but we have this awesome community who will also chime in shortly so stay tuned. And if you want to talk, we have a helpline you can call at 844-TRIPAWD OK?
{{{hugs}}} hang in there, we'll be here for ya.
Tripawds Founders Jim and Rene
tripawds.com | tripawds.org | bemoredog.net | triday.pet
Welcome and ramble on my friend!!! That's what we're here for!! Gosh knows we've all done our share of rambling and it's absolutely necessary to keeping you sane!!
xoxo
pam
Harmony became a Tripawd on 10/21/14 (MCT). She left us way too soon on 11/1/14.
"We miss you so much; our love, our heart, our Harmony."
- Pam, Ron and Melody, Meesha, Doublestuff and Mariah Carey
We have all been there so we get it.... you are not rambling... you are trying to process this HUGE shock of news! I remember that as well... my best advice can be take it one second at a time. Focus on the present and don't think too far into the future. That's what Emma is doing ... living each second.
Stay connected and close to us ... we wil support you through all of this!
alison with spirit shelby in her heart
Shelby Lynne; Jack Russell/Shiba Inu mix. Proud member of the April Angels of 2014.
October 15, 2000 to April 8, 2014
Our story: Broke rear leg in June 2013 - non-conclusive results for cancer so leg was plated and pinned. Enlarged spleen in September 2013 and had it removed and was diagnosed with Hemangiosarcoma and started chemotherapy. Became a Tripawd January 8th, 2014 and definitive Hemangiosarcoma diagnosis. Three major surgeries in 7 months and Shelby took them all like a champ only to lose her battle to cancer in her brain. We had 8 amazing extra months together and no regrets. #shelbystrong #loveofmylife
Welcome and ramble on! We are a little over two weeks post amp on our Max. Was it an easy journey? Absolutely not. But so worth every moment. Each new day brought new progress. Each new day got better. Each new day brought joy. And here two weeks later Max's sparkle has shone thru. Dogs are so amazing in this recovery. They adapt so fast. Lean on this community of wonderful caring and loving people. I could not have done this journey without them. The biggest thing this journey does for us humans is teach us to live in the moment as a dog does. I don't know how many tomorrows we have with Max. But you know what? It doesn't matter at this point. I take each day as a blessing and enjoy Max again being Max. He's loving life and we took away the awful pain of walking on that cancer. We'll start chemo next week and for now that's enough to focus on. Just take one step at a time and one day at a time. The things that helped us the most were the runners for slippery floors and the ruffwear harness . As long as they send you home with enough pain meds those two things stick out in my mind as helping the most. We were lucky in a lot of ways. Max never lost his appetite although we do add a can of tuna for protein in his regular dog food. We boiled up a lot of chicken in the last few weeks too to get his pills down him. Read a lot of the past posts from other people. I think I ended up going all the way back to two years ago and devoured everything I could. There is so much info on these posts. The people here have such great advice. No matter what you are experiencing at that moment someone else also had it happen to them and I learned how to deal with a lot through these forums. Try not to worry you will get through this!! Emma has an excellent advocate in you and everyone here is ready to help!!
Welcome to you and Emma.
Yes, the cancer diagnosis is crappy, most of us have been there. And there is not a lot on this journey that we can control. But one important thing is our attitude. A positive attitude is so important, especially when you bring Emma home. One reason I know that it is so important is that I DID NOT have one when I brought Maggie home. She was a stubborn little pug who was not happy with the changes in her life. She was unhappy, and I was unhappy... we fed off of each other. She finally came around, but I sure learned an important lesson.
Maggie had a different kind of cancer, mast cell, and after her amp her prognosis with chemo was 6 to 9 months (another mistake I made, I thought the prognosis was written in stone). She lived almost 4 years and did not pass from the mast cell cancer.
Maybe it will help you to look at things this way- what you are taking from Emma is a painful, diseased leg. What you are giving her is a change at more quality time with you.
And feel free to ramble- this is the place to do it. We all get it and are here to help.
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 guys so much for being so encouraging and supportive! I'm so glad that I found this site! I do need to take the lead from her because she has been truly amazing through all of it. Every day she has a great attitude and keeps going even though she is hurting and uncomfortable. She has adjusted and made the best of her situation and she loves every moment of her life. So I will be her side kick and her cheerleader and keep smiling with her. Thank you for reminding that I need to slow down, breathe, and just enjoy life with her. And I'm lucky to have this time with her. I'm lucky that her prognosis was good enough that I could bring her home that day. So I'm just t going to take this as it comes. Right now I'm finally home from work and am sitting on the dining room floor with her getting in some snuggle time. And we will deal with whatever tomorrow brings tomorrow!
Is the harness something that I will need? She's been pretty much walking on three legs already but I'm sure the leg not being there will throw off her balance some. From what I've read stairs will be a challenge, luckily we only have one floor and only three steps from the porch to the front yard. Will she need to be in a crate or would it be ok to just keep her restricted to a room? We have three other dogs that are larger then her so I do want to keep them separate until she's steady on her feet. Will she tire easily? She is super spoiled and doesn't really like laying on the bare floor so I thought of putting beds in each room so she could lie down there if she needed to. Am I getting ahead of myself again? Thanks again for all of your responses. Each one helped me tremendously!
Oh yes, we have definitely been there! Those first 2 weeks were by far the hardest. Murphy had his right front leg removed. That roller coaster ride was rough ~ I had so many doubts .. did we do the right thing? Murphy was 7 when he had his surgery and his prognosis was 12 - 18 months for histiocytic sarcoma. We did 6 doses of chemo. Well...here it is, more than 29 months since his surgery and he's still bouncing around! Murphy's 9 1/2 now and still loves to chase squirrels and now has a ground hog in our yard to chase...and jumps into the car, loves to lay out on the deck in the sunshine, bark at the other dogs, give us a hard time about eating, whatever...he can pretty much do whatever he wants lol We know that he has beaten the odds, but he's not the only one who has done so. The ruff wear harness definitely helps when we go anywhere - the handle on the top works great for control getting out of the car (Murphy weighs about 50 lbs).
We will all be here for you. For the good and the bad. Whether it's questions, comments or victories. And we love pictures 
Donna
Donna, Glenn & Murphy
Murphy had his right front leg amputated due to histiocytic sarcoma at 7 years old. He survived 4 years, 2 months & 1 week, only to be taken by hemangiosarcoma at 11 1/2 years 6/12/17
Read about Murphy's Life on Three Legs
The harness really helped us a lot. It gave us piece of mind that Max couldn't fall because we had a hold of him not to mention helping him up and down those first few days while his muscles adjusted to new use. Max couldn't get up by himself the first day and 1/2 home (he's a big 110 lb German Shepherd) and once we had the harness we were able to assist him with getting up and getting outside for potty etc. I think it gave him more confidence too. By day three he got the hang of hopping around but we still use it daily just because I feel better having it on him. Remember the first two days they are pretty loopy on drugs and not real steady on their feet. Especially if you have steps I think the harness would help you a lot. Paula (Dobiemom) lent us hers (she lives about 90 miles away here in WI) until we could get ours ordered and to this day I call her Angel Paula. It truly enabled me to feel confident when helping Max. And that's the thing about everyone here. They always were here to pick me up and tell me exactly what I needed to hear. You will not find a more supportive group than here. The fact that they have had to take this journey in the first place and suffer their own losses and still are able to come back day after day to help us "newbies" amazes me. I would keep her confined to a room with her bed in it at first. Max is actually my sons dog but since I retired in May we decided to bring him here for recovery. That way Bob is able to go to work and know Max has me with him. He comes here every night after work to sleep on an air mattress next to him. You will probably be sleeping with Emma for the first few nights so get comfy. I have a 4 year old collie and a 16 year old husky/shepherd mix so good idea to keep the others a little separated for a while. The 16 year old likes to stand in the middle of the room and I don't want Max to trip over him so I always coop up Ollie when we are going to take Max out so that doesn't happen and he has a clear shot to walk to the door for outside. Hope I helped answer some of your questions. Like Donna said the first two weeks are the hardest but even in those two weeks you will see amazing progress. And there may be a set back from time to time. But nothing you can't handle. We've had a few incision setbacks due to Max's going at 100 miles an hour. But we're dealing and each day it gets better. Sending healing thoughts your way for surgery tomorrow and an amazing recovery!
Hello ! Johnnie is now 7 yrs old. Was diagnosed at age 5, front leg for OSA.
The vets gave him 6 to 8 months. We are now 16 months post-op, and he is living his happy hoppy life. We did six rounds of Carboplatin and now follow up with immunity boosters and herbs.
I would definitely advise on the Ruffwear Webmaster Harness. This has been Johnnie's loyal companion since his stitches were out and he was cleared for walks outside of our yard. He is a 90-lb Golden Retriever.
Good luck and keep us posted!
hugs from Daniela & Johnnie
Our awesome Golden Boy was diagnosed for OSA in April 2014 in the proximal humerus, front-leg amp on 05/20/2014. Finished chemo (Carbo6) on 07/10/2014. Ongoing treatment: acupuncture + K-9 Immunity Plus ( 3chews) and home-cooked no-grain diet. Stopped Apocaps because of liver issues. Liver issues: controlling altered enzymes with SAM-e and Milk Thistle. October 17: started having seizures. Taking fenobarbital for seizures. April 18: started prednisone.
Whew, you sound so much better 🙂
I'll try to answer your questions. If she's not used to being crated, it's probably not a good idea to do it. If you can keep her confined to a small room that's ideal, especially with the other dogs, just so she can get some rest. They'll be curious about her and want to smell her funky smells when she comes home but for the most part dogs leave their pack mates with a lot of breathing room after surgery.
As others have said, the harnesses in the Tripawds Gear Store are great. They are ideal if you do a lot of activities with her, if she needs to get in and out of cars a lot, that sort of thing. If she's mostly a house dog and doesn't go anywhere very often, you may not find them as useful. But we love ours, especially when traveling with Wyatt Ray . Do check out this recent blog post, "What a Harness Will and Won't Do."
Will she tire out easily? Well that all depends on how good you are at managing and monitoring her activity. Usually dogs will get tired when they do too much too soon. So take things s l o w and she should be fine.
One hop at a time, you're getting there!
Tripawds Founders Jim and Rene
tripawds.com | tripawds.org | bemoredog.net | triday.pet
Everyone has given such good advice already, I really have nothing more to add. It's a scary time right now, no doubt about it. It will be challenging for awhile, but so worth it in the end. At the beginning I never thought I'd be strong enough to get through it, but my Dobe Nitro showed me the way. He's been a Tripawd for 15 months now, and is doing so well. Good luck, stay positive and keep in touch.
paula and nitro
Nitro 11 1/2 yr old Doberman; right front amp June 2014. Had 6 doses carboplatin, followed by metronomic therapy. Rocked it on 3 legs for over 3 years! My Warrior beat cancer, but couldn't beat old age. He crossed the Bridge peacefully on July 25, 2017, with dignity and on his terms. Follow his blog entitled "Doberman's journey"
"Be good, mama loves you".....run free my beautiful Warrior
Online
Gosh, just catching up! All I can do is say DITTO to everyone's great responses.
As you can see, YOU ARE NOT ALONE! We understand like nonothers can. First hand experience is a great resource! We are here, okay?
Update when you can.
Sending lots of love to you and Emma!
Sally and Alumni Happy Hannah and Merry Myrtle too
PS...EAT LOTS OF CHOCOLATE!! Really! It helps!!
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!
Surgery went well and she is home!!!!! I picked her up this morning and pretty much have been sitting with her all day. She ate like a champ tonight and I got her outside to go potty. I wish I could say those two things went smoothly but we'll get a rhythm soon enough. I think the hardest thing is figuring out a routine with her and my other three dogs. I think I've got a plan for the morning that should help things go much smoother....so fingers crossed!
So happy that surgery went well and she is home! Now comes recovery....keep is posted
paula and nitro
Nitro 11 1/2 yr old Doberman; right front amp June 2014. Had 6 doses carboplatin, followed by metronomic therapy. Rocked it on 3 legs for over 3 years! My Warrior beat cancer, but couldn't beat old age. He crossed the Bridge peacefully on July 25, 2017, with dignity and on his terms. Follow his blog entitled "Doberman's journey"
"Be good, mama loves you".....run free my beautiful Warrior
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