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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Now to respond to your situation...
We all had feelings like this and it's normal. When you go into the vet's tomorrow I'll bet they will see that he's having a normal recovery. Oftentimes we can't see the progress that others do.
Yes, he is sore. It's a lot of work moving around in new ways. But strengthening and stamina will come. Try not to expect too much at this point, or compare to others. Tre is on his own schedule and he will get there but he needs you to be pawsitive and strong to keep him encouraged.
For extra peace of mind, have him evaluated by a certified vet rehab specialist. Ask your vet for a referral, go for the eval and Tripawds Foundation will even pay for the first consult:
http://tripawds.....bursement/
Are your floors covered? If you don't have traction that will be another reason why he's having trouble getting around.
Hang in there, things do get better. Talk to your vet and let them know what's going on, odds are that in a week from now you'll wonder why you were so worried.
Tripawds Founders Jim and Rene
tripawds.com | tripawds.org | bemoredog.net | triday.pet
It's not uncommon for the lower part of the body to become bruised - when he's laying down, the blood is going to go to the lowest part, so is any swelling. Some gentle massaging will help the body to re-absorb the extra fluids.
Yep, I remember that roller coaster ride...it sucks!
He'll get there!
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
Yep, we've all said to ourselves..."what the 'expletive' have I done to my dog"!!! I remember sitting outside by myself sobbing, SURE we'd just made the biggest mistake of our lives. The first couple of weeks are so tough, and draining, you're sure you'll never make it through to the other side. But, just when you think you (and your dog) can't make it, it starts to get better. Do you have a harness for him? The Ruffwear Harness by Webmaster is a great one. I can still picture my husband literally carrying Nitro like a piece of luggage when he couldn't hop back to the house. We used it for months afterwards.
I know it seems hopeless right now, but things WILL get bettter. Please consider calling the helpline if you havent already. Talking to someone who's been in your shoes will help more than you know. I'm one of the volunteers, and I've called a time or two just to talk to someone who understands. Stay strong, stay positive, let us help you.
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
Probably the last word you want to hear is ...PATIENCE! And on top of trying to be patient, you have to remember it's very, very early in recovery from MAJOR surgery.
My Happy Hannah's first chemo was scheduled for two weeks after her amputation. I cancelled because she was having such a rough recovery. It took three weeks before I felt like she just was strong enough .
Just curious. Tre had his first chemo the day of the surgery, is that right? And he's scheduled for another one Tuesday? My Happy Hannah had four rounds of Carboplatin three weeks apart with bloodwork done in between. If Tre had chemo on 12/17 and is scheduled for another treatment 12/22, just curious what his treatment plan is.
You could ask your vet if delaying it another week coukd be okay. Is it possible that the chemo given during his surgery was given in his remaining rear leg and caused some soreness? Just throwing that out there. I think you were also going to ask sbout giving him more pain meds, or adding Gabapentin.
As already mentioned, every recovery is different. Some dogs recover faster than others. It took me a good three weeks before I started seeing Happy Hannah getting her sparkle back.
Hang in there! Let us know what the vet says. Tre will be back to his normal routine soon!
Sending lots of 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!
Thank you all so much again.....I can't thank you enough....so they actually didn't do his first chemo day of surgery because he had some diarrhea and they wanted to wait. Today was his first treatment. My husband and a friend brought him since I was at work. Good news it the vet and oncologist and another doctor all said he was doing great. Really?? Great?!!? The poor baby doesn't even want to go outside. But again, his spirits are really high. He's perked up, attentive, eager for affection....the only trouble is getting him out to potty. Like I mentioned before, he was stubborn before the surgery. He will literally hold his poop and pee until it falls out of him. LOL So while I'm still feeling guilty about doing this 'to him'....I am working really hard at staying positive for him. I'm a generally positive person by nature anyway...just seeing him struggle puts a pit in my stomach that I have to hide. We have a harness and a sling to help him but I am going to order him one of the Ruffwear ones...any thoughts on the best one for a rear amp? The one we have is nice, it's actually for for car rides to hook to seatbelts.....but it's been working pretty good. It was all we could find locally the day we were bringing him home. But it does take both of us to get him out since I can't hold up all of his weight with this little harness......I'm going to order one tonite if anyone has a recommendation which is the best 🙂 A million hugs to all of you for caring enough to answer and pull me thru this. I've been sleeping on the floor for a week now just so I can stay close to him. 🙂 It's worth the achy back!! 🙂
Also any thoughts on potty pads? I don't even know if I could get him to use them...but I saw that mentioned on some website while researching how to help him potty.....I wondered if in a pinch he would use one.....
Even though Nitro is a front amp and used a Ruffwear Harness by Webmaster, I know that Linda got the same one for rear amp Max, and it worked well. I'm all too familiar with sleeping on the floor! Nitro is 18 mos post amp, and our bed is still 4 inches off the floor! ( it will be until he's no longer with us) - my husband says he feels like he's camping. I don't have experience with the potty pads, only for when Nitro went through his incontinence issues. Hang in there, better days are ahead.
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
We use the Ruffwear Harness for Murphy...the handle on the top makes it great to help hold his weight when he's getting in or out of the car.
I tried sleeping in the family room with Murphy his first night home, but he wouldn't settle down - he kept getting up & trying to go into the other room. He normally sleeps in our room, in the hallway or in the bathroom so he didn't like sleeping in the family room and wanted nothing to do with it! I finally gave up and let him have his way and he settled down just fine in the bedroom.
Murphy had his surgery in April then didn't start chemo until June. We had to wait until we got the pathology back, which took almost 3 weeks. Then he had a dose every 3 weeks for 6 doses, with blood work on the day of chemo and a week later.
We've never used potty pads, but the blue ones that you can get work fine. They look like the same kind of pads we use in the hospital.
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
As Paula said we too used the Ruff Wear harness by Webmaster for our rear legged amp Max a 110# long legged German Sheperd. It proved to be invaluable. Definitely recommend it. It allowed us to help him up if needed and grab the handle very easily. We put it on him in the morning and left it on him all day taking it off him when he slept at night.
Linda & Max
I also just want to mention our Max fought us if we tried to "help" him with hopping around. He didn't want us holding on to him once he was up. So we'd help him up and then let him do it himself with us staying close so we could quickly grab the handle if we needed to when he went out for potty breaks. Don't know if our experience can help you but thought I would mention it. Sounds like Tre is doing well it's baby steps at this point so hang in there. Things will be looking up shortly once stitches come out and medication gets cut back.
Hugs,
Linda & Max
Glad everything checked out okay at the vets! YAAAAAAAAAY FOR TRE!!!
Just wanted to add a "ditto" ro Linda's thoughts avout the harness actually "hindering" him. We've seen that happen before where dogs just hate weari g it and basically refuse to walk in it or potty with it on. IF possible, and if you feel it's safe, perhaps you can just use it ro get him standing, then take it off and step away.
As far as potty pads, are you talking about the ones that have a "scent" on them so the dogs will pee on the pad? Otherwise, you can get lads at the pharmacy for humans ro place u der him should he have an accident.
My Happy Hannah was a rear leg amp and never could master going up the stairs to sleep in my bed. So, like many of us here, I just put a mattress downstairs on the floor and slept together that way. One of the best stories ever was a member here who cut the legs off her loveseat so her dog could still get up on the sofa!
Hang in there! You ARE doing this FOR Tre! He knows it and you will too!
Love!
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!
REALLY glad to hear the vets saw him and think he's doing great. Like I said, since we are around our dogs 24/7 we don't see the progress that others do.
Linda's advice to help him up, but not keep helping him while he tries to hop, is excellent. And we of course love the Ruffwear Webmaster as well.
As far as potty pads, based on my convos with rehab vets, I wouldn't go there. You really want to encourage him to go outside and start living normally again. Here's a great video that explains what I mean:
Tripawds Founders Jim and Rene
tripawds.com | tripawds.org | bemoredog.net | triday.pet
Good gravy! I'm certainly late to this conversation, but I'm thrilled to hear that Tre is doing great! Are there any updates?
pam
ps - Howdy and welcome!!
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
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