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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Hello everyone! We're so glad that we heard of this community.
We are here to share the backstory of our new rescue, Willow, who we rescued about a month ago. She is a young (about a year and 8 months) Shina Inu who was rescued from a puppy farm. She was a potential breeding mother pre-rescue.
When we took her home that day, she picked a corner in our bathroom as her safe spot to lay down so we set up her new bed, some toys, and water around her. We noticed that she had not gotten up at all to explore her new surroundings at all the first couple days which we chalked up to be timid with her new home. We also hsve been carrying her outside (we live in a condo with no fenced area) for that bathroom since she would not come out on her own.
About a week in, we took her out to the dog park to try and start socializing her in hopes that this could help her adjust to our home. It was at this time that we noticed she was running odd, almost bunny-hopping off of her back legs. We immediately made an appointment with her new vet to check out what was going on. Upon going to this appointment and getting x-rays done, the vet discovered she had a dislocated hip and a luxating patella on her left hind leg. She referred us to an ortho specialist nearby as she suspected surgery was needed.
Within the week, we had an appointment with the specialist to see what they saw in the x-rays and if they agreed with the last vet. It was at this time, that we also discovered Willow had a bowed tibia, most likely a birth defect. The specialist told us multiple surgeries would be needed to attempt to fix her leg, but they would be costly and not guaranteed to give her back 100% functionality in her leg. He then recommended amputation of the leg as the best option for her and us. This was a huge shock as we had no idea this was coming and that anything was even wrong with her pre-adoption (which we will discuss later).
Since the visit to the specialist, we have been putting a lot of thought into the best thing for Willow and we do think that amputation will finally give her the life that we wanted to give her when we adopted her. Learning all of this has really given is insight into why she seems to want to stay in one place all the time due to the discomfort and pain of her leg. We hope that she will finally be pain-free after this surgery and will start living a normal dog life after recovery.
Back to the rescue we adopted her from. It took about 2 weeks to get her pre-adoption assessment from them, We had reached out a couple times to the foster/owner of the rescue about her behavior and heard nothing back. We did not get any replies until we questioned the assessment, which showed that the vet they took her to (2 hours before adopting her to us) recommended x-rays on her leg. We have since reached back out to the rescue for more of her medical records and to see why the vet's recommendation was ignored. We are currently awaiting a reply.
Finally, we are most likely calling the specialist back today to schedule her appointment for pre-op bloodwork and surgery, so any advice or encouragement would be so appreciated. Thank you everyone!
Hi Chris, welcome to you and Willow! I'm sorry you had to find our community, how did you hear about us? We are glad you are here so we can support you every step of the way.
You are the second person in a week who adopted a dog without getting their full medical history from the rescue (through no fault of your own of course). All rescues have their heart in the right place by wanting to adopt out animals as quickly as possible, but it's so unfair to everyone when the whole health history isn't investigated or revealed. We hope that you have a productive conversation with the group to get the whole story and support from its leaders. Let us know how they respond.
Meanwhile, I just want to say that you are super awesome, really observant with dog behavior and took action right away. Good job! 
And your vets sound awesome! I love love love that your regular vet referred you out right away, and that the ortho vet was very upfront about the odds of success and expense too.
Often we pet parents attempt surgeries like this, only to result in amputation later on. While nobody wants to amputate if there's something that shows great chances of success, it's sometimes the best decision when the odds are low or the surgery is super expensive (when is it not right?!). We are dealing with a similar surgery decision situation with our Nellie, (but we knew that her leg was wonky before we adopted her).
Yes, once the bad leg is gone, dogs typically go on to live really awesome, happy, pain-free lives. Over time there is a cost they will pay for the compromised gait, but you can do a LOT to mitigate those issues. We recommend a full rehab therapy evaluation for every Tripawd, so that a pet parent can learn what is good activity, what isn't, and how to help their dog stay strong and injury free. Our Tripawds Foundation can even pay for the first rehab visit , so see if your ortho vet can line you up with a practitioner. If not, we are happy to help find one for you.
Meanwhile, try not to get too overwhelmed. Check out our Tripawds Recovery Shopping List , and our e-book Loving Life On Three Legs if you'd like, we have tons of info throughout our community. If you have specific questions, fire away, we are here to help!
Keep us posted and stay tuned for feedback from the community. Your future posts won't need to wait for approval so post away.
Oh gosh, sending you cyber hugs for all you are doing for your beautiful Willow. You have so much insight when handling ways to make ,her comfortable in her new home....physically and psychology.
Ditto Jerry avout how we often see dogs come here for amputation as a result of failed " repair surgeries". The amputation is one surgery, two weeks of recovery and then onto living a full pain free life on three! Not saying recovery is a picnic st first, but with proper pain meds, rest, rest, rest, Willow will soon be the dog ahe was born yo be..
As far as that 'rescue ' and "foster".....sorry, but things sound bery fishy to me and it seems you were misled on a lot of levels. Okay, I'll be quiet now.
We look forward to following Willow's journey. We already are members of Willow's Fan Club and cheering for her. Thank you for being her Earth Angel♥️
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!
Hello! I appreciate the warm welcome to the community. I actually happened to be on the Shiba Reddit page and one other person mentioned the Tripawd community. Since we've made our decision to go ahead with the surgery, I figured it was time to check the site out.
We are still waiting for a reply from the rescue (we don't even know if she got her distemper vaccine!) and we reached out to the clinic she was taken to and they simply referred us back to the rescue. Very odd.
It was definitely a hard decision to make, but the thought of putting her through multiple surgeries just really seemed wrong and like you said, could result in amputation anyways. Everyone we've talked to through our verts has been very supportive and shared some of their experiences whether it was a personal tripawd or ones that have come through their offices.
We will definitely look into the rehab situation as we kind of assumed something like that would be necessary even though she already operates without the leg in some capacity.
We will definitely continue browsing these forums and hope to hear back from more members of the community on our post as well!
Hello, benny55!
Appreciate your kind words and encouragement in the decision we're making. We're happy to say that we have the surgery scheduled for September 12th!
As for the rescue, I do agree that some aspects were fishy looking back, but they seemed like a reputable organization with plenty of success stories. Unfortunately, I think we fell into the very small part where things were overlooked, whether they were intentional or not.
Oh that's great you found us via Reddit. I wish we could be everywhere at once, it's good to know that people spread the word.
Well sorry for all the weirdness with the rescue right now. At least Willow found her way to the right people who will always be there for her. Glad you have a surgery date scheduled, and you have some time to prepare.
Yes rehab is awesome! It doesn't have to be an ongoing thing either. Usually just a few sessions to get her up to speed, and you too. It's so beneficial! See our latest post about rehab with Dr. Amber Callaway-Lewis:
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