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! I'm fostering a 1 year old mixed breed 26 lb puppy named Bizkit. She came to the shelter with a rear leg injury that occurred with her former family when she had run away, so it was untreated and remained that way until someone got her to a shelter. By then there was too much deterioration and amputation was necessary. Anyway, I had her for two weeks before her surgery while she put on some weight and recovered from an infection, which was great as we all got used to her!
She's doing really well. She wasn't really using the leg anyway so her mobility is already good. As the vet warned, our main task is to keep her activity level down. We are able to do that most of the time, but sometimes she gets riled up with my 10 year old dog (who is not a player) so the biggest "problem" we have is separating them during those times which neither wants to happen! Those times coincide with the medicine wearing off (she is on 300mg Gabapentin, 50 mg Tramadol and 25 mg Carprofen every 12 hours).
Anyway, I just wanted to introduce us. My adult daughter will be adopting Bizkit once she is healed, and integrating her into her home with lots of land and a 3 year old dog and a cat. We introduced the dogs at a park pre-amputation and it went well.
I do think I might take advantage of that reimbursement for a rehab visit, wondering how soon that should take place? There are many options where we live, and none where Bizkit's home will be (which is about 1.25 hours away).
One tip that I would share is her zen soft recovery cone. She is able to get around in it much better without bonking into things, and sleep better because it is more comfortable to lay down in. Also, she is able to use her paws on the outside of the cone to hold the things we are giving her to chew. It's not foolproof though, sometimes she attempts to lick her incision through the cone and I feel that that friction that might cause is not good for her wound or if she were to attempt to bite through to scratch. So she's only in it when she is 100% supervised which is pretty much all the time anyway! The rare times we leave her in the crate unattended she is back in the plastic cone.
My daughter and I are very happy to have found this resource!
Tara, Bizkit, & daughter, welcome! We are so glad you found us too 
Thank you for being connected with your shelter. Are you a volunteer or staff? Shelter people are heroes!
Bizkit is very lucky to have you and your daughter looking out for her needs. Yeah, keeping a young Tripawd entertained during recovery is tough! Here are some tips that might help:
How to Exercise Young, Recovering Tripawd Dogs and Cats
and
https://gear.tr.....ain-games/
Not a vet, but you might want to talk to the vet about adjusting her pain meds to every 8 hours. That would not only keep her a little mellower but also maintain consistent pain control so it doesn't have highs and lows. Pain that spirals is harder to bring down and control.
Thanks for the info about the Zen recovery cone! I know that our long-snouted dogs can't use them but for other dogs it's a real blessing not wear the old school cones.
I'm so happy you saw the info about the rehab program! Most therapists want to see a new Tripawd within 10 days after surgery if possible. If you'd like help finding one let me know, I'm happy to help and might even be able to find one closer to your daughter's place. Just message me your location.
Thanks for sharing! Your future posts won't need to wait for approval so post away.
@Tara_2
We had to gate off a section of our house while my dear Bitsy was recovering, as the other dogs are silly at times. She is also 7 years, so doesn't mind the peace and quiet.
Good luck!
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Bizkit is a mighty lucky pupper to be living her life to the fullest with siuch a .lpving family.♥️
Dont have anything to add to the support offered by Jerry and shannon. Jist want to welcome you and to say we're looking forward to following the adventures of Bizkit with your daughter😎
Hugs
Sally and Alumni Happy Hannah and Merry Myrtle and Frankie too!
PS....If you have hardwood or vinyl, but sure and make some pathways with non slip scatter rugs for traction 👍
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!
Just thought I would post an update! Bizkit got her stitches out today and is doing great! We did end up adding in some Trazadone a few days ago to help her stop obsessing/being too active about my dog. And I learned lots of enrichment, brain games, training to keep her busy but not playing. But today she has the all clear!
She's doing really well, getting around just fine (she wasn't using the leg much before the surgery so it wasn't much of an adjustment). She has a rehab consult in two weeks, we had to wait for my daughter who is traveling for business next week. Until then I'm excited to get to be able to take her out for some short walks and see her cute little face without a cone around it!
Wow that is TERRIFIC! And yay for you to learn about brain games. Aren't they wonderful? It's a really cool thing to do when a dog is a senior, too. So you're already well ahead of most people by learning this stuff.
I love that she's doing so well. YAY! Please let us know how the therapy visit goes, we can't wait to hear about it.
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