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.
Join The Tripawds Community
Learn how to help three legged dogs and cats in the forums below. Browse and search as a guest or register for free and get full member benefits:
Instant post approval.
Private messages to members.
Subscribe to favorite topics.
Live Chat and much more!
Register
Log In
Members
Add Topic
Offline
Hi there,
I adopted Goose in April of this year (~5 months ago). He was a bit skittish when I brought him home, we quickly found out he was not a fan of dogs, LOVED other cats, and was VERY clumsy. But, I figured he was just a 3 month old kitten still growing into his big paws and big ears so it made sense that he was a bit clumsy.
Unfortunately at 8 months old (about a month ago) Goose had a rather mysterious accident with a TV dinner tray and ended up having his left hind leg amputated due to a badly splintered spiral fracture in his femur. But the adventure did not stop there because about a week ago, not even 1 month after his amputation, he took a fall and badly fractured the femur in his remaining hind leg.
After rushing him to an ER vet it was determined that the only option given was surgery to attempt to mend the fracture. I decided to have Goose looked at by an orthopedic surgeon and the doctor said that he could put the bone back together with the help of a plate, a screw, and a pin, however there would be a 30-40% chance that the fix would not hold and his leg could fall apart again within the first few weeks of healing if I could not keep him rested enough.
I decided to go forward with the surgery and give my little guy one last chance to be able to live his life. He is still just a baby after all and has had some really rotten luck. I felt that he needed to be given the opportunity for his luck to change.
He only just got the surgery yesterday so we have yet to start our long, 10 week recovery journey and there will be a lot to figure out but my hope has not been lost and a full recovery is all I can think about.
If there is any advice that you are willing to share for this circumstance, please do!
Thank you for reading and i hope to be posting positive updates soon
Welcome, Sarah. Your future posts will not require approval.
What an ordeal poor little Goose has been through! I wish you guys the best for a successful recovery. I can only imagine how hard it will be to keep a kitten quiet for 10 weeks.
The only advice I can think to offer is to not be afraid to use medication to help him during his recovery. I've seen some pet parents here hesitant to use all of the meds they've been sent home with out of fear of over medicating. I certainly can appreciate that fear. With the odds your vet gave for reinjury during recovery, I would take the advice very seriously that Goose needs to rest.
Good luck!
Online
Sarah I'm so glad you came here after seeing Lulu Kitty's remaining leg surgery story.
When is he coming home? My best advice is exactly what @mischief recommended. Good pain medication is the key to a smooth recovery. Cats get the short end of the pain control stick a lot of the time so it's important to make sure Goose gets good relief. See:
Best Cat and Dog Amputation Pain Medications in 2022
Also, although it's not commonly thought of by general practice vets, animal rehab therapy makes a huge difference after any recovery but especially this type of challenging one. I would line up an appointment for Goose as soon as possible, since their waiting lists tend to be a little long. And Tripawds Foundation can pay for your first rehab visit so that's one less bill at a time like this.
Did you happen to see our Three Legged Cats book? That's super helpful, like our Tripawds Recovery Shopping List and our posts about three-legged cats for some extra inspawration.
Also if you want to reach out to Lulu's people you can message them via their profile and using our Private Messaging system.
@mischief and @jerry Thank you so much for the advice! I am really going to advocate for him and try to get him some good pain medication, especially since he tends to be quite a fussy little fella. Hopefully he will get to come home tomorrow, however they are still waiting for him to pee and since he also has a history of a UTI and bladder crystals (but no blockages and I have been able to maintain with urinary health wet food) I wanted him to be in professional hands for at least one last night in case anything happens.
I really appreciate all of the advice and resources you all provided and will definitely be keeping them in mind! Thank you again, and if you happen to think of anything else please just le me know.
Update:
Goose got home a few days ago and he is doing much better than expected! He is perky and loves attention but sleeps most of the day as he should be. His incision looks fantastic, minimal bruising and the swelling has already gone way down. Goose can move around a bit on his own mostly by dragging himself with his front legs or sometimes even balancing on his front legs and only putting very minimal weight on his back leg just to get to and from the litter box. He is even switching which side he is laying on all on his own which the vet did not anticipate for another week or so!
I still worry about him moving around too much (even though he is in a fairly small crate, sleeps almost all day, and only spends time moving when he needs to go to the bathroom), he is a rather floppy boy and will bend over his leg in a weird way or sleep in a weird position on top of the leg which gets me worried. I adjust him out of those positions when I can and as long as he is not in pain then I assume he must be alright.
Using the litter is still a bit of a hassle, he doesn't quite like being supported or watched over unless he really has to go and will finally let me help him but he will do it all on his own just by laying down, however.... that does lead to quite a mess and a full wipe down of him and his crate; it is something we are working on though. Although there are many struggles and I am completely exhausted, I am so happy to have him doing well and I feel like he does just a little bit better every day 🙂
Yay Goose is rockin recovery! Wow. He has such a spirit and determination, and you sound very centered and calm. GREAT job to both of you!
If you'd like to share photos, this is how adding images works.
Basically you need to:
- upload a photo somewhere like your own Tripawds blog, or a public image hosting site like Imgur.com or Imgbb.com
- then copy the image URL (or just tap the image and copy it if you're on a mobile device)
- return here, and paste the image into your forum post.
Hope that makes sense. Let us know if you'd like help!
Just catching up on uour precious Goose (love the name)!!!
Yes, you are already having some victories and that's great news this early on!! Seeing him get a "little bit better eceryday" is a HUGE milestone. Good job 0f recognizing that!
No try and get some rest yourself, okay? A good n9ght's sleep does wonders!
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!
Update #2:
It has been almost 1 month since Goose's surgery for his remaining hind leg. He had his first recheck appointment since the operation about a week ago and the doctor seemed very impressed with Goose's progress! Although Goose had always been a bit nervous at a vet visit, since his surgery he now has a proper fear of the vet and all he wanted to do was hide his face in the blanket. It was a bit shocking to see him this way since he had never done that before, but in all honestly I do not blame him, he has had quite a lot of traumatic things happen to him in settings such as those.
In other news, Goose is now using his leg fairly regularly and without too much difficulty. He is still confined to a crate for another 2 months but he comes to work with me every day and just hangs out and mostly sleeps in his crate all day, all of my coworkers love him. Occasionally I will let him out to roam my small office for a few minutes and he loves wandering about and scratching at the carpet. But when he tries to dart across my office in nearly a full sprint I know it is time to return to the crate! It makes me happy to see him with so much energy and gaining strength back but it is far too early for any sprinting 
we are looking forward to many more happy days to come and for that I am so thankful, not many are quite as lucky we are
Goose is such a remarkable kitty and you are a remarkable and loving and devoted caregiver for him! 👍
I was so thrilled to read how well he’s doing. Goodness knows it has been quite a catastrophic term for him. To know he is healing so well and is happy put a great big smile on my face
I had to chuckle a bit when you said Goose put his head under the blanket at the vet to try to hide. I don’t blame him one bit. People will often ask if their dog or cat will be mad at them because they did the amputation. Our responses that “Nono, they will not be mad at you but they sure will be hold a grudge against the vet”! Goose just proves that!
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!
@benny55 Thank you so much for keeping up with our story and showing such great support! Your comment about holding a grudge against the vet made me laugh a bit because it is so true! I appreciated that very much 🙂
Oh wowweeee! Go Goose go! You are doing it!
Thanks for letting us know he's recovering nicely. A remaining leg surgery is not an easy thing to go through but you are doing it and the end of the tunnel is so close!
I forgot to ask, did he get an external fixator like Lulu did? Also, who was the vet who did the surgery?
Hello everyone!
So sorry for the delayed update and response! @jerry to answer your questions: thankfully Goose did not need and external fixator and could just get by with several screws, a plate, and a pin. We are also very lucky to be working with the talented Dr. Dennis Socha at the VCA Colonial Animal Hospital in Ithaca NY!
Additionally, Goose just had his second re-check appointment where they took an x-ray to determine how his leg was healing. With this appointment we are very happy to say that Goose's leg is essentially fully healed and he was able to have his pin removed! The doctor still wants Goose to be well rested for about another month just so his body can put the final healing touches on the leg after the pin removal, but hopefully Goose can be cage free just in time for his 1st birthday!
Thank you to all who have read and kept up with Goose's story for the past couple of months! Having a place to share this unthinkable journey has really helped us to get through this process 🙂
WOW that is amazing he didn't need the fixator! AND that the pin was able to come out. WHEEEE!
We can't wait for Goose's first birthday celebration! Now that's going to be a party 
Thanks for mentioning Dr. Socha. Feel free to share your experience with him in our Veterinary Specialists Referrals Discussion.
1 Guest(s)
