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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Our sweet Gracie Blue was diagnosed with Osteosarcoma in June of 2021 after we found a bump on her front right leg. We were devastated as all I had ever read about Great Danes was how they died mostly from gastric dilation volvulus (GDV) syndrome so we were very careful about her eating & playing habits. This was a shock. Danes are so big that typically the amputation of a front leg is much harder to recover from since they carry most of their weight in their chest. She was only 4 1/2 years old and we had insurance on her so it really was a no brainer. After the xray showed her lungs clear of any cancer, we decided to proceed with the amputation and followed that up with 4 rounds of chemo. We were told that with amputation & chemo, the average life span was 12-15 months. That was enough for us. The amputation was July 16, 2021. I won't lie, the first 3 weeks after the amputation were brutal. I really thought we had made the wrong decision. She wouldn't eat or really get up and around. We had to force her to go outside to potty with a harness. She was most definitely depressed. We switched her to chicken & rice and she slowly started eating again and weaned her off the trazadone and that was a world of difference. She slowly started moving around and trying to get used to not having that other front leg.
It's now January of 2022 and she seriously hasn't missed a beat. She's happy, probably more loveable now than before and is back to playing tug o war with her little brother Max (Black Great Dane). She also is back to stealing food off the counter. I guess you only need one leg to jump up on the counter. HA! I would do it over, over and over again. Even if we only get her one more year. I'm happy to help with any questions or just offer mental support. I know how hard of a decision this is for our fur babies.
@Minders and Gracie Blue, welcome! We are so happy you decided to share your story with us. Gracie is a true inspiration. Big dogs are often seen as not good candidates by old-school vets but as you can see, they can do just fine as long as they are otherwise healthy. You have a total rock star countersurfing Tripawd warrior princess there!
We would love to see some photos! I can tell by her avatar that she's one gorgeous gal. This is how adding images to the Forums works.
- Upload pics to a photo sharing site like imgur.com or your own Tripawds blog (https://tripawd...../supporter). Pictures and video have to be hosted (live) somewhere other than in the forums.
- Once the photo is uploaded somewhere, right click and copy the Image URL or just copy the image if you’re on a phone
- Return to your Tripawds Forum post and paste the image URL (or the image itself) in your post. It should automatically appear.
If you’d like help figuring out the process let me know.
Thanks again for sharing. Let us know if we can do anything to assist with life on 3. Your future posts won't need approval so post away!
Tripawds Founders Jim and Rene
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