TRIPAWDS: Home to 23108 Members and 2159 Blogs.
HOME » NEWS » BLOGS » FORUMS » CHAT » YOUR PRIVACY » RANDOM BLOG

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.

JUMP TO FORUMS

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!

Please consider registering
Guest
Search
Forum Scope


Match



Forum Options



Minimum search word length is 3 characters - maximum search word length is 84 characters
Register Lost password?
sp_Feed sp_PrintTopic sp_TopicIcon-c
Gracie The Blue Great Dane ~ Her life with 3 legs
sp_NewTopic Add Topic

Member Since:
19 July 2021
sp_UserOfflineSmall Offline
1
20 January 2022 - 6:49 am
sp_Permalink sp_Print sp_QuotePost

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. sp_hearticon2 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.  

On The Road


Member Since:
24 September 2009
sp_UserOfflineSmall Offline
2
20 January 2022 - 7:37 am
sp_Permalink sp_Print sp_QuotePost

@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
tripawds.com | tripawds.org | bemoredog.net | triday.pet

Forum Timezone: America/Denver
Most Users Ever Online: 946
Currently Online: Christine_6, Julie_11
Guest(s) 334
Currently Browsing this Page:
1 Guest(s)
Member Stats:
Guest Posters: 1272
Members: 17864
Moderators: 6
Admins: 3
Forum Stats:
Groups: 4
Forums: 24
Topics: 18642
Posts: 257148
Administrators: admin, jerry, Tripawds
Tripawds is brought to you by Tripawds.
HOME » NEWS » BLOGS » FORUMS » CHAT » YOUR PRIVACY » RANDOM BLOG