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 have just joined the forum.
My boy ( a king charles spaniel) had his front leg amputated 3 years ago. He had multiple operations to fix a defect , we thought we had finally cracked it then he somehow managed to break the " good bone" in his leg despite being on cage rest at the time !
He was unusually brave , even the vet remarked on it. which perhaps did not help things as he would bare weight on his leg straight after surgery's.
when he broke his leg he was happilly running about with it bending odd directions! no crying ,no fuss
So he had his leg amputated , the only problem he had after surgery was he had morphine withdrawal which was very unpleasent. Bless him, my little addict still gets excited when he goes to the vet.
He is now 5 and struggling, he was trying to hold his back leg up the other day so off we went to the vet. diagnosis was a sprained toe BUT the vet also said he definatly needs surgery on his knee or it will give up.
this is the second vet to suggest knee surgery but I am obviously not keen considering his past record.
so he is currently on rymadill and has been acting like a puppy for the first time in ages.
He has a puppia harness which helps him get around without falling on his face ( unforunatly my other dog keeps trying to eat it and they are not made anymore !) and did have a pushchair/stroller which he loved but it broke.
At the moment he is supposed to be resting but he feels so good on the painkillers he doesnt want to
Welcome and thanks for joining! Please be sure to log in so your posts appear immediately without requiring moderation.
If you don't hear from chuymaloney, be sure to check out Chuy's blog. Chewy had multiple rear leg surgeries after becoming a tripawd. The first few weeks were rough, but he's been doing great ever since.
Does "your boy" have a name? As a small dog he should manage another recovery well. Best of luck, we look forward to following his progress.
PS: A relative title to your topics and a few informative tags are very helpful for others reading and searching this forums.
Tripawds Founders Jim and Rene
tripawds.com | tripawds.org | bemoredog.net | triday.pet
hello
thankyou.His name is aubi , he is a small breed but is very long bodied, low at the front and heavy boned which makes things difficult for him. he also has elbow displacia ( though the vet said he had a good range of motion and no sign of arthritis there)
He had some problems with his remaining front leg last year . he was pushing himself around on his chest.
the vet suggested then that it may be his knee causing him to fall ,but as he was sitting up like a kangaroo I thought it was more likely the front leg
He had antibiotics (Incase he had a nail infection ) and I started making him walk on his harness to build muscle as I had been carrying him everywhere, he got better but still falls over frequently.
so my dillema is what part is causing him to struggle now, he is definatly better since he started his painkillers on monday so something must hurt.
I am worried to operate on his knee then find out it was the front leg causing problems
but on the other hand even if his front leg hurts would fixing the back leg improve his mobility
unfortunatly the painkillers cant be directed to one leg at a time so we could tell ....
Just so we can get a better mental picture of your situation, could you specify a few things?
- Which leg was amputated? Front right or front left?
- Which leg might need knee surgery? Rear right or rear left?
- Is the current problem limited to his rear leg(s)?
- Has he had and x-ray or MRI? Anything that might give you a better picture of whether this is a bone problem or simply a muscle problem?
hello
his front left leg was amputated, the back left leg is the one they have suggested surgery on as he has a luxating pattella.
no xray or mri just the vets observation that his knee is creaky and swollen.
Couldn't an x-ray to rule a luxating patella in or out for you conclusively? Might want to try the the Ask A Vet forum for this question, by the way. I know Pam (aka Tazziedog) has counseled others before regarding a luxating patella.
I certainly have my paws crossed that this won't be relevant, but in the case of my previous dog, Yoda, who had osteosarcoma, he was misdiagnosed for a long time, in part, because the vet was sure she knew his problem was tendonitis and we put off x-rays and just had him rest for months. Finally an x-ray caught the tumor. A luxating patella would be way better - but I understand why you're stressed and doubtful about the prospect of knee surgery.
Gerry has been a tripawd since 12/16/2009.
He was a shelter dog with a mysterious past and an irrepairable knee injury.
Videos and pics of Gerry's pawesomeness can be found at: http://gerry.tripawds.com
you can feel his knee popping in and out and they mentioned it was slightly loose on his 1st booster so he does have that,remaining front leg was xrayed a few years ago and he had a 1 cm "step" in the joint.
I've never had a 3 legged dog before so I dont know how mobile they are supposed to be , he is always falling on his face
i can sympathise with you on the vet advising rest and painkillers rather than doing something
part of the reason he lost his leg is because after his first surgery for elbow displacia he was still limping but the regular vet thought it was normal, When he got worse I had to insist he be xrayed and by then the damage was done.
it also turned out the vet could feel a gap in his ulna bone where it hadn't healed but thought that was how it was supposed to be and sent me off home after every appointment saying everything was going well.
jeanette said:
I've never had a 3 legged dog before so I dont know how mobile they are supposed to be , he is always falling on his face
I've only had one, and he was a left front amputee as well. He almost never fell on his face. Dogs have much better balance than that, especially on three legs. I'm wondering if there's an issue with the remaining front leg.
jeanette said:
it also turned out the vet could feel a gap in his ulna bone where it hadn't healed but thought that was how it was supposed to be and sent me off home after every appointment saying everything was going well.
You're kidding. Sounds like it's time for a new vet. Preferably one who will order x-rays and/or MRIs of the remaining legs - all three of them, just to be sure. You're never going to get this problem fixed until they narrow it down to exactly which legs need attention. I'd get that taken care of right away. Good luck!
When He brought the xray out he was pointing at some cloudiness in the joint ( that was nothing) & I was like what about the huge gap in his leg bone ! the ligament holding the bones together had snapped and the top part of his ulna had rotated up into his armpit. "oh I thought thats how they did this surgery"
After that I only saw the orthapedic vet even for stitches But they couldnt fix it and if the current problem is his other elbow they will not do anything as the outcome is very unlikely to be good.
I will get him an appointment with the orthapedic for some xrays
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