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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Well, I don't know if my mom is a member of this site or not and I can't get ahold of her so I'm going to ask you guys. Sorry if I posted this in the wrong section. My dog, Flint, just had this left hind leg amputated. He was doing really good, he healed up nicely and everything was going great up until about a week ago. He's been experiencing charlie horses(sp?) and he freaks out. I googled it and it returned a couple of results and that's how I ended up here.
Well, my question is... What can I do to help him? My mom took him to the vet yesterday and they put him on a muscle relaxer but he's still getting them (less often) but that isn't really the point. Is there anything I can do to calm him down, something to do after it happens to make him feel better. He just stares at me with pain in his eyes and I feed him bananas because potassium helps with muscle spasms, I guess. He just had one while I was typing this and he's beginning to get aggressive. Any help would me appreciated.
Thanks! ^_^
I'm sorry to hear about your puppy and his leg cramps. Emily didn't have that problem so I really don't know what to suggest except to say that when we people have leg cramps sometimes rubbing the leg and applying heat can really help. Good luck and I hope someone more knowledgable will see your post soon.
Debra & Angel Emily
Debra & Emily, a five year old doberman mix, who was diagnosed with an osteosaecoma. She had a right rear leg amputation on May 19, 2009. On November 10, 2009 she earned her wings and regained her fourth leg.
alisonmaryyy said:
I don't know if my mom is a member of this site or not ...
She is now, thanks for joining! This forum is the perfect place to share your story, unless you care to start a blog.
The first thing you can do to help Flint, is search these forums for helpful topics and review the Featured Tripawds Blogs for more information. Specifically, you might find Jerry's top ten dog amputation Q&A quite helpful.
The spasms you think are "charlie horses" might very well be phantom pain . Be sure to review these tips for managing phantom pain in dogs and ask your veterinarian about Gabapentin. We're not vets, but long term use of muscle relaxers cannot be good. A warm compress and ice pack therapy can also help relieve pain and speed recovery.
Please consider telling us more about Flint so members can be of better assistance with their replies. Was his amputation due to cancer? Was it an accident? How old is he? What breed?
Thanks again for joining. Best wishes for a speedy complete recovery!
Tripawds Founders Jim and Rene
tripawds.com | tripawds.org | bemoredog.net | triday.pet
if it is truly a muscle spasm and NOT phantom pain , for people anyway, massage TOWARD the heart and I think heat. I get horrible leg cramps and now have to (thanks US) order quinine from Canada since they won't go off label usage here for it anymore and I didn't want to go catch malaria. But I wouldn't give it to a dog unless your vet says.
What makes you think muscle cramp? Can you see it knotting up? gabapentin appears to be the drug of choice although we have not used i t yet. We did use tramadol until the realization it was turning Magic's personality into stranger dog….come back often and fill us in on the background!!
WELCOME TO YOU…and do look into getting a Ruffwear Harness!! it will help sooooo much
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