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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Great update! I can totally relate to their action of trying to play or chew with the missing paw. J still tries to scratch himself with his stump. Poor guy. I must admit that your attitude through all of this is marvelous! You're seeing some humor, taking his comfort and security seriously, and loving him nonstop. While I've only been here for 3 mo, I've read many scary, emotion-laden recovery stories. Yours sounds stellar. Sam is in great hands and will recover very well. I'm happy to hear he's with his toy and allowing his people to comfort him (Jackson is the same way - he's got a big personal bubble). Keep the updates rolling!
~ Katy
ACL tear in right hind leg 12/5/12 and scheduled ACL repair surgery 12/21/12. Pre-op xrays revealed osteosarcoma. Amputation 12/28/12. Chemo (carboplatin) started Jan 10, 2013 and ended on April 5, for a total of 5 doses. He handled carbo like a champ! No side effects. We started metronomic therapy at his third chemo and have been also doing some holistic treatments. He's a lively, playful 10 year old huskie-boarder collie and a very proud member of the Winter Warriors! Our love. Our funny little guy!
fetchon3 said
Great update! I can totally relate to their action of trying to play or chew with the missing paw. J still tries to scratch himself with his stump. Poor guy. I must admit that your attitude through all of this is marvelous! You're seeing some humor, taking his comfort and security seriously, and loving him nonstop. While I've only been here for 3 mo, I've read many scary, emotion-laden recovery stories. Yours sounds stellar. Sam is in great hands and will recover very well. I'm happy to hear he's with his toy and allowing his people to comfort him (Jackson is the same way - he's got a big personal bubble). Keep the updates rolling!~ Katy
Katy--thank you for the kind words. This site has been a lot of help. I wouldn't say our recovery is stellar--it's just I think my natural voice is to find the humor in everything. It helps that (while in my case it certainly isn't cancer), I have had a number of orthopedic surgeries on my leg, including one to realign it. So...patience and humour in recovery, and knowing when to modify your expectations, they have kind of been drilled in to me by force. 
If anything, all of this has taught me how incredibly amazing animals are. I mean, I *knew* it in theory (I love love love the work of Rolling Dog Ranch/Farm), but seeing it in practice blows me away. I think about how slow and painstaking it was for ME to recover...and I still HAD all my legs. I just spent 6 weeks hopping around b/c the CUT my quads. Sammer had someone cut his muscles...and TAKE HIS LEG. 
Life is what it is...and rarely what we think it SHOULD be. I sound sanguine, but underneath, I am a mess...but that's the reason I picked the two Douglas Adams quotes I did for my signature. I think that's far more how a dog would view life. A gentle reminder, if you will. :p
"Let us think the unthinkable, let us do the undoable, let us prepare to grapple with the ineffable itself, and see if we may not eff it after all."
-Douglas Adams, Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency
"May I recommend serenity to you? A life that is burdened with expectations is a heavy life. Its fruit is sorrow and disappointment. Learn to be one with the joy of the moment."
-Douglas Adams, The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul
Sam really sounds like has a lot of spunk and drive! Even though he's scaring the heck out of you, he's figuring things out and learning how to do stuff on his own. You're doing everything right but it sounds like he has his mind made up, he's going on and living life! Nothing wrong with that at all. I hope today goes well while you're at work. Keep us posted!
P.S. Forget Kongs, cardboard is the BEST!
Tripawds Founders Jim and Rene
tripawds.com | tripawds.org | bemoredog.net | triday.pet
Hi all!
I just wanted to say that I started posting updates (and Sam's full bio) in a blog page, in case anyone wanted to follow along. It's hard to keep post/updates in like 16 places, so chances are I'll put most there, and link out.
For those of you interested in seeing how an almost-13-year-old, large breed, arthritic/dysplastic dog with a skin condition and moderate heart murmur handles a rutted, frozen tundra of a hilly yard 6 days post-op, I just posted a video today, and will X-post it here (if I can get it to work). If not, it's on the blog.
https://www.fac.....1258799043
"Let us think the unthinkable, let us do the undoable, let us prepare to grapple with the ineffable itself, and see if we may not eff it after all."
-Douglas Adams, Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency
"May I recommend serenity to you? A life that is burdened with expectations is a heavy life. Its fruit is sorrow and disappointment. Learn to be one with the joy of the moment."
-Douglas Adams, The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul
He's awesome! LOVE HIM!
ACL tear in right hind leg 12/5/12 and scheduled ACL repair surgery 12/21/12. Pre-op xrays revealed osteosarcoma. Amputation 12/28/12. Chemo (carboplatin) started Jan 10, 2013 and ended on April 5, for a total of 5 doses. He handled carbo like a champ! No side effects. We started metronomic therapy at his third chemo and have been also doing some holistic treatments. He's a lively, playful 10 year old huskie-boarder collie and a very proud member of the Winter Warriors! Our love. Our funny little guy!
Sam I can only think of one word to describe you:
D E T E R M I N E D !!!!!
Love the video and thanks for starting a blog about your wild life! 
Take it easy ya hear, you've got lots of good times ahead so rest up.
Tripawds Founders Jim and Rene
tripawds.com | tripawds.org | bemoredog.net | triday.pet
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