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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I adopted him on Monday, at a SPCA. Hes is two and half years old and is a bundle of energy. They say he is a border collie/Aussie X. It was love at first sight. 
From my understanding of the staff "Bear" ( trying to find a new name for him) came into the shelter as a stray with an old leg injury. I guess his hind left leg would drag on the ground. They tried to fix it, but with no luck. They decided to amputate it. The amputation was done early October. He loves playing ball especially with his new sister Freya. I never had a tripawd before. I cam across this site and found it be interesting. I guess I'm looking for any advice on what kind of food i should be feeding my new boy and what things i should avoid! or Even a name suggestion! Any advice is welcome.
Thanks!!
Congratulations on your new addition and welcome to the site. I had a tripawd that was older and lost her leg due to cancer, and I have a young tripawd that lost her leg from an injury. In my opinion, there isn't a lot that you have to do differently for your new pup. Only things I can think of are to look into joint supplements because have only three legs does put some extra strain on the remaining joints. You want to keep them healthy. The other thing is to minimize slippery floor surfaces just to make things more comfortable for your guy.
Adelaide is a young tripawd Husky, from an injury. Her amp was on 10/1/12. She has 4 sisters, Aissa (a senior border collie/chow), Maggie May (a puppy Great Pyrenees), Mathilde and Morrigan and 1 baby brother, Bagheera. We are all watched over by our angel Brendol, who was dx with OSA 1/30/13, amp on 2/6/13, and left us on 8/20/13.
You can read their stories at http://adelaide.tripawds.com and http://brendol.tripawds.com
Welcome & Congrats on your new addition. Karma had great suggestions so I won't add anything other than we do have a chat room so if you decide to come in click the link at the top and then scroll down to about the middle of the page where you will see a box that says chat loading. Don't hesitate to ask questions if you have any
Hugs
Michelle & Angel Sassy
Sassy is a proud member of the Winter Warriors. Live long, & strong Winter Warriors.
sassysugarbear.tripawds.com
07/26/2006 - Sassy earned her wings 08/20/2013
05/04/2006 - Bosch, Sassy's pal, earned his wings 03/29/19 fought cancer for 4 months.
"You aren't doing it TO her, you are doing it FOR her. Give her a chance at life."
Welcome, and congratulations on your new addition!
In general you will want to keep 'Bear' on the lean side, probably not to hard with a young Aussie cross! For food and supplement ideas check out our Nutrition Blog
: http://nutritio.....pawds.com/.
Karen
Tri-pug Maggie survived a 4.5 year mast cell cancer battle only to be lost to oral melanoma.
1999 to 2010
Welcome Lissette,
You will get tons of info on this site. He looks like a Red or Rusty to me.
Penny
Well, for now, we can call you LUCKY Bear! It sounds like you've found a WONDERFUL forever home!
Look t that face! OMD! What a cutie pie!
Let's se.....advice.....hmmmmmmm......love and spoil and then love and spoil some more!! 
And get ready for an incredible bond that is something very unique to tripawds!!
As already me tioned, you'll want toprotect hs joints and be dilogent as far as trying...TRYING.....not to let him do any harm ro his "good legs"! Knda hard holding a crazy youngster back!! He's foing to have a ball with you! Oh, and as he gets older, depending on his size, you may want t raise his food and water bowl...that makes it less strenuous if they're larger tripawds. I think traction /scatter rugs over hardwoods was already mentioned
Thanks fr brnging Bear into your heart and for sharng his journey with us.
Hugs to you, to Bear and to Freya!! And let us kow hs official name! It'll come to you...just keep lookingi to hs soul and the perfect name will be revealed!!
Sally and Happy Hannah
Happy Hannah had a glorious additional bonus time of over one yr & two months after amp for osteo! She made me laugh everyday! Joined April's Angels after send off meal of steak, ice cream, M&Ms & deer poop!
Welcome and congrads!
He is beautiful! Everyone has pretty much touched on the basics. Keep his weight down as extra weight can be hard on the remaining leg. Since he is a new tripawd I highly recommend massage therapy to help the muscles as they adapt to a new normal which is even different from when he had the bad leg. What dog doesn't like a good rubdown?
We will look forward to updates and pictures.
How about Red Racer?!
Luanne and Spirit Shooter
Spirit Shooter was a Miniature Australian Shepherd who was diagnosed with a MCT and had a LF amp 1/28/13 at 13-1/2 years old.
Shooter crossed the Bridge on 8/28/13, his 7 month ampuversary and two weeks from his 14th birthday.
Welcome! You are pretty pawesome for adopting a Tripawd, thank you! With that type of breed background, he's going to have a lot of energy and at times want to do more than he should. You may want to check out our Gear blog and ebook, Loving Life on Three Legs, which has lots of tips and suggestions for living a long and healthy life as a Tripawd. Dogs like "Bear" (thought of a new name yet?) are great at agility games, nosework and activities that keep their minds and bodies busy. Your pack will have a blast!
Tripawds Founders Jim and Rene
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