Caring for a Three Legged Dog or Cat
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Hi everyone,
My 4.5yr old great dane x rottie x boxer goes in for surgery on Monday (we live in Melbourne, Australia) to have her right hind leg removed. She was in at the vets (where i work) on Thursday to undergo what we thought was going to be a TWO but upon getting the xrays they found an anomaly in he bone, so we went ahead that day with a bone biopsy. The following night we got the news back that it is osteosarcoma. This all came as a complete shock and was not what we had been expecting at all. But i instantly told the vet i wanted the amputation done as soon as possible. Basically all Thursday and Friday i spent the day balling my eyes out expecting the worst and researching what i could, which is what bought me here.
Already even just from a small amount of being on this site i have found so much hope and useful information that it made it so much easier to come to terms with what has to happen to my girl. It's really encouraging seeing stories of bigger dogs coping really well as tripawds and seeing the stories of dogs that survive for years after amputation due to their loving owners and their amazing spirit that is unwilling to give in to such a horrible disease.
I have a great amount of fear for what the next few days, weeks and months hold in store for Molly and I, but I'm certain that she will cope really well with being a tripawd.
The concerns to begin with are the surgery itself, although i know i have a fantastic surgeon and really great vet/nurse team on board it will always be scary to have one of my pups undergo anything this major.
How she will initially cope with the first few days after surgery (and how i will cope with it as well)
How she will go with my 2 other dogs (a boisterous lab and a lab x kelpie)
Where we go from there, do we follow up with chemo (if we can afford it), how she would cope with that or whether we try something else
Oh and she is having a mid-femoral amputation, does anyone have any experience with this does it pose any problems or additional obstacles?
I will keep you posted on how she goes and i hope to hear many more inspirational stories and useful advice too.
Thank you all for making this easier already and giving me hope for my baby girl.
Amy and Molly
welcome to you guys, sorry you find yourselves here, but the support is tremendous when you are facing these types of challenges. sounds like you are being very pro-active, have a great base of knowledge and understand the 'big picture' of all of this, which is a majoy plus for molly. of course, it's heart wrenching and scary as hell for you, but that's part of the journey at this point.
there are many dane folks here on the site, and i'm sure they will jump in and give you some recommendations and suggestions, as they relate to big pups. we'd love to see some pictures of molly and your 'monkeydogs' (the quadpawds that never get enough attention because the tripawd is SOOOO spoiled...).
charon & spirit gayle
Life is good, so very, very good!!! Gayle enjoyed each and every moment of each and every wonderful day (naps included). She left this world December 12, 2011 – off on a new adventure.
Love Never Ends
Welcome to you and Molly. Sorry you had to find us here, but you've come to the right place.
For now, just get through the surgery and recovery. You can worry about chemo or not later. (I've seen dogs do great with or without it, so honestly I would be at peace with the decision if you ultimately decide against it, for financial or whatever reasons.) Yes, the surgery is scary but most dogs come through it fine. You can expect generally a 2 to 3 week recovery but all dogs are different. Usually by the time they are off the pain meds and the staples are out they are back to their old selves. The first week can be especially hard (mainly on you...) but stay positive and you will get through it. We are here all the time if you have questions during her recovery.
I know it's scary and overwhelming but we had an amazing 15 mo with our dog. Of course we hoped to beat it, and hopefully Molly will, but don't focus on the future too much. Focus on the now and trust me, you can still have LOTS of wonderful times ahead with your girl.
Hang in there and let us know how the surgery goes.
Jackie, angel Abby's mom
Abby: Aug 1, 2009 – Jan 10, 2012. Our beautiful rescue pup lived LARGE with osteosarcoma for 15 months – half her way-too-short life. I think our "halflistic" approach (mixing traditional meds + supplements) helped her thrive. (PM me for details. I'm happy to help.) She had lung mets for over a year. They took her from us in the end, but they cannot take her spirit! She will live forever in our hearts. She loved the beach and giving kisses and going to In-N-Out for a Flying Dutchman. Tripawds blog, and a more detailed blog here. Please also check out my novel, What the Dog Ate. Now also in paperback! Purchase it at Amazon via Tripawds and help support Tripawds!
Sorry you had to find us ... glad you did. This is a wonderful community. Very helpful without an ounce of judgement.
When we had to choose surgery for Baby (150 lb Mastiff) we chose to have the whole leg off. We wanted to be absolutely sure to get rid of that stupid cancer! Some docs are worried that our big furbabies will have trouble squating to pee and poop if they don't have a bit left for balance. Baby does fine - at first she stood and pooped like a horse. Then she gradually learned her balance and now is a champion pooper.
I have found many vets to be a bit pessimistic about our big girls. They actually do very well on three legs. I do think Baby took a little longer to recover compared to the small sprite pups (we call them 'brunch'). At first I was concerned that she was laying around too much and them remembered, she always laid around too much - it's a Mastiff thing.
Molly has youth on her side. She should do just fine.
Get lots of rest. We Pawrents worry so much and it's exhausting!
Best of luck.
Wags and Slobbers
Judy and Baby
Welcome to Tripawds. I'm sorry you are facing cancer and amputation for Molly. But as you have see you have found a very knowledgeable and supportive community here.
My tripawd was a little rear amp pug named Maggie, so I can't help you with size issues. But Maggie did have what they called a mid-femur amp. It is a bit of a misnomer as only a little of the femur is left. The explanation the surgeon gave was that it was an easier and faster surgery to cut the femur than to dis-articulat at the hip. I was fine with that approach as Mag always had trouble being under anastetic so the shorter the surgery the better. Muscle was wrapped abound the stump to protect it. You couldn't see the stump, but you could feel it, and you could see the muscles twitch when she moved it. She was a tri-pug for almost 4 years and never had any issues with her stump.
Maggie did not have OSA, she had a mast cell tumor in her knee. I don't know if that makes a difference with the choice of the surgery type.
Ask lots of questions- dealing with the recovery is easier if you know what to expect.
Good luck with the surgery on Monday.
Karen and the pugapalooza
Thanks for all the replies, encouragement and support.
I will try to get some pics up as soon as I getting organized enough.
We built a ramp today for our front steps as it'll be easiest for us to take her out the front than the back until she can handle the 5 or 6 steps at the back on her own.
We also took her for her last four-legged walk too which she loved, wobbled her bum the whole way ( I think one of the things I'll miss the most, as silly as that may sound). Really wish I could've got video of her wiggling before tomorrow 🙁
Has anyone found any of the harnesses really useful for a rear leg amputee? We don't go hiking or do anything too extreme it would just be to help her initially and up stairs, in/out of the car. Is it worthwhile getting a harness or would a towel be just as good?
Thank you all for the support and well wishes, I'll let you know how the surgery went tomorrow and if I can keep myself together I'll be lucky enough to be right there next to her for the entire procedure and when she wakes up (one of the benefits of being a nurse).
Amy
Hi Amy,
I don't know how long it would take you to get a harness, but you could wait and see if she needs it, or will wear it. In the meantime a cloth shopping bag split along the sides works really well as a temporary sling, and it has built in handles!
You can check out Harness information in the Gear Blog and see if anything sounds right for Molly. You should get some more input from others here who have used harnesses.
I got the Ruff Wear harness for Maggie (rear amp) but she was pretty little so it was not practical for helping her routinely (I had to bend over to reach it), but it was great to get her in and out of my truck. She actually didn't like it very much anyway.
I know several rear-leggers here use the Ruff Wear, including spokes-pup Wyatt Ray Dawg.
Again- good luck tomorrow, let us know how she is doing when you can.
Karen and the pugapalooza
Amy it was nice talking to you in the chat the other night, we're so glad you decided to post in the Forums. As you can see everyone is really super helpful!
My biggest suggestion is to take things one step at a time. Deal with the amputation surgery and recovery and then decide on chemo. Too much info at once can be so overwhelming.
Your comment about her having a partial amputation caught my attention. Why aren't the docs taking her entire leg? Are they leaving some bone or just padding?
I don't want to add more worry so I apologize if so, but it's been our experience that dogs with a partial amputation have more healing issues (this is especially true for front leg Tripawds). Oftentimes they'll bang the leg bone around too much and the incision won't heal. We've had a few dogs who had to go back and have another surgery to remove the rest of the leg. Our Wyatt Ray has a lot of padding left on his rear leg but it's not bone. He did not have a "hemipelvectomy" where the hip bone is removed, but the surgeon left enough padding there to give him comfort when he sits. You may want to ask your vet about their reasons for choosing this procedure, if anything just for your own info (and of course we would love to know more too, so feel free to share).
You'll find tons of enthusiasm for the Ruff Wear Webmaster harness . This post can help you decide if it's right for Molly: Which Harness is Right for My Dog? You'll find that a towel is awkward and a shopping bag is much better to use immediately after surgery.
Hope this helps! Good luck tomorrow.
Tripawds Founders Jim and Rene
tripawds.com | tripawds.org | bemoredog.net | triday.pet
Hi everyone,
Molly's surgery today went really well, and i managed to keep myself together to stay with her the whole way through the surgery. It was amazing to see the surgery and i'm so glad i did it.
She is an absolute superstar! About 5-6 hours after surgery she was trying to get up (i think she wanted to pee) and so i took her out for a walk and she barely needed any support (she did take lots of breaks and she was a bit wobbly and didn't end up peeing), i'm so proud of her and absolutely amazed. It was amazing to see her take it all in as when she woke up she was looking in the general direction of where her leg used to be and then i moved the blanket so she could see her new stump and i swear she looked at it all wide eyed with shock.
Karen i think she would accept a harness fairly well, she gets a harness for walks anyway and after having to try a towel today i think a harness (or the bag trick) will be much more helpful. Its good to hear almost everyone has the Ruff Wear harness even for hind leg amputees, i thought maybe the handle was too far forward to really be helpful but i think it will work well for us. I'll have to order one tonight. It's also great to hear Maggie did so well with a mid-femoral amputation.
It was good to chat to you too Jerry, everyone has been super helpful. I had actually decided that i wanted a mid femoral amputation before my vet even said they would prefer it (although i had seen a few issues as you mentioned), their reasons and mine (although i hope it doesn't mean i need to have it redone cause that would just be awful) are that it is much less risky in terms of the anaesthetic length, and the fact your getting right down to the hip where there are a lot more connections etc makes it more risky as well, and she looks a little more normal still as well. It was very interesting to see, basically the bone was cut fairly high up still and then the vet left a lot of the muscle etc and used that to wrap over the end and stitch it up. Basically it looked like some sought of stuffed meat that you tie up at the end (wish i'd gotten some photos). There is quite a lot of muscle over the bone so i'm hoping she doesn't have any problems with it. I'll have to figure out how to post a picture of her new stump. Hopefully she doesn't need surgery again to take the rest of it.
By far the coolest part of the surgery was seeing the vet put cautery on the sciatic nerve and see the entire leg twitch. We also sent of the lymph node to see if theres any evidence there that it was spreading, fingers crossed that comes back all clear. I've got her leg in storage at work so i'm going to figure out what to do with it, but at the moment i'm thinking cremation so that when she passes she can be whole again. I think that would be nice for her (it's a bit expensive though)
Thanks for all the support guys, i feel like i'm handling it fairly well (i did randomly start crying for a while on the way home but i'm so happy with how she is handling it) but we'll see what happens when she gets home and isn't quite so drugged up 🙂
Amy
Also how do i post pictures?? I'm fairly computer illiterate
My pics are coming from an iphone and i'm working on a PC ???? Confused LOL
Sorry, just searching through the gear page and noticed that the AST custom support suit information says that it is good "For hard-to-fit breeds with exceptionally long or short torsos, or a very thin belly compared to the chest," does the Ruff wear harness have issues with adjusting for dogs with thinner abdomens than chest? Molly has a very deep chest and her waist is tiny (think almost a greyhound type body), so now i'm worried it may not fit her. 
Also i just realised i cant order her harness tonight because i need to get the measurement anyway.
amylou said
...does the Ruff wear harness have issues with adjusting for dogs with thinner abdomens than chest?
Issues, no. With proper girth measurement – around the widest part of the chest behind the front legs – the Web Master harness should fit well. If anything, on barrel chested dogs, we might recommend going with the larger size if measurement is in between sizes, to accommodate for the larger chest. You might just then have to tuck in lots of extra webbing for the tightened belly strap, or cut it which would void the warranty
...i cant order her harness tonight because i need to get the measurement anyway.
Please note that as indicated on our order page in the Gear sop, Ruff Wear will not drop ship outside the U.S. for us. Please consider the list of international dealers we recommend first, or find a store near you.
Also how do i post pictures??
Here are instructions for adding pictures to forum posts. If you don't already share photos somewhere online, the easiest way may be to start a blog so you can upload them to your media library.
Tripawds Founders Jim and Rene
tripawds.com | tripawds.org | bemoredog.net | triday.pet
Hi Amy,
I'm glad to hear that Molly made it thought surgery OK. I like your avatar too- love black dogs!
One word of caution on ordering the larger Ruff Wear harness to fit a big chest. The piece of information they do not provide is how long the harness is; how it fits the torso. Pugs are big chested, short bodied dogs (mine are anyway). When I ordered the RW harness that fit Maggie's chest, it was way too long for her- the back strap was at her hips and so was not fastenable under her belly. When I got the smaller size which better fit her torso length I could not buckle the chest strap. I've had the same problem my pug boy- and he has a longer torso.
What I have had to do is cut and sew additional length to the web straps in the front to get the harness to fit. THIS VOIDS THE WARRENTY so is not a great solution. Also- my pugs weigh between 16.5 and 17.5 pounds so I wasn't concerned about the sewn parts breaking - I'm guessing Molly is just a bit bigger! Because she is bigger the torso length may not be a problem for her. I don't know if you can get the specs from Ruff Wear on torso length.
I don't think pugs were the first breed Ruff Wear had in mind when they developed this harness 
.
I hope you find something that fits Molly. If you have trouble with ordering though the international vendors I can order and re-ship to you.
Karen and the pugapalooza
Thanks for the help admin, I'll have a go at posting some pics soon. Also I've found a place here that i can get the harness from
Thanks Karen the avatar pic is actually Molly, and I don't think length will be a problem for the harness she's a longish dog, she's about waist height and 68 pounds but she's a skinny girl. I might just have to tuck in the straps like admin suggested.
Best news though I came to work this morning to take her out for a walk and she went out squatted to pee then did a poop and went running off around the backyard with me chasing after her yelling at her to slow down 
Now she just keeps wanting to get up and go out, so she's been out again this morning and went to the loo, she almost fell when she swung around to look at her stump though. Now it seems I'm going to have a problem trying to keep her quite! I'm absolutely ecstatic with how she's doing, I couldn't have asked for a better response from her. She's a 
Yea for Molly!
Maggie was a pug who had to spin before she could poop- she did it from the time I brought her home at 10 weeks old. After her amp she would try and spin and fall down. She didn't poop for at least 5 or 6 days- I felt really bad for her. Luckily she still had her right rear leg, and she liked to spin clockwise, so once she got her balance down she was spinning and pooping!
You have to get used to the increased speed- most tripawds do better with a faster gait- walking is harder for them.
Sounds great so far!
Karen and the pugapalooza
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