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 am currently fostering a 5 month old pit bull who's front leg was amputated 5 days ago. She was a victim of abuse and her leg was damaged beyond repair. I was looking for some useful suggestions on caring for her. I am considering adopting her, but I live in a 3 story home and I'm concerned that the stairs would cause too much wear and tear on her remaining front leg, although I can't imagine she could find a more loving home than mine
. We live on a beach so she would spend much of her time there, which I think may be beneficial. I'm just looking for any advice from people that have dealt with this before.
I would include a pic of her (she's adorable) if I could figure out how to do it....
karenrph said
I was looking for some useful suggestions...
Welcome, you came to the right place! You will find plenty of tips in Jerry's Required Reading List and the Tripawds e-books .
Your future forum posts will not require moderation and we have moved your topic here to the Share Your Story forum where more members will likely see it.
I would include a pic of her (she's adorable) if I could figure out how to do it....
Here are detailed instructions for adding photos to forum posts. If you do not already share photos online somewhere, you can start a free Tripawds blog and upload them there.
Tripawds Founders Jim and Rene
tripawds.com | tripawds.org | bemoredog.net | triday.pet
Welcome to yo and your up! She's mighty luck to have you as an advocate!
Yeah, the vond between a tripawd and her humanis pretty darn strong! I love "failed fosters"...especialy whenit comes to tripawds!
The first tw weeks can be pretty tough. Yojnger dogs usually recover faster though.
My tavlet is freezing up...will ave to write more in a.m.
We are here by your side, okay?
Hugs to you !
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!
Hi Karen
Welcome to Tripawds - this is a wonderful and supportive community where you can go to get support, advice or just "hang out" with a wonderful group of caring and compassionate people.
My Lab, Tucker, had his right front leg amputated 8 months ago because of an invasive sarcoma. Tucker is now ten years old and is loving his life as a Tripawd.
Please read all the tips in the information posted by Admin aka Jim. All of the answers to your questions will be there.
It will be very important for your young pup to have PT (either from professionals or at home) to build up her core strength to prevent injuries. As well, be careful about her jumping from couches, beds etc - an injury that a dog with four legs can easily overcome is much more difficult for a tripawd to recover from.
There are several blogs on this site from pawrents who have young pups who are tripawds due to injury or from birth - these blogs will be an invaluable source of information for you. Check out Maverick, Tanner, Adelaide!
Looking forward to reading many more updates on this lucky young pup - and finding out what her name is!
Hugs
Linda and Tucker
Welcome! What a cutie, can't wait to see more pictures of her. You will be amazed at how great she will do. My little guy Tanner became a tripawd at 1. He was found after being hit by a car and luckily the high kill shelter he went to saw how sweet he was and decided to give him a chance. He spent 5 months in a foster home before he went up for adoption and I've had him since February. I can tell you he's one of the fastest dogs at the dog park and he just hiked up a mountain Sunday for the first time and did absolutely fantastic. I can't wait to take him to the beach! We don't have stairs in the house, but you can always put a gate up to keep her from running up and down them on her own....sometimes its hard to keep a young dog down lol. You will find everything you need on this site to take care of her, and if you have a question about anything, you have a ton of people right at your fingertips to get advice from (that's one of the greatest parts of being here).
I'm curious too what her name is!
Mom to Tripawd Angels Jake (2001-2014) and Rosco (2012-2015) and Tripawd Tanner. “Whatever happens tomorrow, we had today; and I'll always remember it”
Welcome to Tripawds.
My little tripawd was a pug, rear amp and a very stubborn girl. She had trouble going up stairs mostly because she was so little. Your foster should be fine going up stairs, and I bet will learn down without too much trouble. I like the idea of baby gates so you can regulate her activity. In general rear amps have trouble going up, and front amps have trouble going down....that is if they have trouble. In young tripawds who have a long life in front of them the 'trouble' you are most likely to have is controlling their activities to limit injures and long term wear and tear.
The only other thing I have to add is I hope you are a failure 
. Tripawds are awesome!
Karen and Spirit Maggie
Tri-pug Maggie survived a 4.5 year mast cell cancer battle only to be lost to oral melanoma.
1999 to 2010
elizabeth said
Welcome! What a cutie, can't wait to see more pictures of her. You will be amazed at how great she will do. My little guy Tanner became a tripawd at 1. He was found after being hit by a car and luckily the high kill shelter he went to saw how sweet he was and decided to give him a chance. He spent 5 months in a foster home before he went up for adoption and I've had him since February. I can tell you he's one of the fastest dogs at the dog park and he just hiked up a mountain Sunday for the first time and did absolutely fantastic. I can't wait to take him to the beach! We don't have stairs in the house, but you can always put a gate up to keep her from running up and down them on her own....sometimes its hard to keep a young dog down lol. You will find everything you need on this site to take care of her, and if you have a question about anything, you have a ton of people right at your fingertips to get advice from (that's one of the greatest parts of being here).I'm curious too what her name is!
Her new name is Violet, we don't use her former name because its the past and she is moving on and not looking back! She is doing amazingly well and her staples come out on Monday!
benny55 said
Welcome to yo and your up! She's mighty luck to have you as an advocate!Yeah, the vond between a tripawd and her humanis pretty darn strong! I love "failed fosters"...especialy whenit comes to tripawds!
The first tw weeks can be pretty tough. Yojnger dogs usually recover faster though.
My tavlet is freezing up...will ave to write more in a.m.
We are here by your side, okay?
Hugs to you !
Sally and Happy Hannah
Thanks! My current dog is a failed foster, we will see about her. I love her to death, but feel like I can do a lot of good fostering and I know it would be easy to find her a good home. I'm only 2 days into this, give it a week and I may "fail" again!
She's a lucky girl so far. Absolutely adorable. Good luck on a continued good recoup.
Esther and her Snoop
Welcome to Tripawds! Your foster pup looks like a cutie patootie!
Our own Tripawds Spokesdog Wyatt Ray was also a victim of abuse, which is how he lost his rear leg. I'd say his biggest challenge was more psychological than anything; because he had such a difficult start in life, he had a lot of behavioral issues that were very challenging for all of us. But like all dog's he's resilient, as I'm sure Violet is too.
Walking in sand is terrific! Be sure to check out our Gear and Downloads blogs, we've got lots of tips about rehab therapy in there. A good, regular rehab program is so beneficial, and a great way to bond together!
Tripawds Founders Jim and Rene
tripawds.com | tripawds.org | bemoredog.net | triday.pet
trituck said
Hi KarenWelcome to Tripawds - this is a wonderful and supportive community where you can go to get support, advice or just "hang out" with a wonderful group of caring and compassionate people.
My Lab, Tucker, had his right front leg amputated 8 months ago because of an invasive sarcoma. Tucker is now ten years old and is loving his life as a Tripawd.
Please read all the tips in the information posted by Admin aka Jim. All of the answers to your questions will be there.
It will be very important for your young pup to have PT (either from professionals or at home) to build up her core strength to prevent injuries. As well, be careful about her jumping from couches, beds etc - an injury that a dog with four legs can easily overcome is much more difficult for a tripawd to recover from.
There are several blogs on this site from pawrents who have young pups who are tripawds due to injury or from birth - these blogs will be an invaluable source of information for you. Check out Maverick, Tanner, Adelaide!
Looking forward to reading many more updates on this lucky young pup - and finding out what her name is!
Hugs
Linda and Tucker
Thanks for the info. I'm having issues navigating the site, how do I find the blogs you suggested?
BTW- my last dog was a lab, I was lucky enough to have her in my life for a little over 16 years 
karenrph said
I'm having issues navigating the site, how do I find the blogs you suggested?
Drop by the chat if you're online now and we'll be happy to help!
Tripawds Founders Jim and Rene
tripawds.com | tripawds.org | bemoredog.net | triday.pet
karenrph said
I'm having issues navigating the site, how do I find the blogs you suggested?
The main navigation menu in the black bar under the header banner on every page has very helpful links, including to the Tripawds Blogs Directory. There you will find the most recently updated blogs. You can also browse all the blogs, or search by blog name if you know it. You can also browse or searhc the Members Directory to see who might have blogs you want to read, or search all blogs here. You can use the Search field atop these Forums to search all forum topics.
Hope this helps! If you need additional assistance, search or post your questions in the Tech Support forum. Or, send me a PM and we can schedule a time to meet in the chat room.
Tripawds Founders Jim and Rene
tripawds.com | tripawds.org | bemoredog.net | triday.pet
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