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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Thank you Suzie...Feisty he definitely is!
You're right Jerry....thats part of the reason we've decided to go with the amputation. I want him to have the best life possible without pain. He's lying here asleep beside me now and I can tell his foot is hurting even in his sleep.
I want him to enjoy his life as much as I will.
Im an emotional basketcase right now...Im sorry 😉
Thank you all for listening.
Piper's Mom
Don't ever be sorry about being a basket case.....we've all been there. That's what we are here to help you through. Take a deep breathe and read all you can.
Suzie
Jack Russell born in 2001. Mast cell cancer found Dec 2009 and right rear amputation. Five rounds of chemo done before all treatment stopped. Living life to the fullest!! Read my story at http://rizzo.tripawds.com
welcome piper. we are the 'other' melanoma... gayle started with a soft tissue sarcoma, which took her right front leg in feb 2010. in dec 2010, we discovered oral melanoma tumors on her tongue. there is a melanoma vaccine, which you might want to investigate. it's intended for pups/horses once the melanoma is found, not as a preventative. we did four rounds of vaccine, and a six month booster. gayle had two surgeries to remove the tumors from her mouth, but the cancer spread to her lymph system, and she lost her battle last december.
the big red dog, who is a tripawd that also lives in knoxville, had a melanoma on a foot, and had the tumor removed and is doing well, so don't give up hope. where do you live, is there an oncologist you are dealing with?? we have an excellent oncologist here in knoxville, who i'm sure would provide support to your regular vet if needed.
please let us know if we can answer any questions or offer any support.
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
Don't apologize at all! Gosh darn - we totally know the feeling! That's why we help each other. It's so gut wrenching.
But like Jerry said, don't let this stoooopid cancer rob you of making memories with your Piper! Like our sister Charon always says, "we can get hit by a meteor tomorrow and all die!". So don't think about death now. Please. Take it from someone who only thought of death. It put me in the rubber room........but I escaped! 
Comet - 1999 to 2011
She departed us unexpectedly January 23, 2011 at the age of 12 1/2.
She was born with a deformed front leg and a tripawd all of her life.
Oops ...just crossed post with sister Charon. (were your ears burning!?)
Comet - 1999 to 2011
She departed us unexpectedly January 23, 2011 at the age of 12 1/2.
She was born with a deformed front leg and a tripawd all of her life.
Hi Sharon. We are actually in TN as well...middle TN near Cookeville. We aren't working with an Oncologist...just our regular vet. I will most definitely ask about the vaccine, as the one we're going to on Saturday actually does alot of work with horses.
cookeville isn't all that far from knoxville. we have a great oncologist here - if you are interested, i can connect you with him... i'd be glad to assist in any way i can...you are officially part of the 'tripawd family' now. whatever it takes, we'll help you get through this!!!!
charon & spirit gayle
oh, and you will notice that somehow, cometdog and i seem to be posting over each other all the time...we are adopted sisters, and can't help it.....
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
Thank you. I really appreciate it. I'll keep that in mind.
The only thing I can think of at the moment is the pain he's in 🙁
Nobody say anything....
I'm only stepping in to help a fellow schnauzer. So I don't want to hear anything from anyone about me being nice. He's not a tripawd yet.
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Piper, do you have some pain pills like tramadol? Can your mommy put some ice on your hurt foot? Like for 10 minutes. That will numb the pain for now. And you can repeat every couple of hours as needed.
I dont know that he'd let me put ice on it. The tumor is ulcerated and raw 🙁 He's so upset over it that I can barely get my hands close to it and he thrashes around. Im afraid the ice on the open wound might hurt more 🙁
We're all afraid of losing our dogs, but indeed we can't let that rob us of the here and now. You have children so you know how you often worry a bit when they begin to spread their wings. Remember when they learned to walk and fell and bonked their chin on a table? We hate that part but would never dream of telling them they can't walk. You want Piper to also fully experience each day, and you need to be right there with him enjoying it to the fullest. You'll miss so much if you let worry sap your energy.
That second opinion will be really valuable to you. I hope you find out that Piper can keep his leg. If you don't, though, you've found a community where people really do understand. We understand that fear of loss and that fear of the unknown. And we also really understand that whole financial business.
Let us know what happens next and post some photos of Piper. We can't seem to live without photos!
Shari
From abandoned puppy to Tripawd Warrior Dude, Dakota became one of the 2011 February Furballs due to STS. Our incredibly sweet friend lived with grace and dignity till he impulsively raced over the Bridge on 12-15-12.
Dakota's thoughtful and erudite blog is at http://shari.tr.....pawds.com/
Hahaha! I love photos too 🙂 I can't seem to figure out how to post them tho 😉
Thanks Shari....I believe once he is pain free I will feel 100% better, even if it is with 3 legs. I hate seeing him in pain and I can't stand the cone.
Hi again,
Tri-Pug Maggie was also a rear amp, she weighed about 17 lbs.
Don't worry or feel bad about finances playing a part in the decision making process. We all wish we had unlimited funds- but that is just not the case. All you can do is the best you can do- it doesn't mean you love Piper any less.
Around here we talk about Being More Dog- it is an aquired skill for most of us. I define it as living in the moment, not worrying to much about the future, enjoying what you have right in front of you. After Maggie's amp mets were found in her lymph system- she was given 6 to 9 months. I spent some of that time expecting her departure. I finally realized that I was missing her before she was gone. I was so fortunate that she beat the prognosis and I got a second chance. Oral melanoma was her second cancer, and was diagnosed 3.5 years after her amp. Because of the first cancer and early kidney failure I could not aggresively treat it. I didn't even ask the vet for a prognosis, I just focused on making each day her best day.
Karen and the pugapalooza
Welcome! I don't have much to add you've gotten a lot of good advice already. If Piper does end up needing an amputation I went to youtube and showed both of my little kids videos of 3 legged dogs so that they were prepared a little bit when Chili Dawg came home. It was still a shock to my daughter who was 2 at the time- she was scared of him for a day but my son who was 4 at the time took it all in stride.
Jenna and Spirit Chili Dawgs pack
Diagnosed with OSA: 5/2/2011 Ampuversary: 5/11/2011 OSA returned in hip: 8/26/2011
Chili Dawg crossed the Rainbow Bridge on 8/30/2011 & is now pain free. He was my heart dog, and I miss him every day.
Thanks Jenna 🙂
We have prepped my 4 year old just a little. She gets her ENORMOUS love for animals from me and said she would cry if they took Piper's leg off. 🙁 She LOVES the movie "Dolphin Tale" and I told her that if that happened, he'd be special just like Winter the Dolphin. She liked that 🙂
My 11 year old is upset and asked first off if he was going to die (their grandmother recently passed from cancer so the word scares them).
I appreciate everyone here....I know this will be very useful in the weeks and months to come. Im very thankful I found this site and although there arne't many suffering from our type of cancer, we are all still going thru the same experiences.
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