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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Welcome Joey and Pack,
Joey is adorable. I bet he is a ball of energy.
We put throw rugs and carpet runners throughout the house. They remained there until Fortis' passing. In fact we left them in place for some time...strange I know. Anyhow, over time Fortis learned to use and stay on the runners. It didn't take him long to figure out what they were for. We found our wood floors to pose a much bigger problem in comparison to the tiled sections of our home.
Price can very and to a large amount. We were lucky and our vet was more than reasonable. Much of this will be determined by whether you use your regular vet or choose a specialist such as an oncologist. Fortis' amputation was under 2k and that included x-rays, blood work, medications and the surgery itself. I think he gave me a break (or charged me extra 
) because I stayed with Fortis during his 2 day stay at the vets.
Stay positive and remember this community is here for you. I bet Joey is going to do just great. I'm looking forward to hearing all about his progress and life as a tripawd....and before of course.
Brett & Spirit Fortis
I am so sorry to hear about your wonderful Joey. Our Dale pup was diagnosed this past week too. I have found this website so wonderful and have started a blog here as well. We are scheduled for a front left leg amputation on aug 11th. The news was so shocking to us...but this forum has made us confident in our decision. We are glad to have others support on the journey! Keep us posted and best wishes! Michelle and Dale pup!
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Welcome to the family. The one thing our vet told me was to try and keep Gus calm for a while after surgery, overactivity can create fluid buildup and create a need for having some drainage done, so you may want to shut down the turbo on that guy for awhile so he isn't quite so hyper. Don't be surprised if when you pick him up he looks great, meds are a great thing when they leave the vet, but then alot of dogs crash a day or so after and the real fun begins, not to say you will have trouble, it's just the healing process is something you have to let happen at its own pace, each dog heals different. Cost is all over the board, I think we had a total of around $1200 in everything, from start to finish, and I will say when I posted that I think i was one of the lowest, we're in Northern Ohio, but I didn't do chemo, I did start metronomic therapy for awhile but Gus only lived 3 1/2 months after surgery, so I didn't keep that up too long. If you get a chance to grab some sleep, you better take it, you may not get much the first couple weeks, and after the first weeks without much sleep, things start to become magnified. Good luck, Paws up, Spirit Gus and Dan
My buddy Gus had a left front amputation on April 7, 2010 and lived a great life until July 26,2010
Thanks for the warnings about after surgery. It's much more helpful to know than to be taken by surprise.
Joey had his x-ray and blood work done today. His lungs are clear, yeah! Now we wait for the blood work and his appointment with the surgeon on Friday to review the case. Most likely he will go for surgery early next week. Part of me feels terrible because all he has is a little limp right now but part of me is hoping that's because we found it so early (fingers crossed). We have no desire to go down the chemo road so hopefully it doesn't come down to making that decision. One step at a time, I guess...
Hi Joey and pack, welcome to tripawds.
We have no desire to go down the chemo road so hopefully it doesn't come down to making that decision. One step at a time, I guess…
One step at a time is a GREAT way to approach this- there is so much information and so many decisions to make, it can quickly get overwhelming.
Part of me feels terrible because all he has is a little limp right now
My pug Maggie never really had a limp- she lost her left rear leg to a mast cell tumor. It was hard to reconcile no limp with a need to lose the leg. In our case the tumor was really large and would have eventually ulcerated the skin and caused a wound that probably would never heal up, and the cancer would spread without amputation. We did find out after surgery that the cancer was in the lymph node, but she survived almost 4 years after amputation and did not pass from the mast cell cancer. You can read her story in her blog if you are interested- the link is in my signature box below.
I did put extra rugs down on my tile floor, but Maggie navigated the floor OK without slipping most of the time. I have a synthetic type deck in the back yard- I used rug pieces on the stairs for her. I also kept the fur between her toes and pads trimmed short and used Musher's Secret on her pads. I found it kept her pads supple and helped with her traction .
Good luck with your consult on Friday- keep us posted.
Karen and the pugapalooza
Thanks for the response Karen. I feel our next obstacle right now is finding out if it reached the lymph node or not. Hopefully we will get lucky with that one too. I won't let myself consider that he won't get better. I'm not ready for that. Even though I don't get to plan it it, my plan is he has surgery and lives out the rest of his normal life. His aunt lived to be 17 or 18 so I have high hopes for Joe to get close to that number too. We want this to be a bump in the road, it's a BIG bump but again, we have high hopes and I will not let myself worry about what hasn't happened yet. Joey is resilient, if we got it early, he will bounce back. Although, he has developed a rash between his front toes and that his making him limp from that now too. Poor guy. We are soaking his feet in Epson Salt for 10 minutes at a time and rinsing with clean water. Our vet thinks that will help. We are wondering if that happened because of an awkward gate with the limp in the back leg. Note to anyone using Epson salt on their dogs. Don't let them drink it AT ALL. It's toxic to dogs.
We should hear about the blood test results today. Fingers crossed one more time.
Joey & family, you're got a great, spunky attitude. One hop at a time is the way to go.
P.S. thanks for the warning about Epsom salts, we had no idea.
Tripawds Founders Jim and Rene
tripawds.com | tripawds.org | bemoredog.net | triday.pet
This isn't our first go round with pet illness. It is however, our first go round with cancer. Our other Keeshond Lucy who is 12 now has been alive sick longer than she has been alive well at this point in her life. We're very proud of that fact. We adopted her when she was around 2 and a few years later she started getting sick. She has spots on her liver, kidneys and spleen. She has had them for years now and they haven't changed. She has liver disease and her stomach lining isn't what it used to be anymore among other things. Despite all that, she has had very few bad days. You would never know she was sick to look at her. She will have a flare up every so often but nothing that has knocked her down. We make all the food our dogs eat and their diets are geared towards their individual needs. Our counters look like a pharmacy of medications that keep her balanced and healthy. With the help of our amazing vet, she has been our first true success story. Our dog PJ didn't fair as well. She had hemolytic anemia and couldn't bounce back from it. That broke my heart. She was a Lab mix and just the sweetest girl you could ever meet. I won't even get into the four cats over the years. Yes, we are animal people. LOL Hopefully Joey will be our second success story. Time to start planning his new diet.
Hi Joeys people,
I also want to say that you should check out youtube. On there under tripawd sammy is a video of the limp he had the day before his leg shattered. He was diagnosed on the 23rd, his limp was barely noticeable and I was waffling on what in the heck I was going to do, then his leg literally exploded on the 27th. The video was the last one I got to take of him walking on all 4 legs. You can barely BARELY tell he had a limp.
I felt so terrible that he had to suffer from the 27th until his amp day which was the 30th. They couldn't do anything before then as they were already booked. That 3 days he suffered horribly at the hospital even with incredible pain meds. Plus the 3 days at emergency in a premium animal hospital in posh Kirkland, WA was an extra $1200 out of my pocket. OUCH!
I just want to tell you that it doesn't seem real until it is, and I really hope for you and cute Joey that he gets his leg off before it can get that real. I know exactly what you mean, and I am not trying to alarm you, but to tell you this happens so fast. It isn't fair at all, but reading and educating yourself are exactly the right things to do now.
Elizabeth and Sammy
Diagnosed with osteosarcoma in the right front leg 8/23/10,
leg fractured 8/27/10,
leg amputated 8/30/10
http://sammyand.....pawds.com/
I couldn't begin to say how special Sammy is to us. Living and laughing with and loving this wonderful boy is priceless.
fightingforsammy said:
...check out youtube. On there under tripawd sammy is a video of the limp he had the day before his leg shattered.
Check out Jerry's Tripawds Channel, while you're at it. Viewers of Why We Love Cats and Dogs may recognize this clip from the day before Jerry's surgery....
Tripawds Founders Jim and Rene
tripawds.com | tripawds.org | bemoredog.net | triday.pet
Joey went to see the surgeon today. He thinks he is a good canidate for amputation. He is having the surgery next Thursday. He thinks Joey will recover quickly from this, he is very healthy besides this problem. We like the surgeon and he has high hopes for Joey sailing through this. Now we wait.....
Excellent news! We'll be thinking about you next week!
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.
Lots of good thoughts for an uneventful surgery and a speedy recovery. You will be in our thoughts Thursday. Keep us posted.
Shanna & Spirit Trouble ~ Trouble gained her wings 3/16/2011, a 27 1/2 month cancer survivor, tail wagging. RIP sweetheart, you are my heart and soul. Run free at Rainbow Bridge.
The November Five - Spirits Max, Cherry, Tika, Trouble & Nova. 11/2008 - 3/2013 An era ends as Queen Nova crossed the Bridge.
Oh wonderful news! Enjoy your weekend together. We'll be thinking of you, keep us posted in the "Treatment and Recovery" Forums!
Tripawds Founders Jim and Rene
tripawds.com | tripawds.org | bemoredog.net | triday.pet
Thanks all, I will keep you updated. We will spend the time in between having as much fun as possible with the pups and setting up the house for our future tripawd so he is used to the rugs before he goes. The vets said he thinks our biggest problem will be keeping our little firecracker quiet for two weeks. We set him loose at a family gathering yesterday and he had a GREAT time, at everyones expense.... LOL He kept running up and whacking the other dogs with his paw to play. They didn't find it as amusing as he did. LOL I love my little brat!! I call him Bobo the clown because he is a clown. 
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