Hi! So sorry to hear about Odin. My husband and I were right where you were about three weeks ago. Two months ago, our lab mix Tucker, almost 10 years old was diagnosed with bone cancer in the upper part of his left leg. Our main vet thought that we should keep him comfortable and wasn't very enthusiastic about amputation. We decided that since he was older we did not want to put him through a lot and decided to do nothing but give him pain meds until the time was right to say goodbye. A few weeks later we ended up taking him to a specialist in Salt Lake who retested the cancer and after learning that his chest was clear of tumors, and the cancer seemed to be a less aggressive form the doctor urged us to amputate. My husband thought it wasn't fait to Tucker to put him through that and believed that the recovery would be horrible. I was in favor, or at least willing to try, since i had been around many three-legged dogs in the past, but he needed more convincing. After I sent him to the Tripawds website, and forums and after he spoke to other families of tripawds he was convinced we should try this and we scheduled the appointment right away. we had four different vets tell us how horribly painful the bone cancer is and we could see Tucker's pain every day. The pain of the amputation was to be nothing near what he was enduring with the cancer. The day after surgery he PULLED me out of the vet office on his three legs! I was shocked! The sutures were removed 2 weeks later. He was slow and tired for most of the first week 1/2, but being on pain meds were part of that as well. Now on a low dose of pain meds he is almost back to his old self. He tires easily and can only go on very short walks not quite around the block for now. But he is only 3 weeks out from the amputation. We struggled so much to find the right thing to do, and now we believe that taking that painful leg was a good decision. I am so glad that you decided to do this with Odin. I think he will adjust well, and there will be a learning curve, as our Tucker is discovering! Dogs live in the now- they adjust quicker than we can. 

Hi Jon,

Sounds like Odin is right on track.  He will pee when he needs to, sometimes the poop is several days coming.  The pain meds can be constipating.  Maggie didn't poop until day 6.

Is it slippery outside or is the ground uneven? New tripawds especially need good traction and a stable walking surface to build confidence.  It is so scary to see our pups fall.  Right after Mag's surgery she would fall and not want to get back up (she was a rear amp).  I really had to coax her to try again.  Eventually falling on her butt became no big deal, she even developed a fall-to-a-sit maneuver she used to change directions on slippery surfaces.

And if I may act as a Moderator for a moment- you might consider starting a new thread for Odin in the Treatment and Recovery forum since you are past the decision making part.  It helps other members keep track of where you are.  I know you have your hands full right now, so staying here is fine too if that works better.

I hope Odin's recovery continues uneventfully.

Karen and the pugapalooza