Hello! Just introducing myself. I’m Nash (she/her) and I own two tripawds! 

My first tripawd: I adopted a 1.5yr old chihuahua, who was born without one of his front legs, about seven years ago. His name is Winslow. We’ve had some serious learning curves because his rib cage is malformed, so harnesses don’t fit easily and he had some additional congenital health issues. Soon, we must endure knee surgery on his back leg, which will be tough, but ultimately worth it. He is a clown and a dramatic goof - a good boy who is socialized, smart, and is always on a diet. 

My second tripawd: I foster for a greyhound rescue. In March, they got a call from the university that they had a patient recovering from a full amputation (he broke his leg badly on his last race) and they wanted an experienced foster home for special needs dogs. Unfortunately, there was a post operative infection and he needed to be isolated, during which time he kind of lost heart and stopped eating. He lost 20lbs. The hospital called me to come get him because they were worried he would die of starvation in there, but he still had a lot of medical recovery to do, and was in a position of needing to learn how to walk and move AND learn how to be retired, all with absolutely no muscle left. The recovery was hard, very hard, and required a lot of home cooked meals. By the end of it, which was about three months, we had gone through too much together and he had bonded with my little chihuahua, so we had our first foster fail. His retired name is Hoyt (we don’t use his racing name) and he is now a giant! He’s massive, about 80# (up from 61#!) and turned out to be an XXL greyhound. He is well mannered and gentle, great with cats and other dogs, honestly a decent guard dog, and will steal all the bread. 

I can share what I know about the differences between ownership experiences of dogs with birth defects versus amputations, which a special bit of knowledge about chihuahuas/small breeds and racing greyhounds. 

My other pets are also special needs, so I am used to lots of medical responsibilities, but I also know how HARD it is to adapt to at first. I do have a pet Instagram if anyone wants to see a diary of amputation recovery etc, but I am not a serious social media person so it’s not a giant account with a million followers. (Although I think tripawds follows us!)