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Caring for a Three Legged Dog or Cat

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Hind Leg amp for our Saint Bernard
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Member Since:
27 July 2014
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27 May 2015 - 9:57 pm
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Thank you for such fabulous photos of your coneheads and pack.

I think some people have put boxer shorts on their rear leg amputee so they can't lick the stitches. The tail goes through the fly opening. I'd love to see a photo if you try it!

Kerren and Tripawd Mona

Virginia







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27 May 2015 - 10:06 pm
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OOOOOOMMMM.MDDDDDD!! Imw just catchingnup!!!! WOW!!! What a loved boy! What a wonderful pack!!! What a "Saint" you are for giving such a loving h ome to this delightful pack!!

I was just riveted to your story! Getting to know this sweet cuddle bear and your devotion to him is so heartwrming.

I want to come back and look at all the links to pictures and savor everyone of them!

You have so many little victories to celebrate already! Eating, pooping, going up stairs (that's huge for rear leggers), sleepingnon amp side....so many reasons to celebrate!!

I'm coming back and checking in some more tomorrow after Ive had a chance to look at the ictures snd digest everything you and this sweet gentle boy have been goingnthrough!

Try and get some sleep! Give that cute mug a big smooch for us!

Wherever this journey takes yiu, we are all right by your side!

Love and hugs!

Sally and Alumni Happy Hannah and Merry Myrtle too!

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!

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11 May 2015
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28 May 2015 - 6:05 pm
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Thanks for all the great words of support!!!  Briston continues to do well.  Today was a pretty normal day for us around here, me running around getting kids where they needed to go and running errands and him snoring away in his favorite spot!  🙂

We have had a couple of super brief incidents of what I think may be phantom pain .  I have failed my beautiful dog and did not ask enough questions, nor did I KNOW enough to ask some questions of our vet.  So while over all I think it's gone well, there is one major thing that I am hoping does not end up being a major issue.  Briston only has tramadol as an RX, along with two antibiotics.  No gabepentin (hope I got that right).  And after today's incidents, I am wondering if I need to talk to the vet clinic.  But is it too late to start it?  I know you aren't vets!! 🙂  And not only is he only on Tramadol, but the vet felt he should be able to be off the T by now. I do have enough to get through the weekend, but it's going to require another call/convo with the clinic to get more, as I read here about not going off meds for two weeks.  I am not looking forward to that.

I've been totally jinxed with this whole situation with Briston's leg.  Normally we've had good communication with this clinic and everything has always gone super smooth.  Somehow with his leg we've ended up with issue after issue from tests not coming back from the lab on time to playing phone tag for a week and so on and so forth.  I'm so tired of the issues.  It's not because of any one person/lab in my opinion, just a lot of bad luck stuff.  So it's been a taxing situation on that end and I can't believe I'm faced with yet another issue.  :/

But he's doing great and even with my failure, I think we're going to make it through ok. 

Here he is laying in his favorite spot, just hanging out today.  He's continued to do well when he moves around, but isn't too mobile, in my opinion.  All systems are working, both the intake and the output! 🙂  He had a great night last night, none of the restlessness we had the night before.

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Member Since:
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28 May 2015 - 6:29 pm
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He looks like he is doing great 🙂 as a saint lover and having battled this stupid disease ourselves with our last Saint,  just wanted to send out some positive vibes, and let you know we are pulling for you. 

Lori, angel chuck and the rest of our furry family

On The Road


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30 May 2015 - 8:18 am
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Hey hey hey! You have NOT failed Briston, not even close! Oh my gosh you are an amazing pawrent, please give yourself more credit OK? Because we think you are doing great. Amputation isn't something any of us prepare for really, usually it happens so fast that we don't have much time to know what we need to do. The important thing is you are learning and you're here where we can guide you. So yes, talk to your vet about better pain management , it's never ever too late for that. And if you don't like the answers your vet is giving you, go elsewhere to someone you want to work with. 

Don't beat yourself up. Brtiston isn't, and neither are we. Keep up the fantastic work and know that we are cheering you both on! Give him smooches from all of us OK? 

Tripawds Founders Jim and Rene
tripawds.com | tripawds.org | bemoredog.net | triday.pet

Virginia







Member Since:
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30 May 2015 - 8:59 am
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You are a wonderful advocate for Briston and you are doing a great job! You are doing a stellar job of focusing on his well being and paying attention to every detail of his recovery!clap

Ditto everything Jerry said!

When it comes to pain management , it can really be a balancing act. I'd rather see a pup a bit loopy though rather than be in pain. Most dogs here are on Tramadol and Gabapentin, as well as an antibiotic and an anti-inflammatory such as Rimadyl. And the dosage usualyy goes for about two weeks with some tapering down towards the end. Every dognis different though. My beloved Happy Hannah had to stay in them going on three weeks. Some dogs get off them sooner.

I would DEFINITELY mention Gabapentin to your vet. This is major surgery! Heck, humans would still be in the hospital and on a morphine drip! Generally phantom pain prede ts itself with sudden yelps and maybe some shaking and the dog trying to move away from the pain. It usualky lasts less than a minute but can recur off and on. Search phantom pain on the site.

Lots of hugs and smooches to that cuddle bear Briston! And a pat on the pack for you! Great job!

Sally and Alumni Happy Hannah and Merry Myrtle too!

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!

Member Since:
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31 May 2015 - 10:18 pm
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Wow I knew I had missed a day, didn't realize it's been a few days!!!  Thank you for all the reassuring support.  

Briston continues to do well.  It's been a good weekend for him.  We haven't had any more phantom pains, and Sally's description was exactly what I thought they were and what he did.

Briston is still going up the stairs once a night to sleep in our room.  He's still understandably awkward about the up portion of it.  Although last night he seemed to be getting the hang of it.  He usually rests on the landing before heading up the second flight, but last night he paused standing up and then went all the way up the second flight!  Last night I thought he might not join us upstairs, but in the end he decided to give it a go.  We ask him if he wants to go up with us and he usually "tells" us either by just laying there and staring at us or getting up and walking with us.  It's so funny, I've never had a dog be so clear in his communication in that way, he's always done that re: going outside, and now it is translating to whether he wants to do other things with us.  It's nice that he already had a clear way to say no to us. 

He is much stronger going out to potty, going all the way out, pottying and then coming all the way back in without having to lay down once!  And all systems are a go, intake and output are all working normally! 

He's pretty comfortable on the slick tile and concrete we have, we do still have the original runners down, but he's going off of them all the time now.

He is still wearing his cone of shame when we are not around, as he's still licking the staples.  He is also a bit sore today in his walking movements, which I think is from getting used to hopping instead of walking.  I am calling the vets tomorrow to see if we can get him on something like carprofen and making an appointment for his staples to come out!!! 

I can't believe it's been a week, that flew by so fast!  Of course it helps that Briston has done so amazingly well!! We had the odd hiccup here and there, where I worried about his pain level or whether this was what was meant by loosing his sparkle, but so far he's just done amazingly well.  I will be happy to get through this coming week and not be worrying that every twitch means he's not medicated enough!

Oh and the boy (Jayden) came home last night and loved on his dog!!!  When we went to pick him up last night he said "Hi, how's Briston?" all in one breath!  I am so glad for his sake that Briston is doing well.  Jayden gave Briston a big hug last night before he went to bed and I asked the boy how he was doing with seeing the dog as a three leg dog and with the staples and such.  Jayden said he was doing ok with it.  So I am happy about that.

Having computer issues, so no picture tonight. 🙁 

On The Road


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1 June 2015 - 6:44 pm
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WOOOHOO! Now THAT is really great to hear. He's already made such fantastic pawgress in just a week, imagine what one month from now will look like!

Ok we'll forgive you for no pics this time but can't wait for the next ones. Did you get any of Briston and Jayden when they reunited? Hope so!

Tripawds Founders Jim and Rene
tripawds.com | tripawds.org | bemoredog.net | triday.pet

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4 June 2015 - 4:08 pm
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Jerry- sadly no pictures of the reunion....oops!!  And I am still having computer issues with pictures, so again no new pictures. I have them and I will get them up eventually!!!

Briston is doing super well today! I am so thrilled with that, as you will see why below!

The last few days have been rough for both Briston and I. The amount of tramadol that I was trying to take him down to was not cutting it and he had totally lost his sparkle because of the underlying pain he was in. He wasn't moving as much and was just miserable.

I called the vet office on Monday to schedule his staple removal and see about getting more meds and possibly adding carprofen to his meds as some of his pain seemed to be muscle pain from adjusting to movement and I thought the anti-inflamatory would be a good idea. He really hasn't had a time where I felt like he was overdoing it, he's pretty much going out to potty and occasionally getting up and moving to another spot or checking out what we are doing and then laying back down. So I felt like he just needed some more pain relief to get over the hump of adjusting to his new gate, not that he was over doing it. And that a NSAID would be better than a narcotic, although I guess from what I learned yesterday, that part doesn't necessarily apply.

The office call did not go well, first they tried to tell me the day I wanted to bring him in would have been day 10 and it was too early, but it really was going to be day 13 (today), so I had to correct the tech on that and she didn't appreciate that, but it was the truth, what could I do about that? I did say if she felt I was trying to schedule to early, I was happy to bring him in a few days later. But she grudgingly agreed the day I was asking for was valid and they had a time slot available. Then I tried to explain to her that I needed more pain meds and possibly different pain meds and she was very short with me and only heard me say he was doing well overall, not the part where I felt like he was super sore with his muscles. She wanted me to wait until Thursday (this was Monday) when he was coming in for staple removal to talk to the vet about meds, even though I told her if I increased the frequency of his dosages to compensate for his soreness, as she suggested, I would run out on Tuesday.

She finally agreed that she would talk to the vet and call me back on Tuesday. I never heard from her or the vet on Tuesday. So I made the decision to change vets....it was so hard, I love this clinic and have always had amazing service and they have done well for my animals. I have another close, picky friend who also uses this clinic and has/had cancer dogs/cats and loves this clinic. But I was done with the communication issues and the lack of response to Briston being in pain. Based on her attitude I would not be surprised to learn she never even told my vet about my concerns. I have already played phone tag with the vet for two weeks over Briston's test results and options, delaying moving forward with his treatment, so we ended up waiting four weeks from X-rays to surgery on his amp, between the two weeks of phone tag and the two weeks before he could be put on the schedule. So I knew it wasn't going to help to call and insist on my talking to him personally.

I picked a clinic I had gone to three years ago, before I got involved with a rescue organization here and started using their vet because of their prices/and having all animals going to one place. But they've changed over the last two years and I no longer use them for my personal animals. (I had chosen the clinic I was using with Briston based on their experiences with reptiles as we have a corn snake that needed care and they did great and I was happy with the clinic, so switched to them, we've used them for two years for various personal/rescue animals with no issues) So I went back to the original clinic that I used three years ago, when we first moved here, and had always had good experiences with and they were amazing!!! Plus they are 5 mins from me, not the 45 mins I was driving to the other vet. And the time to get back and forth has also played into issues with getting meds/visits with the previous clinic. It was AMAZING to drive 5 mins yesterday!!! So amazing.

I called yesterday morning and explained that I had a post amp dog that I felt was not getting the pain management he needed and they got him in at 3pm yesterday. They would have gotten him much sooner, but unfortunately I couldn't with my schedule. Oh my gosh I am crying while I write this!! The vet was so amazing! She was so patient with me and my stress over his pain and was text book right down the line of what I have read here as standard treatment for post amp meds! She immediately agreed that he needed way more pain management and then she was like "hey since your are here and his incision looks great, lets take those staples out now and save you another trip in here!!!" I had felt like they were ready to come out myself, I was soooo happy she agreed and we were able to get it all over with in one trip for Briston!!! And good thing we did it yesterday, because parts of the incision were really well healed and it took more to get the staples out, poor guy. So if we had waited even longer it would have been worse!

When we got home I gave him all three meds right away! Not quite at maximum dose,(they gave me a range) but on the higher end as I wanted him completely out of pain, since he'd been dealing with it for days at that point! Once the meds kicked in, he was OUT!! I think it was a combo of the sedation affect, but also just that his body was so relieved to be out of pain. He slept hard for a few hours, not even flinching while we were going in and out past him. I was so happy! I was a little concerned he may be too out of it to come upstairs, but I knew he'd be ok if he stayed downstairs, as he occasionally has choosen to do that pre-amp. But when my husband came to bed late last night, Briston came with him! He said he did fine getting up the stairs.

This morning I had a chipper, happy energetic Saint Bernard on my hands!!! It was so awesome to see his full on body wiggle!!! Haven't seen that in weeks! It's truly a sight in a dog that big with that much loose skin! LOL! At breakfast I backed down on the med dose a tad bit and he seems to be doing really well today. Up much more (still not over doing it in my opinion, although we are probably past needing to worry over much about that) and wanting to know what's going on and moving so much freer and just happy. He is snoring away right now, so good to hear him sleeping hard enough to snore again!! He hasn't really truly slept hard in several days because of the pain. It wasn't horrible, pacing/panting type of pain, just that low level, you know something is not right and they can't quite get comfortable pain.

They sent me home with two weeks of all three meds at full on doses, no worries about rationing it at all! And said that of course he may need it even longer and to just keep them informed on how he was doing!! What a difference in attitude!!! The vet was all about keeping him comfortable and talked about how important his quality of life was and that there was no reason to be in a hurry to get him off any of the meds. Of course there are slight liver concerns with carprofen, but with his prognosis, we probably didn't need to be too worried about the long term issues, but that of course we would monitor that and take it a day at a time with it all. It was such a relief!!! She basically couldn't wait for me to stop explaining why I thought he needed meds before she jumped in and was like, of course we need to get him on all three of these meds and of course he's still in pain!! She was very polite about it, but she totally disagreed with how Briston's pain management had been handled and I could tell she couldn't wait to get him started on all three meds.

And the best is yet to come!!!!

The VET called me today. Not one of their office people, but the VET called and talked to me about how Briston is doing! Not the same vet I had yesterday, but she had read the notes and was very knowledgable about what we were doing and about what the norm is for his type of case! After the run around I had trying to get a hold of our previous vet, what a change! Pretty sure if I need to talk to one of them, I am going to hear from them!! I am totally used to office staff calling to check on a dog, but I don't think I have ever had the actual vet do a follow up call like that!! She said she would leave a post it for the other vet about how awesome Briston was doing and how much I appreciated her care yesterday.

And the second vet said everything the first vet said, which you all already know, that he may be on these meds for awhile and there is no reason to take him off them in a certain time frame. To take it a day at a time and of course reduce the meds as we can, but to be guided by him! And that he may have a bad day and need them again and that wasn't a big deal. And just keep them posted on how he was doing.

So as you can tell, I am so much happier with our situation and looking forward to not driving 45 mins for every vet visit! If you read this far, thanks for listening.  This community is amazing and I really, really appreciate the comments and the help and support!! I told the vet about this community and she was impressed with quality and accuracy of my knowledge from this site.

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4 June 2015 - 4:45 pm
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OK- with a lot of work around I got the picture situation handled... but now I have to leave for the evening, so pictures tomorrow!! One just to hold you over!! Here he had gotten on the futon all on his own for the first time since the surgery!  He's rocking it!!!! Tomorrow is two weeks since surgery.  Amazing how quickly he recovered and was back to his normal, happy self, happier than he's been in weeks with the pain of the sick leg.

On his futon with his best friend!Image Enlarger

On The Road


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4 June 2015 - 7:40 pm
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WOOOOOHOOO!!! YESSS! Let's ALL give 3-paws up for great vets who know what real pain management is like, and for vets who know how to communicate!

I read every word of your post and was just to happy to see that your new/old vet is on the ball with Briston. I know how hard it is to change vets when things are good, much less during a major recovery, so kudos to you for being such a great advocate for him and taking charge. YAY!

Too many vets don't make an effort to understand pain management protocols, at least the latest ones, and our animals suffer because of it. Give your new/old vet a shout-out in our 'Veterinary Referrals' Discussion Forums so everyone knows OK?

Yes, be cognizant of doing CBCs every few months because he's on the NSAID, but don't worry, many dogs here are on it for a long time without problems. As long as your vet is on the ball and you understand what to look for as far as potential side effect, he'll do great.

Thanks for the fab news, and the photo! You made my day.

Tripawds Founders Jim and Rene
tripawds.com | tripawds.org | bemoredog.net | triday.pet

Virginia







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4 June 2015 - 11:13 pm
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YAAAAAAAAAY FOR MOM BEING SUCH A GREAT ADVOCATE FOR BRISTON!!!clap

AND YAAAAAAAAAY FOR MOM POSTING SUCH A CUTE PICTURE OF HER PACK!!clap

Good job at getting Briston's needs taken care of and getting to the right vet!! I k ow it is such a relief to see Briston resting so comfortably and seeing his sparkle start to come back. It infuriates me at how dismissive they were to you and seemingly indifferent to keeping Bristo 's pain under control. The vets you have now sound wonderful and attentive!! I'm so happy for you!big-grin

Tha ks for the uplifting update! Again, kudos to you for eing such an outstanding advocate for Briston!

Hugs to all!

Sally and Alumni Happy Hannah and Merry Myrtle too!

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!

Maryland
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5 June 2015 - 4:27 am
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You wrote that you were crying as you typed it and it made me cry right along with you. If I thought my vet was letting my pup suffer in pain....well, let's not go there!

I also think that many times the attitude is that 'meds are bad' (ie, not natural etc). But anyone who has suffered with pain (neuropathy for example) will tell you that it is much easier to control the pain if you don't let it ramp up. Once it gets going, it is much much harder to control. It seems you're very tuned in to Briston and his behavior so I don't think there is any danger of you overdoing it.

He looks great btw! 

Denise, Bill and Ellie

Active 10+ Pyr mix suddenly came up lame with ACL tear in left rear leg. Scheduled for a TPLO but final pre-op x-rays indicated a small suspicious area, possibly OSA, which could have caused the ACL tear. Surgeon opened the knee for TPLO but found soft bone. Biopsy came back positive for OSA. Became a Tripawd 9/18/14. Carbo6 with Cerenia and Fluids. Pain free and living in the moment. Crossed the Bridge on 7/12/15 after probable spread of cancer to her cervical spine. A whole lifetime of memories squeezed into 10 months. Here's her story: Eloise

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7 June 2015 - 3:29 pm
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Life is going well with three legs.  Now with good pain management on board Briston is doing awesome.  He actually trotted down the hallway on the tile just a little bit on Friday!  I didn't know if we'd ever see him move that fast again, as he's kind of a lazy dog to begin with!   

An evening around the fire with the family. This was last Monday, when he still wasn't that comfortable.  But he was getting around well, even then.  The boy in orange on the right is Briston's boy.  (We have five boys total in our family) The other dog is my personal dog, Happy, who is 11 yrs old.

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Getting his staples out on Wednesday.  His incision looks so good and we are DONE with the cone of shame !!! So happy about that!

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He did have to wear the cone of shame the first night we were back form the vet and the staple removal.  The removal stirred up all kinds of itchy/painful stuff and he kept licking it.  He was not impressed!  This was also the first night we had a full range of meds to give him and I gave him a pretty good dose of meds to get him totally out of pain!  Shortly after this picture he was totally out and slept for several hours, the deep sleep of someone who is out of pain and potentially a little over medicated..... sleepy

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He is climbing up and down off his futon, that is in our room and that he sleeps on at night, with ease and doing the stairs up to our room pretty well. I took some video but it was pretty dark, maybe I will get some worth sharing.  I think it's important for people who have a hind amp to know that they will get it, just give them time to get strong enough again and also give them time to figure it out for themselves. The first trip we were too much in the way.  He wanted me by him, but not touching him.  That was the first week and a half or so of him going up the stairs, now the last two nights he has gone up ahead of me and been so confident!

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This is what his incision looked like after the staples came out. I think it's looking pretty good!!  I did end up finding two more staples the next day.  The tech had told me I would probably. I called the office, and they fit him right in and again they were just so nice and awesome!  And no charge for the extra visit. (which I didn't expect, but since it's a new office I wasn't sure!) And just let me say again, how amazing it was to drive 5 mins not 45 mins!!!! 

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On The Road


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8 June 2015 - 10:28 am
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Lookin' good Briston! Thanks for the update.

Keep up the good work, and please keep us posted. Time to start slowly rebuilding strength with core exercises an balance work before overdoing it too soon.

Tripawds Founders Jim and Rene
tripawds.com | tripawds.org | bemoredog.net | triday.pet

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