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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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Pennsylvania

Member Since:
4 July 2023
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24 September 2023 - 11:29 am
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I just learned a new (to me!) trick for finding adoptable tripawds (cats and dogs), and thought I’d share. If Petfinder.com serves your country (US, Canada, maybe more?) you can do a Google search for:

Petfinder.com tripod

…which will search the whole site for any mention of “tripod” in an animal’s profile. You can also try:

Petfinder.com tripawd

…which also offers a few results. (I can only assume the rescues behind these pets are friends of the Tripawds.com community! 😉) You can further narrow your search by adding your state or province abbreviation: MN, CA, SK, etc.

Happy hunting! Psst - and if you do find a furry three-legged match maybe hop over here and tell us all about them! 😀 …I know I’d love to hear 😊… 

Natalie & Juno (aka June)

New England
Member Since:
11 January 2022
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24 September 2023 - 11:49 am
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The best way to do this would be "tripod site:petfinder.com". The "site:" prefix will limit results to the site provided. 

I love how you've become the adoptable tripawd advocate! 

Pennsylvania

Member Since:
4 July 2023
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24 September 2023 - 12:01 pm
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Ah! Great - thanks for the tweak! Much better.

Much credit goes to my sister who has a number of rescued pets and loves to recreationally cruise her local shelter's listings and sends Mom and me ones with interesting names. (She also hand picked my Mom’s rescue cat - a purrrrfect match for her!) She’s now on a mission to send me all the tripawds she finds, so some mornings I wake up to find a text with the latest one to post here. It’s a great team effort …and it prompted me to start looking at and sharing from the shelters in my area. My shelters seem to have fewer tripods than hers so I found this search as a way to broaden my net - and WOW did it ever! A few too many to list all at once here, really! …so I thought I’d share. 😊

Natalie & Juno (aka June)

The Rainbow Bridge



Member Since:
25 April 2007
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24 September 2023 - 2:28 pm
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WOAH! Why didn't I know about this when we were looking? I spent HOURS sifting through their search results before Nellie came along. Thank you so much! 

That is super sweet of your sister to look out for the special rescue critters. Please give her our thanks, and thank you for keeping us updated. This Forum topic doesn't get as much love as it deserves so we really appreciate it anytime someone puts the effort into posting, and updating, an adoptable Tripawd's status.

Pennsylvania

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4 July 2023
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24 September 2023 - 2:58 pm
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@jerry, I know, right?!? I was so pleased when I thought to do this - and it worked! And thanks again @mischief for the more effective approach!

I’ll absolutely pass your thanks to my sis! sp_hearticon2 She’d be out there searching and cruising regardless - she has such a kind heart, but the Tripawd cause has really lit a fire under her!

Also, perhaps at the risk of stating the obvious, you can use this trick on any shelter or rescue listings website, not just petfinder.com. I simply picked that one because it lists soooo many pets here in the US, and at this point it doesn’t yet have another intuitive way to filter for tripawds.

I’ll also say from experience looking at a number of listings at my and my sister’s local shelters, that “tripod” or “tripawd” isn’t always listed in an animal’s profile, so it’s always worth a skim through your local shelter’s offerings just to see if there are some three-leggers still lurking about that evaded a search. 🐾+1

Natalie & Juno (aka June)

New England
Member Since:
11 January 2022
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24 September 2023 - 3:11 pm
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I found Loki on petfinder and her profile totally downplayed her amputation. The first two photos were st an angle where you wouldn't have seen her missing leg anyhow. The last photo showed her amp site, but it still wasn't super obvious. It was touched on in her description, but it was more of an afterthought than a prominent fact. She caught my interest because she looked like Tempest and was sitting on the exact same blanket that I keep in Tempest's bed in the winter. The fact that she was missing a leg just made me want to give her a good home even more. She bait and switched me by holding her ears up in all of her photos.... But that's OK. Some day I will get my pointy eared dog... 

Pennsylvania

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4 July 2023
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24 September 2023 - 6:20 pm
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@mischief - exactly, there will be a lot of great dogs the search misses, but at least it’s a start. And maybe those hidden ones are out there for others to get lured in like you were - to become hooked on tripawds. 😉

Some day I will get my pointy eared dog... 

Funny - folks do usually have a clear preference, don’t they? I’m more of a floppy-eared fan myself - longer the better.

Natalie & Juno (aka June)

The Rainbow Bridge



Member Since:
25 April 2007
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24 September 2023 - 6:30 pm
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Natalie_2 said

I’ll also say from experience looking at a number of listings at my and my sister’s local shelters, that “tripod” or “tripawd” isn’t always listed in an animal’s profile, so it’s always worth a skim through your local shelter’s offerings just to see if there are some three-leggers still lurking about that evaded a search. 🐾+1

Very true! When we were searching for our next Tripawd, we had to dig deep to find a 3-legger. So these words also help: 

  • tripaw
  • 3-legged
  • amputee

"Special needs" encompasses a LOT of rescue animal descriptions, from pets with bad allergies to behavioral issues. I found myself going down too many dead ends when searching with that general phrase. 

Pennsylvania

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4 July 2023
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9
24 September 2023 - 6:35 pm
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@jerry - Ah! Great - this really makes the search more effective to try each of these variations and see what they bring up. Nice list. I can only imagine how many profiles you must have looked through!

Natalie & Juno (aka June)

New England
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11 January 2022
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25 September 2023 - 4:18 am
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@Natalie - I'm not sure. I've heard it's more common for people to be afraid of pointy eared dogs because the ears are reminiscent of wolves.

@Jerry - I'd probably add variations like amputation and amputated to your search the next time you're looking for a dog. 

Pennsylvania

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4 July 2023
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26 September 2023 - 1:14 pm
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@mischief - so interesting, I hadn’t thought about pointy ears that way, but I can imagine that as a very primal response. I blame my love of long ears on an early childhood obsession with Snoopy. 😉

And agreed on the variations - I tried them myself and it really made a difference.

Also, I tried the “site:” trick and I think the results without it (at least in Google search) are better. However using it in Duck Duck Go, the results were better with “site:”. Go fig. So it may come down to trying it in whatever browser you use and seeing which offers the most/best listings.

Natalie & Juno (aka June)

The Rainbow Bridge



Member Since:
25 April 2007
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12
5 November 2023 - 2:12 pm
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It's really stunning to see how many adoptable Tripawds need homes. Thanks for all you are doing to help us make it easier to find them!

Pennsylvania

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4 July 2023
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13
6 November 2023 - 6:39 am
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@jerry - it really is amazing how many there are! Aww, my pleasure. smiley9

And, I’ve been meaning to add one more phrase to use in searches to find them:

site:petfinder.com three legs

This seriously brings up a ton of them! And of course, feel free to use any rescue website for your in your search (not just petfinder). And if you’re having a hard time finding a tripawd in your area, may I suggest doing search in a different state or province and then taking a roadtrip?!! smiley4

Natalie & Juno (aka June)

The Rainbow Bridge



Member Since:
25 April 2007
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14
6 November 2023 - 10:37 am
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_natalie_ said
@jerry - it really is amazing how many there are! Aww, my pleasure. smiley9

And, I’ve been meaning to add one more phrase to use in searches to find them:

site:petfinder.com three legs

This seriously brings up a ton of them! And of course, feel free to use any rescue website for your in your search (not just petfinder). And if you’re having a hard time finding a tripawd in your area, may I suggest doing search in a different state or province and then taking a roadtrip?!! smiley4

  

Wow that's so fascinating, I never even tried these things when we were looking. As for a road trip, well, we'd need to win the lotto to pay for a a bigger RV and another pet insurance plan before we took on another doggie! 

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