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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It seems like every day I come up with something to worry about. Today I have noticed that my Nova's front leg (she had her front left leg amputated last Tuesday) is shaking when she is laying down. It's almost like she is shivering. This has been going on all day. And it is only in that leg, the rest of her body is not shivering. I called the night technician at the surgeon's office and she seemed to think that it was probably just muscle fatigue from the front leg having to do so much work now. We did have a very busy day yesterday, with a trip to a friend's and to the surgeon, more walking than she had done all week. She seemed really tired today, but when I massage the front leg it stops shaking, and her tail starts thumping, so I know she's not in great pain. Anyone ever see anything like this?
Dane Mom Sue at nova.tripawds.com and Mom to Beautiful Great Dane Queen Nova, a Blind Tripawd, who kicked cancer's butt from 11/08-03/13. The Queen is Spirit Nova now, but her legacy lives on here at Tripawds!
When we got Titan's amp done he did a 25 yard dash and then he start limping on one of his rear legs. He had to rest and be low key for a week then the limping went away. These guys think they are feeling great when they are their meds. It takes time for them to build up the muscles and strength in the remaining legs. I would make her rest and keep giving her massages. It is hard to keep them low key for a week but I think that will really help her
Heidi and Titan
Tazzie still shakes occaisonally in her remaining front leg and did the same thing with her rear legs after her ACL surgeries. I think it is normal due to the extra strain on the muscles. If she isn't painful I wouldn't worry about it!
Pam and Tazzie
Dutch is also experiencing muscle fatigue in his remaining front leg (see my panicked 'HELP' post about charliehorses). He always lies on his 'good' side, and since we are keeping him quiet post op, he's doing more lying than anything else. Seems like that good shoulder is cramped from lying on it, and then supporting the extra weight up front. It really sounds as tho this is sort of normal, at least in front leg amputees. Our vet recommended massage and heat packs, and folks on this site mentioned helping your dog to get up. For Dutch, we try to get him 'lying up' (sphynx-like, with his legs under him) for a few moments first, rub that leg, and then help him to stand. We rub the leg down again for a minute or so to make sure blood is flowing before we let him start walking. This has pretty much alleviated the horrible charliehorses, and would probably help with muscle twitches.
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