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.
Join The Tripawds Community
Learn how to help three legged dogs and cats in the forums below. Browse and search as a guest or register for free and get full member benefits:
Instant post approval.
Private messages to members.
Subscribe to favorite topics.
Live Chat and much more!
Register
Log In
Members
Add Topic
Offline
You might want to consider getting her some puppy diapers. They can be very helpful. They have reusable and disposable, I have both. If we're going out to run errands they come in handy as mitch started having inside "accidents" again. I got some women's pads to place inside, depends can work too if she tinkles a lot. You can clean her up with unscented baby wipes and that may make your life a little easier.
The throw rugs I have for Huck are machine washable thank goodness so I can just throw them in the washer if he sneaks one in, lol. He doesn't wear them often as my husband is retired and home most of the time. I hope this helps a little.
Hugs,
Jackie and Huck
Hugs,
Jackie, Bo, Andy, Oscar, Phoebe, and the coolest feral tripawd kitty Huckleberry 
Awwwwww..... sweet photo!!!!! We must have posted at the same time, lol. She is still smiling 🤗
❤❤
Hugs,
Jackie, Bo, Andy, Oscar, Phoebe, and the coolest feral tripawd kitty Huckleberry
I am trying to work 1/2 days at the office and 1/2 at home, so i spend more time with her. She usually holds pee like 10 hours (and more!) but i am kind of pushing to go out before 8 hours and so she can also spend some time outdoors with such beautiful weather.
Thank you!! Will start my work day now with my "personal assistant" (that's what i've always called her; when she was healthy, i would also try to work from home once a week just to enjoy her company)
Love it! Hang in there and keep in touch ❤
Hugs,
Jackie, Bo, Andy, Oscar, Phoebe, and the coolest feral tripawd kitty Huckleberry
Yaya I'm so sorry to hear this news. I understand your heartbreak, completely. As others have said, Belle knows no different. She may feel tired or not be as active, but she has no idea what the report said. In so many ways ignorance is bliss for her, and you can keep her in a state of happiness by being strong, focusing on the moments you have now, not what the future may or may not bring, and of course spoiling her rotten.
What is the treatment they gave her? I'm wondering if it's any different than how lung metastasis from other primary cancers is treated.
We do have this blog post which talks about natural remedies for treating coughing due to lung mets. You may want to ask your vet if these are OK for her.
Tripawds Founders Jim and Rene
tripawds.com | tripawds.org | bemoredog.net | triday.pet
Thanks for your words and advice. Her vet basically said they cannot do anything for her condition other than prescribe caugh medecin. 🙁
We consulted her surgeon and she said it is very rare to have primary lung cancer but she also pointed out the facts and life expectancy if undergoing lung surgery + Chemo (which we won't, she is now close to 13 years old and she has already undergone too much, and all that torture would only extend her life a few months if anything) So basically, we'll keep her happy until she is not :'(
I am dreading that. How unfair!
Awww yeah, I understand, that makes sense. Did they mention prednisone at all?
The remedies mentioned in the blog post are pretty benign and are just there to help keep a patient comfortable. They may be a good addition to any pain meds she is prescribed.
I'm in the Tripawds Chat for a bit if you want to talk.
Tripawds Founders Jim and Rene
tripawds.com | tripawds.org | bemoredog.net | triday.pet
I love the idea of driving her to places rather than have her tiring from the walk. Driving her to the lake, or driving her the half block to the forest.....anything that saves her energy but still gets her where she likes to go.😎 I think Belle is aware that she tires easily and, because she's such a smart girl, she self limits her activity based on her energy level.
You can also check into doggy strollers in our Gear Shop. A lot of people found those as a useful tool to help dogs still enjoy their"walk".
I found that Happy Hannah thoroughly enjoyed just laying outside under a shade tree, or bathing in the sun, and just sniffing all the scents of nature blowing in the breeze. Of course, having her sit next to her giving her tumny rubs enhanced our experience 😊
And be sure and ask your Vet about Prednisone and a cough medicine. Jackie gave you some good food suggestions, and the Pred helps increase the appetite too. Don't know how much you want to pursue as far as possibly shrinking those crap mets, but ask your Vet about Piroxicam, or maybe Palladia , or Metronomics.
Keep us posted. We're all sending pawsitive energy to our sweet Belle. Maybe make her sandbox j fo a treasure hunt for her. You can hid a bone, or some treats, etc.
Hugs
Sally and Alumni Happy Hannah and Merry Myrtle and Frankie 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!
Well, as you can see, I was a little behind on my post. It takes me a long time to typo!
Just saw that WONDERFUL picture of Belle in her sandbox! LOVE IT! And she clearly is a happy girl!!
My Happy Hannah actually never developed a cough, so others will have to chime in on that. I just know that those who were prescribed found relief for their dogs.
I completely understand drawing a line in the sand as far as any further treatment. The only thing I "tried" was a metronomic therapy for just a couple of weeks. She developed a uti as a result and I stopped. It also required some initial Vet visits after a couple of weeks of pills for blood work, and I didn't need to put her through any more of those.
I do want to go back to the Prednisone though. As my Vet explained it, the main purpose at this point was that it could reduce the inflammation around the met itself, the inflammation caused by the met. He said sometimes Pred can be a horrible drug, but in this case, it can be a really good miracle drug as far as adding comfort, etc. And, from my observation, I think it helped with the breathing pattern. So I would see if your regular Vet would prescribe it if your Onco won't...or vice versa. And no, I'm not a Bet and not giving Vet advice😉
I'll try and find the very recent thread where someone was using a cough medicine and it reduced the cough fairly quickly.
((((((((((((((((((((HUGS)))))))))))))))))))
Sally and Alumni Happy Hannah and Merry Myrtle and Frankie 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!
Thanks for all the good advice and being there for us. Belle is in a good mood; just the panting at night but seems to stop when we move her from the bed to the floor. But then in the morning she jump back on the bed. Her voice already started to change, it breaks my heart the deterioration and I know this is just the beginning.
We are in touch with the surgeon that removed her front limb and she asked if we would consider surgery but we don't want to put her and us through that with no much life or quality life expectancy ahead and risks.
I'm so sorry about the second diagnosis.
It happened to us too, and in some ways the second cancer diagnosis hit me harder than the first one. It seemed like losing a leg to cancer was more than Maggie should have had to deal with in her life, but a second cancer? Maggie's second cancer was an oral melanoma tumor on her upper jaw. The recommended treatment was surgical removal of the tumor and some of her upper jaw followed by radiation. At that point Mag was almost 11 and dealing with several health issues. I declined the surgery and treatment.
One thing I would recommend is that you write down your current thought process- what path you are choosing and why. I did that when the second cancer was identified, at the time it helped me be confident about my choices. But more importantly it helped me after Maggie passed. Like almost every human being fighting through an emotional time I had a few second thoughts pop into my head... those dang 'what ifs' that can make an already difficult time harder. My notes helped remind me that I had made the right choices and I could grieve without the added burden of 'what if' guilt.
I hope Belle has lots and lots of more precious moments with you, treasure every one!
Karen and Spirit Maggie
Tri-pug Maggie survived a 4.5 year mast cell cancer battle only to be lost to oral melanoma.
1999 to 2010
Thank you Karen for sharing. So unfair to start with and then again??? And who knows, when we go through the what if scenarios, what if we do the surgery, we recover (that's hell of a lot, especially at her age) and then chances are it will happen again.
She's been my very best friend ever since she came into my life and there is nothing that would take away all the moments we shared and that we'll still have to share.
2 Guest(s)
