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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Melting my heart over here sweet Belle! You are so beautiful! You look like a real fashionista in all your recovery gear! And you're standing up mighty proud too! Good job!
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!
We all went to visit our girl at the hospital yesterday evening. Belle seemed quite comfortable and i can tell she loves the doctors and team who are taking good care of her. I am moved to see all their love. I am much more in peace knowing she is in good hands and she probably knows she'll be back home soon.
https://www.ins.....hch3hyz8vs
and yes, she is beautiful inside and outside and she is teaching us about life! She amazed me with her attitude; I am so proud of my brave girl.
We just got a call from the vet saying that they are reducing the intravenous painkillers gradually so they suggested we picked her up tomorrow morning. Cannot wait to have her back with us!
It is so heartwarming to hear such wonderful news 💕
Of course the hospital team love Belle, how could they not?
Belle has the sweetest eyes I have ever seen, love pours out of her beautiful eyes 💕
You will learn a lot from your baby, they do make us better humans and teach us to savour each little thing and focus on what is really important and disregard the rest ☺️
Cannot wait for her to be back home with her loving family 💓
Sending lots of hugs and clouds of sausage shaped cuddles to your cutie pie 😘🐮💫✨🌟🌹
Eurydice 77kg/170lb Great Dane limping end of April 2016, amputation (right front leg/osteosarcoma) 4 May 2016 6 courses of carboplatin followed by metronomic therapy, lung mets found 30 Nov 2016. 3 courses of doxorubicin, PET scan 26 Jan 2017 showed more mets so stopped chemo. Holistic route April 2017. Lung X-ray 5 May 2017 showed several tennis ball size mets, started cortisone and diuretics. Miss Cow earned her XXL silver wings 12 June 2017, 13 months and 1 week after amputation and 6 1/2 months after lung mets, she was the goofiest dawg ever and is now happily flying from cloud to cloud woof woofing away :-)
GREAT NEWS!! CAN'T WAIT TO CELEBRATE HER HOMECOMING!!😀😀
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!
Belle is home now but I think she is having a hard time. She is panting heavily all the time. The Dr believes this is a clinical sign of her medications. Did anyone else encounter this? She did not sleep much at all last night. I am worried the panting is due to pain.
That is a definite possibility. What meds did they send her home with? If she's restless, not sleeping, and panting a lot that does sound like it could be discomfort. Might be a good idea to ask her doc if they need to change doses or add something to what she is getting? This is always a little tricky and to be expected. Hang in there!
❤️
Hugs,
Jackie, Bo, Andy, Oscar, Phoebe, and the coolest feral tripawd kitty Huckleberry 
Glad she is home. I would definitely talk to your vet about adjusting the pain medication. What is she on? It's a fine line between panting because of too much medication and not enough. Work with your vet and you guys can figure it out sooner rather than later.
Tripawds Founders Jim and Rene
tripawds.com | tripawds.org | bemoredog.net | triday.pet
Hi sweetie and Belle 🌸🐾
So glad to hear your baby is back home 😍
I agree with Jackie and Rene, it can take a little while to get the drugs dosage right but you will get there.
Talk to the hospital, they should be able to adjust/add medicine over the phone.
And remember, recovery doesn’t last forever, hang in there and ask any questions, big or small, we ain’t going anywhere !
Hugs and cuddles 😘🐮💫✨🌟🌹
Eurydice 77kg/170lb Great Dane limping end of April 2016, amputation (right front leg/osteosarcoma) 4 May 2016 6 courses of carboplatin followed by metronomic therapy, lung mets found 30 Nov 2016. 3 courses of doxorubicin, PET scan 26 Jan 2017 showed more mets so stopped chemo. Holistic route April 2017. Lung X-ray 5 May 2017 showed several tennis ball size mets, started cortisone and diuretics. Miss Cow earned her XXL silver wings 12 June 2017, 13 months and 1 week after amputation and 6 1/2 months after lung mets, she was the goofiest dawg ever and is now happily flying from cloud to cloud woof woofing away :-)
She is on:
-Robenacoxib (Onsior 40mg) - 1 a day for a week
-Amoxicilline/acide clavulanique (clavaseptin 250mg/pill) - 1.5 pill twice a day for a week
- Gabapentin (300mg/pill) twice a day.
After speaking with the doctor she said to try to increase Gabapentin 3 times a day instead.
I was wondering if what makes her pant is not the pain but stress, like a panic attack. I think coming back home and having trouble doing things that were part of her routine, like hopping on and off the couch, getting to her fav spots and even nesting are now a big challenge. She stares at the things before making a move. This kind of stress that a thunderstorm would bring her as well.
Anyone can tell from their experience? Any tips on how to help her?
Today during supper she kept her distance and waited till everyone left to come to the kitchen (she knows i always let her taste what i cook!! Though i am being very limited since she needs to lose weight) Usually she'll be under the table trying to catch whatever my toddlers drop or with her head on my lap or even moving my arm with her snout for attention...
Hard to say either way but if it's discomfort that extra dose should give a bit of relief. If it doesn't please bring it to your doctor. There may be a pain meds that will also relax her more.
If it's anxiety one of the best things you can do for her is to not feed off of it. Go about your normal routine. Don't coddle her. Act like everything is fine, stay strong and calm. I wouldn't be afraid to call her to the kitchen but let her do the rest. Sometimes not acknowledging the anxiety lessens the importance of it to them. It might not, and I'm not a doctor, but i think it's worth a try. I would also keep working on the pain management in a higher priority b/c i think it's more likely.
I don't know the first medication you named, sorry. Some pain meds can bring on anxiousness. That would be another thing to ask your doctor. If so, another pain med might be in order.
I hope some of this helps, hang in there! Soon this will all be behind you ❤️❤️
Hugs,
Jackie, Bo, Andy, Oscar, Phoebe, and the coolest feral tripawd kitty Huckleberry
I am so happy she is home!
I think the Gabapentin 3 times daily will help her feel more comfortable and likely pant less. Try to give it every 8 hours precisely - Gabapentin works on the nerve pain and she surely still has nerve pain for now. Gabapentin should also be deceased slowly - I started to taper Pofi's only after 2 full post op weeks 3x daily. And if that dosage 3 x daily does not seem to be alleviating the panting (which I think is more likely mild pain than panic), that dosage can likely be increased slightly (there is a wide range of appropriate dosage - it does not depress respiratory system so is not a significant risk for overdose). How much does Belle weigh? Pofi was 74 pounds and he took 300 mg 3x daily.
Another possibility is adding an opiate like Tramadol - you have the nerve medication and the Robenacoxib is an NSAID anti-inflammatory. An opiate would be another modality of pain control you could ask vets about if she does not seem a little more comfortable after the increased frequency of Gabapentin.
We are all rooting for Belle!!
Lisa, Minneapolis
On October 27, 2016, nearly 6 months after amputation, and 18 months since his cancer likely started, we lost Pofi to a recurrence of Soft Tissue Sarcoma in his spine quite suddenly. His canine sister also succumbed to cancer on March 1, 2019 - we lavished her with our love in the interim, but life was never quite the same without her only real canine friend. Cliff kitty had to leave us, too, suddenly, in August 2019. Lucia kitty grieved all these losses, but helped us welcome two new Lurchers into our home and our lives, Shae and Barley.
Thanks so much for your support and advise; we feel we are not alone thanks to this wonderful loving community.
Belle had a good night sleep 🙂
The panting is not gone but i think its less frequent so you both were probably right that she was in pain :'(
We'll be calling the vet again since we saw a few tiny drops on her t-shirt in the stitches area.
We wish we could fast forward the week!!
Ah, and her weight is ~65 pounds
Another thing we noticed is that she has not barked since she is back from the hospital... 😔
No worries, this is major surgery and she probably still has major drugs in her system. She needs sleep, food, quick potty breaks, medicine, repeat. Oh.. And lots of love but that's a given 😉❤️
Some drainage from the incision is to be expected, but it's also why she needs to stay quiet, to help reduce the chance of swelling and a hematoma.
Sounds like you're doing really well, hang in there!
Hugs,
Jackie and Huck ❤️
Hugs,
Jackie, Bo, Andy, Oscar, Phoebe, and the coolest feral tripawd kitty Huckleberry
Hey there sweetie 🌸
Yes, this is all as expected and it will resolve itself with your help and vet’s advice.
Surgery is still very recent so it is normal Bells is not up to her good old self yet but she will get there.
For most of us, the turning point was stitch removal, from there we could see big improvement daily.
I personally would not worry a bit with her potential weight gain right now and would let her taste my food without a problem, she will feel better and you can readjust food intake later in recovery ... just sayin’.
Hugs and cuddles 😘🐮💫✨🌟🌹
Eurydice 77kg/170lb Great Dane limping end of April 2016, amputation (right front leg/osteosarcoma) 4 May 2016 6 courses of carboplatin followed by metronomic therapy, lung mets found 30 Nov 2016. 3 courses of doxorubicin, PET scan 26 Jan 2017 showed more mets so stopped chemo. Holistic route April 2017. Lung X-ray 5 May 2017 showed several tennis ball size mets, started cortisone and diuretics. Miss Cow earned her XXL silver wings 12 June 2017, 13 months and 1 week after amputation and 6 1/2 months after lung mets, she was the goofiest dawg ever and is now happily flying from cloud to cloud woof woofing away :-)
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