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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First post here, great community and great resource. Our 12 year old lab, Libby, had her front right leg amputated on Jan 10 and isn't doing well. The first week home wasn't too bad, but she stopped eating after that first week. Both on meds and off meds, she has no interest in food. She has been drinking water fine.
We decided the amputation would be the best thing for her as it would get rid of the cancer and pain she had in that leg. The rest of her checked out great, her lungs looked clean on xray and her blood work came back good. She is not overweight and has shown good ability to get around on three legs as she had been dealing with the pain for a couple of months prior to diagnosis. Now she just seems down right depressed. We brought her to the vet yesterday for an extended stay to see if they could get her to eat and figure out what is wrong. They are checking her blood work again and we should have the results soon.
At this point, I'm wondering if we made the right decision. I really hate for this to be the way she spends the last weeks of her life. We were really hoping to buy another 6 months or a year with our sweet girl. If anyone has any suggestions or can offer any hope, it would sure be appreciated.
Thanks,
Bob
Thanks for the kind words, sorry to hear about Libby. Your future forum posts will not require moderation.
Every dog is different, but most experience a lack of appetite during the first few weeks. What kind of cancer are you dealing with? Is Libby undergoing chemotherapy?
You will find various blog posts and forum topics here with tips for stimulating appetite. Here are a couple for starters, search these forums and the blogs for others...
get your dog eating after amputation surgery
how to get them to eat after amp surgery
Good luck, please keep us posted.
Tripawds Founders Jim and Rene
tripawds.com | tripawds.org | bemoredog.net | triday.pet
We are only on day 12 post Amp. but Polly would go through days she didnt want to eat. I can tell you what worked for us and if you think it might work you can try.
Polly got depressed about her leg and being crated and wearing the cone of shame . So sometimes i would carry her into my bed and lay with her and tell her what a pretty girl she was etc. I would also feed her some cheese and pill pockets. she loves the flavor of pill pockets for some reason.. so once she got a little bit in her tummy she seemed more interested in food. We always give wet food to her now since the vet reccommended a high protein food. We use Merrick and since they have so many different flavors, she has been more than happy to sample each one.
I dont know if any of that helps, but you know whats best for your baby. Just give her some extra special attention and spoil her a bit. Some dogs get really depressed on losing a leg it seems. She might just need some time to cope and she will be on her way to being the happy girl you remember!
Good luck, keep us posted on how she is doing!
Hi OurLibby,
Have you tried cooking for her? I had never cooked for her before, but Bailey would not eat anything for a few days after surgery and our vet recommended cooking chicken and rice for her (mixed about 50/50). This did the trick for her. Now, we have very slowly been adding back in her old diet and she is doing well with it.
Your Libby has been though a lot, hope she feels better soon and gets her appetite back. Good luck.
Bob, I'm glad you joined us, because I want you to know that you aren't the first pawrent to doubt their decision. The first couple of weeks can be ruff, and many older dogs need extra time to recuperate. Even though she's 12, she sounds like she's in great health so please try not to worry.Try to put yourself in her paws, and consider how you would handle amputation at a very advanced age; I'll bet that Libby is a lot tougher than any human would be under the circumstances!
I'll be curious as to what the vet says, but one thing that caught my attention is, when you say she is on pain meds and off them, do you mean that she sometimes gets them and sometimes doesn't? Just guessing, but sometimes an inconsistent pain medication schedule can be worse than no pain meds at all, and cause a dog to act in weird ways. Talk to your vet about finding a good way to manage her pain. Managing pain is one of the biggest challenges post-op, but we know you're up to the task. And we will be here to help any way we can, so keep us posted OK?
Tripawds Founders Jim and Rene
tripawds.com | tripawds.org | bemoredog.net | triday.pet
Thanks for the replies. We got word from the vet last night that it is her kidneys that are the problem. The blood work came back and showed very high levels of creatinine. They are flushing her for the next couple of days to see how she responds. The levels were fine before surgery, so I'm not sure if it is just from the trauma, anesthesia, meds or cancer spreading.
We have no plans to do chemo, it came to the point of either putting her down or removing the leg, and we chose the latter. She is the best dog in the world, so any extra time with her is a bonus. I hope she can beat this and have a few good weeks/months before we have to let her go. I'm super thankful that we got 12 good years with her.
Oh she has a sweet face!
Sounds like a plan, I'm so glad you found out what's going on. Thanks for filling us in, because we'll keep this situation in the back of our minds next time someone has appetite challenges so far out from surgery.
When it comes to this disease, it's all about quality over quantity. Chemo isn't for every dog, and by going with your heart you can't go wrong. Libby will have some excellent quality time with you now that the pain is gone and she's on the road to recovery. Keep us posted OK?
Tripawds Founders Jim and Rene
tripawds.com | tripawds.org | bemoredog.net | triday.pet
What a sweet face! We had a young pup so she recovered fairly quickly in the standard 14 days. Sometimes the older pups do take longer. It is quite common for the pups to seem depressed - and of course now you know she's had the kidney trouble as well. I hope they can get that sorted out and you'll have her home and recovered soon. Once her appetite is back, the spoiling can begin!
Hang in there,
Jackie, Angel Abby's mom
Abby: Aug 1, 2009 – Jan 10, 2012. Our beautiful rescue pup lived LARGE with osteosarcoma for 15 months – half her way-too-short life. I think our "halflistic" approach (mixing traditional meds + supplements) helped her thrive. (PM me for details. I'm happy to help.) She had lung mets for over a year. They took her from us in the end, but they cannot take her spirit! She will live forever in our hearts. She loved the beach and giving kisses and going to In-N-Out for a Flying Dutchman. Tripawds blog, and a more detailed blog here. Please also check out my novel, What the Dog Ate. Now also in paperback! Purchase it at Amazon via Tripawds and help support Tripawds!
The poor baby, her face is adorable. I will be crossing everything that the flushing can help her kidneys and she can get back on track with her eating. I hope you can get lots more quality time together.
Karen and Spirit Magnum
Magnum: 30th May 2002 to 5th May 2012. Lost her back left leg to osteosarcoma on 5th Sep 2011. Lung mets found on 20th Mar 2012 but it was bone mets in the hip that ended her brave battle. Magnum's motto - "Dream as if you'll live for ever, live as if you'll die today" (James Dean). Loyal, loving, courageous and spirited to the end. My beloved heart dog, see her memoirs from Rainbow Bridge ...... http://princess.....pawds.com/
Well Libby came home from the vet yesterday, she was there since Monday morning getting IV fluids and various treatments and force feedings. We visited her several times, and were very discouraged after the visit on Friday night. They brought her into the room on a blanket and she didn't even wag her tail or perk up at all. We cried, thinking the worst. On Saturday, they retested her blood and got very positive results. We went to pick her up last night and she seemed so much better. We got her home and she even ate some of her good old kibble right away. They gave her a steroid injection on Saturday morning, so maybe that did the trick. She has been doing great at home, even ate some more this morning. She is now 23 days out from her surgery, we're hoping the worst is over. It's hard to not want to be cautious with our optimism, just a day ago we thought the end was near. So one day at a time, and we're just happy she is home and having a good day.
Bob
Wow, what a remarkable story, and a huge yippee! to Libby for pulling herself out of the kidney funk!! I totally understand your cautiousness about raising your expectations, but I am super excited for you regardless!! Libby is so lucky to have caring humans like you, Bob. Since it sounds like Libby is not ready to give up yet, I hope you hang in there too and get to enjoy many more months to come with her 
So glad to hear she perked up! Hope she continues to do well and that her appetite is back for good!
Hang in there - and enjoy every minute,
Jackie, Angel Abby's mom
Abby: Aug 1, 2009 – Jan 10, 2012. Our beautiful rescue pup lived LARGE with osteosarcoma for 15 months – half her way-too-short life. I think our "halflistic" approach (mixing traditional meds + supplements) helped her thrive. (PM me for details. I'm happy to help.) She had lung mets for over a year. They took her from us in the end, but they cannot take her spirit! She will live forever in our hearts. She loved the beach and giving kisses and going to In-N-Out for a Flying Dutchman. Tripawds blog, and a more detailed blog here. Please also check out my novel, What the Dog Ate. Now also in paperback! Purchase it at Amazon via Tripawds and help support Tripawds!
This is wonderful news. I hope she continues to improve. As you say, take it one precious day at a time.
Karen and Spirit Magnum
Magnum: 30th May 2002 to 5th May 2012. Lost her back left leg to osteosarcoma on 5th Sep 2011. Lung mets found on 20th Mar 2012 but it was bone mets in the hip that ended her brave battle. Magnum's motto - "Dream as if you'll live for ever, live as if you'll die today" (James Dean). Loyal, loving, courageous and spirited to the end. My beloved heart dog, see her memoirs from Rainbow Bridge ...... http://princess.....pawds.com/
hi im sorry i didn't read this earlier. My Zuess had the same happening, with the exception it was during chemo. Now, I BEGGED the vets to "do something" and not until 4 days into it the oncologist finally caved and gave me PREDNISONE...
I was SO mad with all of these vets, as they ought to have known this RIGHT AWAY! but nooooo, my poor baby had to feel nauseated for days getting the wrong "pick me up" at each turn.
So please for Ms. Libby keep that in mind should it happen again.
Then, I REGRET that I didn't go with a low dose pill form chemo right after he recovered from his surgery. The surgery was problem free as was his post op recovery. He too was clear of lung mets right after surgery. And I tried an all natural treatment which also was hard to give, because again, the vets have NO imagination. This product might have worked, but they put dogs on extremely fatty diets as it works better that way.
In my case with Zuess I did not want to do chemo, but now look back (hindsight sigh....) and I think / feel he would have benefitted from a low dose daily chemo pill better starting out with then still clear lungs. After he developed the lung mets (which i simply didn't believe he would... i never had a dog with cancer after all) they were all over. Then I decided to do intravenous chemo, but he got awfully nauseated which is when he wouldn't eat as mentioned above, the Prednisone worked. He recovered and had three more decent weeks.
Again, hindsight right.... A big CyberHug for Libby and you for caring as much as you clearly do !!!
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