Caring for a Three Legged Dog or Cat
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Hi,
A quick update on Serge... He slept through the night, with a couple of restless moments,,, Went out to pee a couple of times, but otherwise, no major problems, so far.. He went out this a.m. after we had got up, and had a Poop !!..
A Contech Pro Collar, is arriving this afternoon, and that should calm him down, because the "satellite dish is really making him restless...(Amazing place Amazon !)... Difficult to play with chew toys, etc, as they keep slipping out of the cone.. We shouldn't laugh, but we do, watching him retrieving something into the cone, only to have it slide out again. Reminiscent of "The myth of Sisyphus ", rolling the stone up the hill, only to have it roll down again, and so on..(Ah, the benefits of a classical education in my long past youth. Unfortunately, I feel like Sisyphus myself too often these days..lol..)
I do have a question though.. We are quite taken aback, at the fact that (other than trying to get his collar off) he is hopping around as if nothing had happened, It is impossible to keep him confined, because he could hurt himself, banging around and trying to climb out of his enclosure. I suspect it is anxiety caused by the limited peripheral vision of the "cone"..
He is not running around in an "uncontrolled"manner, as if he were trying to escape any pain, but just acting normally.. He slept on the bed with us for a while last night, and then on his own bed, at the foot of ours on the floor...
IS THIS NORMAL ?? I know how resilient dogs can be after surgery or injury, but we didn't expect this... Hopefully he will have calmed down by the time our older GSD Raven comes home in 6 days or so, because he will have to be confined then, until the sutures re taken out.. I will ask the vet this morning about Acepromazine, or something similar for him. We don't have any "........omazine" stuff at home. Any thoughts on this approach..
We are not complaining, quite the contrary, just curious...
Any advice is greatly appreciated..
Regards
Richard
"No matter how eloquently the dog may bark, he cannot tell you that his master is poor, but honest".....Bertrand Russell
Hey Richard!
You're not alone, Im feeling the same way with Domino. Today is his third day after surgery and he acts fine lol. No pain, nothing. He's playful, eating, using the bathroom fine. Acts as if nothing is wrong! As far as ace goes, its worth a shot. We actually prescribe it very often at work for young dogs after surgery. Just to help keep them calm and from hurting themselves.
Hopefully we're just lucky and our dogs are very resilient! We'll keep our fingers and paws crossed for you and Serge. Hopefully the rest of his recovery will be as smooth as the beginning!
Cassie and Domino
“A dog is the only thing on earth that loves you more than he loves himself.”
Domino had his left front leg amputate on May 13th 2014 after being hit by a car. He's now living a happy healthy life on three legs :)
I just got off the phone with the vet, who agreed that even though the puppy believes that he can run around, he must stay quiet for the next four or five days.. She prescribed Acepromazine, which is being picked up as I write this.. As she said, short of nailing his remaining feet to the floor, it is the best way right now to put him in a "quiet zone", which is where he needs to be.. The pain meds alone, are only keeping him down, for a short duration..
Hopefully with the addition of the ACE, and the new soft collar, he will be quiet for the next while, and we can enclose him..(I am very sceptical, that "zonked" or not, he "ain't" going to want to be in the enclosure...)
Have a good weekend folks, and good wishes to all your tripawd family members..
To close on a lighter note, I was talking to the breeder this morning, to find out if our older GSD Raven is behaving herself at the kennels, and she told me.... 'This dog looks like a barrel, with a German Shepherd bobble head stuck on the front..' So I will be getting a slim line version back, with the Winter fat gone. There was so much snow here this year, that her exercise was very limited, consequently she "ballooned" a little...
Richard
"No matter how eloquently the dog may bark, he cannot tell you that his master is poor, but honest".....Bertrand Russell
Serge happily (doesn't exactly look ecstatic in the photo !) wearing his new soft collar.. Arrived about 1 hr ago...As soon as the "cone" came off, and this was put on, he immediately tried to lick the wound, without success.. He is "somewhat" calmer, but still hopping happily all over the place. He just had a good feed of his regular food, with some pieces of roasted chicken I shredded up, left over from yesterday. Wow, did he ever hose that down in a hurry.. Now he is sleeping it off !!!.. At least he is not continually banging into everything, and has unimpeded vision forward and laterally, which should go a long way to alleviating the anxiety he felt, "trapped" in the plastic cone... We'll just have to keep checking the air pressure, in the collar, as I'm sure it will need to be "puffed up", on a regular basis.. On the bright side, he now has a ready made inflatable life-jacket, for later !!!
Regards
Richard
"No matter how eloquently the dog may bark, he cannot tell you that his master is poor, but honest".....Bertrand Russell
Sich a delightful update! And I love your description of Raven!! I like to describe my Happy Hannah in "fluffy dog" terms.....hippo with three legs.....plus sized model...well-muscled, etc. Raven's descriptin iis great!
I can offer no advice as far as slowing Serge down. My Happy Hannah was restless and couldn't sleep, but all because she was fairly miserable and ad a rough recovery. Glad that Serge is breakingmthe mold when it comes to smooth recoveries! Don't know what his dose of ACE will be, but I guess combined withn the pain pills the vet is started with a lower dose
Have you tried leavng the collar off while you are with him? That may make a huge difference. I'm sure noises are so much louder to be funneled straight into his magnificent ears!
YAAAAAAAAY FOR POOPING AND PEEING!!
and I agree......YAAAAAAY to Amazon!! Best service...true "customer care" philosophy and incredible selections!!
You can use the AMAZON link here and a portin of purchase will go to help Tripawds site.
Higs to all!
Sally and Happy Hannah
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!
Oh...just saw the update with the soft collar!! He does look jappier...still a little ticked but mich happier!! ADORABLE pictures!!
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 have seen several times here that the youngsters seem to take the surgery in stride...lucky pups!
I was going to suggest the collar you got. My quad pug Obie had knee surgery last year and he really couldn't handle the cone. I also couldn't put him in a crate so I made a small enclosure with an x-pen to contain him. I adopted him from a rescue group and he had a history of neglect and abuse. The vet also gave me ACE, but I found that the tram kept him quiet enough for the first couple weeks. Of course Obie was 7 at the time, not a growing puppy.
Another thing you might try is a pair of boxer shorts- the tail goes through the fly. I made some pants for Obie that covered his knee (but still let it breath). He wasn't at all interested in his incision, but with the pants on I felt more comfortable with the collar off. I used the collar when I couldn't watch him, but time out of the collar went a long way in keeping is agitation level down.
How about some food puzzles?
I LOVE the Sisyphus reference! I've been known to use that to nick-name some work projects (I work for the Fed Government...enough said). I also have a tee shirt with showing a guy pushing a round rock up a hill and the caption is "That's how I roll".
Speaking of work...
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
krun15 said
We have seen several times here that the youngsters seem to take the surgery in stride...lucky pups!I was going to suggest the collar you got. My quad pug Obie had knee surgery last year and he really couldn't handle the cone. I also couldn't put him in a crate so I made a small enclosure with an x-pen to contain him. I adopted him from a rescue group and he had a history of neglect and abuse. The vet also gave me ACE, but I found that the tram kept him quiet enough for the first couple weeks. Of course Obie was 7 at the time, not a growing puppy.
Another thing you might try is a pair of boxer shorts- the tail goes through the fly. I made some pants for Obie that covered his knee (but still let it breath). He wasn't at all interested in his incision, but with the pants on I felt more comfortable with the collar off. I used the collar when I couldn't watch him, but time out of the collar went a long way in keeping is agitation level down.
How about some food puzzles?
I LOVE the Sisyphus reference! I've been known to use that to nick-name some work projects (I work for the Fed Government...enough said). I also have a tee shirt with showing a guy pushing a round rock up a hill and the caption is "That's how I roll".
Speaking of work...
Karen and Spirit Maggie
Now that is a great idea, and it will keep his wound clean when we go outside, should he fall over and end up in the PEI dirt..
Don't forget the other "sad" Greek Tantalus..Chained to the rock and trying to drink the water that receded every time he bent down to drink..Quite "tantalising" wouldn't you say...lol Both of them epitomize the "One step forward, three steps back approach of any government""
Richard
Richard
"No matter how eloquently the dog may bark, he cannot tell you that his master is poor, but honest".....Bertrand Russell
The vet gave us 25 mg AceVet, with a suggested 12.5 mg (1/2 tab) per 8 hrs. If it doesn't work within 1/2 to 1 hr, give him the other half.., which we had to... We now have one seriously "zonked" puppy, happily crashed out, in whatever "Never Never Land" he is inhabiting. The soft collar works really well, and his head is nicely supported on the air cushion of the collar, while he sleeps...It is not too tight, and does not restrict his head movements, except for the attempts to get at the wound..
Maybe we can get some work done around the house now...
We have some food puzzles, and his favorite chew toys, and when he has really settled down, he should be able to play with them now that the cone is off. He came for a walk with me this morning, on the leash, down to the end of the driveway, to get the mail..It is really difficult to believe that he only had the surgery on Wednesday, and this is Day 2 at home..
I'll keep you updated
Regards
Richard
"No matter how eloquently the dog may bark, he cannot tell you that his master is poor, but honest".....Bertrand Russell
Well sometimes ya gotta Ace a dawg, it has it's purpose. Glad to hear he's resting, it will pay off.
What a lucky boy he is to have you for a Dad!
Tripawds Founders Jim and Rene
tripawds.com | tripawds.org | bemoredog.net | triday.pet
This is so amazing to hear. I hope this continues and can get off the drugs. ACE is pretty strong stuff. I know they make a non-inflatable cone at Petco. I'm not sure where you are in this new adventure but hopefully well beyond the cone. I haven't been on for a while so I'm looking an reading for every ones updates.
God Bless
Tracy and Bailey
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