Caring for a Three Legged Dog or Cat
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Cole had his right front leg amputated yesterday afternoon. We took him for for his first round of chemo at our oncologist's office straight from picking him up. He has been home several hours and I don't know what to do for him. He has a port that we are supposed to inject Bupivacaine into every 6 to 8 hours. He was howling with pain in about 5 and a half hours so we gave it to him early. He has been restless and peeing everywhere. He peed what seemed like gallons when we brought him home in the front yard but he keeps peeing all over in bed. There seems to be no end to it. Is this normal?
The pain medicine in the port seems to be kicking in now. Everything else is about how I expected. His incision looks good with some drainage and swelling. He ate both breakfast at the vet's and dinner tonight (after we chopped up rotisserie chicken from costco into it). He drank after eating.
I think this is just the darkness before the dawn but I am concerned about the peeing. He is huge at 150lb post amp and we have a help em up harness but to take him out to pee takes so much out of him we are trying to keep from doing that too much. For now he has been dribbling some and peeing into puppy pee pads on the bed.
Does anyone have any advice? My sister is on her way over to help with the mountain of laundry from changing the bed so many times already. Do we just need to endure this part?
Welcome to the forums, your future posts will not have to wait for approval.
I am not familiar with the pain med you have, most come home with a pain patch and oral meds. It seems pretty clear that Cole is not getting enough pain medicine- talk to your vet as soon as possible to get it adjusted. The restlessness could be caused by the pain meds, or the residual surgery meds still clearing his system.
Has the peeing slowed this morning? Was the chemo Cole got the IV type? Seems to me that between the IVs for surgery and post op, and if the chemo was an IV then Cole was probably full of fluids. Of course keep your vet informed.
On the plus side he is eating and drinking- those are good signs.
How is he doing this morning?
Karen and the Spirit Pug Girls
Tri-pug Maggie survived a 4.5 year mast cell cancer battle only to be lost to oral melanoma.
1999 to 2010
Welcome! Your future forum posts will not require approval. Jerry will reply shortly with more in depth feedback, as other members surely will too. Check the Tripawds News blog for some important recent posts and podcasts about identifying and managing pain, or use the Advanced Search above to find more helpful info! You can also search all blogs here for more feedback from members, or consider downloading the Tripawds e-books for fast answers.
Tripawds Founders Jim and Rene
tripawds.com | tripawds.org | bemoredog.net | triday.pet
Hey guys, how is Cole doing today? I hope you were both able to get some rest. Those first few days can be ruff.
Let your vet know about the urinating but try not to be too worried. With a lot of bigger dogs it's a ton of effort to get up and pee so between being doped up on pain meds, tired from the surgery and then chemo on top of that, sometimes they let loose and just go in one spot.
I like the pain medication your vet is using, that's top notch care. Dr. Petty, a pain management expert, describes it here:
In either front or rear limb amputation, something called a “Constant Rate Infusion” or “CRI” should be administered as well. A CRI typically contains one to four different pain medications and is dripped in through an intravenous catheter before, during, and immediately after a surgery.
Who's your vet?
Tripawds Founders Jim and Rene
tripawds.com | tripawds.org | bemoredog.net | triday.pet
So sorry you are having a tough first night. Your posting first showed up for me just now and I was even on earlier today. Weird. Anyway when they come home that first day they still have some hospital meds in them plus now we're adding more to the mix. No wonder they're looped up and so restless. Sometimes it's very hard to tell if they're over medicated or under medicated because the symptoms are much the same. I don't think our Max (big German Sheperd 110#s) slept more than 15 minutes at a time the first few days. Very nervous, panting, couldn't settle and did I say VOCAL? He also didn't get his sea legs for a few days either. I think he thought we took both his back legs off. But dogs are so resilient. Cole will get it. Just the fact that he's eating drinking and peeing (even if it's on himself) are good signs. Once the drugs all level and he's able to get up and out things will start looking up. One thing that helped us once Max was able to navigate is we'd help him up with the harness but let him hop himself with us walking right next to him in case we needed to grab the handle. He didn't want us to hold on to the harness once he was up and moving and fought us if we didn't let go. Don't know if this will help you but thought I would mention it just in case. Of course if you have steps he needs to navigate that would be different you'd certainly want a hold on it then. So for now just keep him cleaned up from the urine, stay current on all the meds and stay pawsitive. So far your journey seems to be going pretty normal especially for a bigger boy like Cole. You'll soon find a routine that works for all of you. Hang in there you're doing great! Again sorry we weren't able to see your post last night. Keep us posted on Coles progress.
Hugs
Linda & Max
Yeah, ppst just showed up for me too Linda...guess it's a "must be mmoderated" thing..
Anyway, I was able to respond to Cole's blog last night
If you check Cole's blog he is resting more comfortably now
Glad Jerry knew about that pain I fusion ( no surprise there!) and that it's a "good" thing!
I'll be checki g your blog for more updates, and here 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!
Yes, the 1st post post needed moderation. We try to get to them as early as possible but we are in Pacific time zone so it'll be a while till East Coasters see them approved. Sorry for the delay.
Tripawds Founders Jim and Rene
tripawds.com | tripawds.org | bemoredog.net | triday.pet
jerry said
Hey guys, how is Cole doing today? I hope you were both able to get some rest. Those first few days can be ruff.Let your vet know about the urinating but try not to be too worried. With a lot of bigger dogs it's a ton of effort to get up and pee so between being doped up on pain meds, tired from the surgery and then chemo on top of that, sometimes they let loose and just go in one spot.
I like the pain medication your vet is using, that's top notch care. Dr. Petty, a pain management expert, describes it here:
In either front or rear limb amputation, something called a “Constant Rate Infusion” or “CRI” should be administered as well. A CRI typically contains one to four different pain medications and is dripped in through an intravenous catheter before, during, and immediately after a surgery.
Who's your vet?
Hi Jerry, I updated my blog too. Cole is doing much better now and he is reunited with his Ella. That helped him to rest so much more than anything we have tried. Our surgeon is Dr Kristin Kirkby Shaw at Animal Surgical Clinic of Seattle. She is great and was happy we were already on Tripawds and mentioned she is so glad this site is here. The port does seem to work well other than taping it to just shaved fur has been difficult. It tends to come loose and we are constantly checking it to make sure it is not taped to the tshirt instead which pulls on the sutures holding it in place. It should be coming out today though. We have been describing it to our friends and family as his "under the skin pain medicine soaker hose" in case that helps anyone picture it.
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