Caring for a Three Legged Dog or Cat
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My 8 year old boxer was diagnosed with Osteosarcoma 3 weeks ago. He is 2 weeks post amputation. For 10 days he has been full body trembling/shaking at different times during the day. He is on Gabapentin, Amantadine, Trazodone and antibiotics. We took him off the Tramadol because I have read that it's been horrible for some dogs.
I am at a loss for how I can help him. I wish I could attach a video.
Hi there and welcome. Is your dog's name Kooper?
I'm so sorry about the pain signals he's experiencing. Have you talked to your vet about this yet? You definitely want to do that before modifying any of the medications. It sounds like your vet has given him the standard pain management regimen, which is great. Sometimes however dogs need additional help, through methods such as acupuncture, massage therapy and other canine rehabilitation modalities.
What is your dog's activity level like right now? Is he getting around OK? What's his typical day like? It could be that he's doing too much too soon. This happens a lot.
One of the best things you can do is to let your vet know what's going on, and ask for a referral to a canine rehabilitation therapist. These experts can assess your Boxer to find out what's hurting him, and how to help him feel better. The best part is that the Tripawds Foundation may even pay for your first rehab visit .
If your vet doesn't know of any rehab therapists, let us know and we can try to find one in your area.
Tripawds Founders Jim and Rene
tripawds.com | tripawds.org | bemoredog.net | triday.pet
It does sound like he is in pain.
Did he have a reaction to tramadol before you took him off of it? There are some pups who have reactions to it but many don't. I've had 4 dogs take it and one had a bad reaction (agitation) but the other three did just fine. In fact my little Pug-mix Tripawd just finished 5 weeks on tram (pre and post surgery) and she did well. There is some discussion in the Vet community that Tram isn't that effective for pain but I know it has worked for my dogs.
Talk with your vet about what you are seeing- changing dose or dosing schedule can sometimes help.
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
Hi All,
I was logging on to post on a similar topic and saw this. My dog Morgan is now just over 4 weeks post amputation. He was doing great, healed well and is getting around great. He didn't seem to have any real pain and shortly after his stitches were out (2 weeks post op) he was off all pain meds. Then at about three weeks he started randomly yelping. This has progressed to yelping and jumping up and running. Sometimes he then shakes for 10 min. or sometimes the shaking just comes on by itself. This started two days after he had accupuncture which I assume would not be the reason. He shows no signs of pain when you put pressure on the surgery site but if you apply pressure when shaking, it stops. The vet of course said put him back on Rimadyl and although he seems to tolerate, I don't want him on it forever. I agreed to test for one week and see if this changed. Day one and two he still had this happen twice. Shaking in the morning for 10 minutes + both times. It really scares him and I am nervous to leave him alone as he looks for someone to comfort him. Any thoughts on what this could be? A never? Phantom pain? Did you all still need pain meds 4 weeks post op and for how long. I guess I am just not sure why it came on after he had been off them for a week. Sounds similar to what is going on with Cooper.
Thank you as always for your recommendations.
Maria and Morgan
Day one and two he still had this happen twice. Shaking in the morning for 10 minutes + both times. It really scares him and I am nervous to leave him alone as he looks for someone to comfort him. Any thoughts on what this could be?
Maria I'm sorry to read about Morgan's ongoing pain. Rimadyl is an anti-inflammatory and if this is phantom pain , probably won't do much good. I'm not a pharmacologist so take that for what it's worth, it just that I've interviewed a lot of experts and this is not a drug that specifically alleviates phantom pain on it's own. Typically a dog may receive a regular dose of a NSAID along with gabapentin and amantadine. Click on our pain management link for details.
Also, please don't be afraid of keeping your dog on a long-term pain medication. It's not unusual for Tripawds to need something on a daily basis. Even our Wyatt Ray is on 3 meds daily, and he is in pretty good shape for a 10 year old, but his rehab and ortho vet both feel he benefits more from the medication. We saw a difference as well. As long as you stay faithful to lab work as prescribed, he should be fine if he has to take meds long term.
Did you mention these episodes to the acupuncturist? Oftentimes phantom limb pain can be resolved with dry needle acupuncture, along with regular pain management medications. I would definitely talk to them about his episodes so you can pinpoint the cause (pun not intended 😉 If you don't get an answer you like find a new veterinary pain management specialist. Let me know if we can help find one for you, the IVAPM website is a bit clunky.
Please consider starting a new topic all about Morgan in "Hopping Around" so that we can help you out better OK?
Tripawds Founders Jim and Rene
tripawds.com | tripawds.org | bemoredog.net | triday.pet
Thank you so much Jerry! I will start a new topic. Great point. I guess I did not realize that he would have to be on the pain meds for a while or forever. I just kept hearing the surgery will take away the pain. I have heard so many mixed things on the Rimadyl that it makes me nervous but of course I want him to be comfortable. I also had no idea vets specialized in pain management . It looks like our local 24 hour where he stayed is on the list. Yes I did mention to accupuncturist and she was going to speak to a chiropractor she works with. She also recommended laser surgery.
Maria and Morgan
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