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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Hello everyone, thank you for this great resource. It has been of tremendous help.
Our beloved Chloe 7 year old Lab mix has been diagnosed with what seems to be Osteosarcoma, waiting on biopsy to confirm but all the vets have said it’s that. She started limping and within 3 weeks we got her X rays and it was then diagnosed. She also got chest X-rays and no Mets were seen. 1 week later she got her amputation surgery.
Her recovery overall has been positive. Her energy levels are increasing and she’s even tried to fetch. It has been 2 weeks since her amputation and she is now ready for suture removal. There has been a couple of nights were she’s been very restless, can’t get any sleep and moves all night changing positions, going from our bed to the living room etc. we also noticed that she has been breathing a bit different at times, hard breathing. Could it be that in 2 weeks the Mets have spread and are giving her symptoms already or is this part of her normal recovery? She also vomited twice in the past 2 weeks. Just wondering if I should go get her X rays or a CT scan.
in terms of pain medication she is currently still on gabapentin . We are giving her 300 mg 3 times per day. Next week we are planning to reduce the the dose until she totally comes off it.
we are currently looking at next steps in terms of treatment options. I have found a great resource online that gives different treatment options for a chance of long term survival.
https://www.ccr.....unotherapy
this is a great resource that I wish I would’ve found before doing the amputation. Most of the immunotherapy treatments require cancer tissue removal during surgery so they can create a personalized vaccine that will help your pet create an immune response to the cancer. It is not a one size fits all and all pets will respond differently.
There are also many clinical trials with universities that can help cover some cost and potentially provide a life saving treatment. The results in some of the clinical trial studies really give hope .
I really hope this helps newly and existing diagnosed with this horrible disease.
Andres
Welcome Andres. Your future posts will not require approval.
Thanks for sharing that link! I'm sure it will be helpful to others going through the same thing.
The heavy breathing could be a pain signal. Have you mentioned it to your vet?
Hi Andres and Chloe, welcome.
Tell us more about her days lately. How much activity and what type is she getting? Sometimes dogs seem like they are ready to do more (they are so good at convincing us!) but their body needs more time to rest and catch up. This is major surgery and changes everything about how the body moves. Muscles that weren't being used before are suddenly getting used, a lot, and the body gets really sore at the end of the day.
I would definitely bring up her symptoms to your vet. What you are describing could be pain signals . Even though she's on Gabapentin, she may need additional medication to manage her soreness. It's not unusual to have symptoms like that, but they do indicate that something is going on. Try not to jump to the worst case scenario. Usually it's just a sign that a dog needs more pain management and healing time. Since she has a vet visit coming up that would be a good time to discuss but if the symptoms continue definitely try to get her in sooner. Meanwhile, cut back on her activity levels and see if that helps.
I'd also advise you to line up a canine rehab therapy visit for her. They can evaluate her pain levels and come up with a way to treat them so she feels better. The Tripawds Foundation can pay for your first rehab visit too!
Thank you for sharing that website, I hadn't seen it before. If you'd like to share that information in Tips and Resources it will allow more people to see it in the future.
Chloe is lucky to have such caring hoomans looking after her during recovery. Yeah, thos part of the journey can feel like an up and down roller coaster......but it doesn't last furever!!
As Jerry said, it does sound like ahe is having some pain and the meds meed to be adjusted. How much does Chloe weigh??
Her "activity level" for the first two weeks should be rest, rest, rest, short leashed potty breaks and more rest. It sounds like she may have been over doing it a bit?
Try massaging up and down her spine, her neck, shoulder area. Any signs of tense areas? Regardless, give her lots 0f massages anyway to keep her muscles from getting tight
I know my Happy Hannah was restless at night, in part ot was due to the fact she was used to sleeping one way and on one side. Once the stitches were oit she seemed more comfortable and was avle to sleep on her preferred side.
So yeah, a bit more healing time, readjusting pain meds and taking things really s.owlh a vit longer should help.
Keep is posted, okay?
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!
Thank you all for your replies
She’s had a couple great days since my lost. We are starting to see some of her old behaviors prior to the surgery. Feels amazing to see her like this.
We will take on the advice to reduce her activity levels and allow her more time to fully heal. We took her in to the vet and he told us everything was going very well and advised against any more diagnostic test for now. He said those symptoms were just part of the recovery process.
Chloes sutures were still not yet ready to remove so we will be back there in 1 week .
We will be moving forward with some oncologist visits this week to look at treatment options for the cancer.
Will continue to post updates 🙂
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