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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beclowe87 said
Our doggie had his op about 4 weeks ago and in the last week he has been howling in so much pain.
Welcome, sorry to hear about your pup. Your future forum posts will not require moderation.
The easiest way to share movies here is to upload them to YouTube first. Then just paste the video's page link on a line by itself and the video will automatically embed for all to view.
As pack creatures, dogs will often go off on their own to heal when they are hurt or sick. It's human nature to want and soothe our hurting furry friends, but it is not always what is best for them. Please review the links we posted above for more information about phantom pain , and if your vet is not being helpful by prescribing Gabapentin or offering other solutions, consider seeking another opinion.
Howling can indicate pain, but it may also suggest confusion or depression. Please try to remain strong for your doggie, he needs a balanced pack right now and he will follow your lead.
Other symptoms of phantom pain include:
- Twitching of the surgery site.
- Quick darting about or jumping up
- Sudden yelps or outbursts (more common than howling)
- Excessive licking or chewing near the missing limb
Hope this helps! Please consider starting a new topic to share your story.
Tripawds Founders Jim and Rene
tripawds.com | tripawds.org | bemoredog.net | triday.pet
That seems so strange that he didn't do this in the first 3 weeks post-amp, but just started it in the fourth week. I'm not sure I remembering hearing of someone having their pup experiencing phantom pain that far out from the surgery.
There is an "Ask a Vet" category on the forums - you might want to post in there, and see if you can get the video up there. I would offer to look at it, but our pup only had possible phantom pain a couple times (or it might have just been regular ol' pain) so I don't think I'm an expert on it.
Hopefully others will chime in who dealt with it.
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!
beclowe87 said
Hi all, I am new to this site.Our doggie had his op about 4 weeks ago and in the last week he has been howling in so much pain. I have taken him to the vet twice and they cannot seem to find anything wrong with him. Last night he was howling so loud I tried to calm him down and he bit me, he is obviously in so much pain.
I have no idea if he has phantom limb pain or not... I finally got a video of him today but not sure how to upload it on here. Perhaps if anyone thinks they could identify phantom limb pain I could email it to you?
I am so worried about him, it upsets me so much to see him in so much pain. After the vet examined him for a second time and again could not find a problem with him they gave me some pain killers to give him for a few days to see if they help.
Yesterday he had 8 episodes.... luckily today only one so far.
Please send me your email address if you would like to watch the video and think you could figure it out.
Thank you.
Â
Hi, We are quite new here as well. It sounds scary. I have been thinking about phantom pain . Hopefully Penny will not have it. Hope your dog will be better with the pain. He is so cute
!
Lily would start "screaming" in pain for about 2 or 3 Â weeks after amp. It was so heart wrenching:( Â We would all come running to try to soothe her--she sounded awful. She was on 2 pain meds, and we took her off the Tramadol because she seemed so loopy, and she never had another screaming episode. Maybe it was coincidental-I don't know.
Things will get better, but I know how upsetting it is when it happens.
Joan
Our beautiful Lily was diagnosed with osteosarcoma in her front leg on 12/14/11 at age 8 and had amp on 12/16/11. She completed 5 rounds of carbo. She was so brave and kicked cancer's butt daily! She lived life fully for 4 years, 3 months, and 15 days after her amp. My angel is a warrior princess. I miss her so much.
Wow thanks for all the replies everyone! Yes I did think it may not be phantom limb pain because it has been about 4 weeks after surgery. The only other thing I can think of is that I was taking him on longer walks and perhaps he pulled a muscle or a nerve? Even though the vet couldn't find the problem, the gave him some tramadol for just a few days which I think makes him sleepy. I've also noticed that it happens when he gets excited, e.g. sees another dog or excited to go outside for a walk... so I have been trying to keep him calm when I take him out.
When I took him out this morning (I live in an apartment so just taking him downstairs for a wee), he saw another dog and got excited but he didn't have another "episode", so he hasn't had any today, yah 🙂 But we will see how we go...
Â
Thanks admin for the suggestion of putting the video onto youtube... my first youtube video and it was quite easy to upload, so here is the link:WARNING: wear headphones if watching in a public place, it is very loud!
Â
http://www.yout.....msLrIBTjZs
Â
Please let me know what you think this could be. Thanks for all the support! This is a great website 🙂
Oh my! That's not for the faint of heart! I'm so sorry. I hope he gets better!
Comet - 1999 to 2011
She departed us unexpectedly  January 23, 2011 at the age of 12 1/2.
She was born with a deformed front leg and a tripawd all of her life.
Good gravy, that poor sweet pea! I had my sound on the lowest possible setting and my pup still sat come over from the other room to see what was happening.
I hope he made it through the rest of today with another episode! Like I said before, we didn't have too much experience with Abby having phantom pain , so I'm no expert and can't really say if that's what it's like. Abby screamed a couple of times, but in my memory it didn't last that long - and it was only a couple of times during the 1st week or two of her recovery.
Keep us posted!
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!
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