Caring for a Three Legged Dog or Cat
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Our 10 year old Golden Retriever, Mabey, came home today after her amputation surgery. She is doing really well. Having a hard time keeping her quiet and lying down. We spoil our dogs 
and they both sleep in the bed, couch, pretty much wherever they want. I know for the first couple of weeks we are supposed to limit her movement to allow for healing. Any suggestions on where she should sleep? She has a nice "ortho" bed. I'm thinking about keeping it in the living room and sleeping on the floor next to her for a few nights. If we have her bed in the bedroom she will definately try to jump on the bed in the middle of the night.
Any other advice for the first few days home would be much appreciated.
Thanks
Shelly
Howdy!
Sounds like Mabey is doing great!! I will caution you they always seem to do great the first day home from surgery. My Harmony did as well, but kinda slowed on the 3rd day after. It's normal. It's like when you garden the first day of spring, it takes a couple of days for the soreness to really set in.
We slept and sat on the floor beside Harmony for the first few days to help keep her quiet and immobile. Mabey will probably let you know when she's tired of you "crowding" her out! LOL! Harmony let us know when we woke one morning to find she had snuck off to another room to sleep.
Keep spoiling that girl, you won't regret it, promise.
<3<3 Pam and Angel Harmony <3<3
Harmony became a Tripawd on 10/21/14 (MCT). She left us way too soon on 11/1/14.
"We miss you so much; our love, our heart, our Harmony."
- Pam, Ron and Melody, Meesha, Doublestuff and Mariah Carey
Hi Shelly,
I am so very happy to be reading this, and that Mabey came through her surgery so well.....and your situation for your pups is the same exact thing as mine. When we brought Polly home from her amp, she never missed a beat and was very quickly back to herself. She also had a very large ortho bed to sleep on in our living room and I slept every night for about a week with her there, but then we let her sleep with us in our bed again like she always did. We lifted her up for awhile, maybe another week but then she could easily jump up by herself .......but we NEVER ever let her jump down from our bed being a front amp. She always waited until we picked her up and helped her down. I do remember her jumping up on our sofa after only about 5 days from her amp!! Caught us off guard but the sofa is much lower than our bed so she was fine and always kind of slithered off and never really jumped off. You sure have to watch them though, they usually will carry on as they always have, and no amp will keep them down for long!!
That is my experience, and I am sure many others have done pretty close to the same thing while their Tripawds were recuperating, but you will get plenty more advice and experiences coming along.
Continue to keep us updated on your sweet girl, and post pics if you get the chance.....we love pics !!
Love,
Bonnie & Angel Polly
Welcome and best wishes for Mabey! Rehab vets tell us, if you want life to be normal again you must act as though life is normal! Do try to keep her off the bed, and create a recovery room if possible to limit movement and keep her off furniture. Otherwise, let her heal and maintain business as usual, as much as possible. For more recovery and care tips, bookmark Jerry's Required Reading List and check out the Tripawds e-books .
Tripawds Founders Jim and Rene
tripawds.com | tripawds.org | bemoredog.net | triday.pet
I slept on the floor with my little pug Maggie for a couple of nights. She was such a slug and so cautious that we were able to go back to the regular bed with no fear of her trying to get up or down on her own. I built a small set of stairs to the bed but she never would go up on her own, but once she was healed up she would go down by herself (rear amp).
A couple years ago one of my quad pug's had knee surgery and he wasn't allowed to jump for 4 months. In order to keep things as normal as possible for him and my other pug I put my mattress on the floor. He is a rescue and very sensitive about sleeping with me.
I'm glad to hear Mabey is home and doing well. Like Pam said, don't be surprised if Mabey seems to have a setback or two during healing. Just stay positive and focus on her overall forward progress!
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
I slept with Johnnie for a couple of days during the recovery period. We put him out of the bedroom before the surgery, not because he slept on the bed but because of the stairs.
Nowadays he sleeps in our home office. He is quite a "different" dog - doesn't like soft places. Prefers the floor.
Speedy recovery!
Daniela & Johnnie
Our awesome Golden Boy was diagnosed for OSA in April 2014 in the proximal humerus, front-leg amp on 05/20/2014. Finished chemo (Carbo6) on 07/10/2014. Ongoing treatment: acupuncture + K-9 Immunity Plus ( 3chews) and home-cooked no-grain diet. Stopped Apocaps because of liver issues. Liver issues: controlling altered enzymes with SAM-e and Milk Thistle. October 17: started having seizures. Taking fenobarbital for seizures. April 18: started prednisone.
My husband and I actually took our king size mattress and put it on the floor out in our home office. We live in a split foyer home so lots of stairs everywhere. With being in the office that only left one step for our Leland to manage to go out to potty. We lived in the office with Leland for the first 2 weeks.
I'm glad to hear that Mabey is home and I'm sure you'll figure out the best sleeping arrangements to keep Mabey calm.
Sahana and her Angel Leland
November 17, 2009 - June 30, 2014
May you finally be healthy and running free at the Rainbow Bridge. Until we meet again my sweet boy!
I turned our great room into a large playpen! I arranged the couches in an "L" and pretty much caged Eddy in, leaving a 3 foot exit area that I blocked with a cushioned bench so we humans could get in and out. I removed our large square glass coffee table, leaving him a nice size area to recover. I slept on the couch next to him for a couple of weeks. That way I could help him outside if he needed to go out. Needless to say, four months later, the room pretty much looks the same! Except the bench has moved and Eddy can wander as much as he wants. Aesthetically, it doesn't look the best, but it functions, and Eddy's safety and comfort are number one right now.
Betsy Golden and Angel, Eddy. Eddy was diagnosed with Osteosarcoma 7-23-14, had a left rear amputation 8-07-14, had 3 rounds of carboplatin chemotherapy, a small lung met was discovered in October, had 2 rounds of doxorubicin, and unfortunately more lung mets were discovered. Eddy fought cancer valiantly and went to the Rainbow Bridge 1-6-15, at the age of 7 years and 359 days, just six days short of his 8th birthday. Best Dog, Ever....you will never be forgotten.
Shelley- So happy that Blaze is home. Just remember the 1st couple of weeks can be a scary rollercoaster ride. As far as sleeping arrangements I slept with Jake in the living room. It was for my piece of mind and he loved to snuggle. It also prevented me from having him wear the "Cone of Shame". Just make sure Blaze stays hydrated...Bring him fresh water, ice cubes...Sally suggests Ice Cream in water lol. Please don't be too concerned if he doesn't gobble up his food right away. Also Pooping doesn't always happen for a couple days. BTW make an announcement when he does...we all celebrate. I know it is hard but try to treat Blaze as normally as possible. There will be some mis-steps and it can be heart wrenching, but he will figure it out. Please stay connected and ask us anything. Try to rest when you can, it can be physically and emotionally draining.
Looking for an update on Blaze, I hope all is going OK.
Karen
Tri-pug Maggie survived a 4.5 year mast cell cancer battle only to be lost to oral melanoma.
1999 to 2010
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