Caring for a Three Legged Dog or Cat
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Gabe will be 2 weeks from his amp tomorrow, and has been doing pretty well, apart from a bit of a seroma at the incision line, and overdoing it a bit and getting a sore right rear leg. He is improved today after increased resting the past 2 days.
He was prescribed quite a long dose of tramadol and also gabapentin. I am watching him carefully, and I think he does better without the tramadol at this point, but I've read that Gabapentin can prevent phantom limb pain from developing.
So I'm asking, how long did you guys continue with these 2 pain meds, and do you know when, if ever, they are less likely to develop phantom limb pain, so I could discontinue the gaba. He is still on the NSAID because I think it's helping him while he's working his muscles in new ways.
Thanks,
Karen
Hi Kare ! Glad to hear Gabe is doing well! A d it's still early in recovery so you'll see his sparkle continue to come back more and more! Yeah, really important he doesn't overdo right now. It takes about thirty days for muscles, joints snd mobility issues to straighten out. It's hard to slow em down when they're feeling good though!!
Of course, I'm no vet so discuss any medication cha ges with him. In general, most dogs stope with the Tramadol and Gabalentin arou d the two week mark. The Gaba has to be reduced slowly if he's been in it awhile.
In my Happy Hannah's case, she still needed some pain meds I to the third week and, if I recall, I stuck with the Gabapentin more so than the Tramadol and just lowered the dose gradually that third week.
Search phantom limb pain here in the site for more info. My understanding is it can happen during the first week and even a couple of months later. In my unprofessional opinion, if he hasn't had any problems with it at this point, he most likely won't. It's just something you can watch for and if you need to put him back on Gaba if he developers it, then you can.
Post pictures when you can! We'd love to see sweet Jenny!
Hugs to all! You're doing great!!!
Sally and Alumni Happy Hannah and Merry Myrtle 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!
Karen and Gabe, glad to hear things are going well. To answer your question, the amount of time a dog is on pain meds varies from anywhere to 10 days and beyond. Both meds should be scaled back gradually, with gaba being very important to slowly withdraw, talk to your vet to get the appropriate decrease qtys. I would talk to your vet and you can also review these pain management tips from one of the leading experts on the subject, Dr. Petty.
Tripawds Founders Jim and Rene
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