Tripawds Three Legged Dog & Cat Forum Archives
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Ginger, 10yr old shih tzu, had her back leg amputation on Aug 6 due to cancer, she had a beautiful couple of weeks after the surgery, she was active and I guess she enjoyed not having pain in her leg anymore, the wound did heal beautifully and the skin in that area looked so healthy! then she started to be a bit depressed and getting phantom limb pain and by Oct 19 she had developed a skin infection on the area of the amputation, she is past that infection now, but the skin in that area stayed hard, and just today I noticed a couple of bumps, about half an inch in size, so I'll be taking her to the vet asap; I do give her a warm Epsom salts compress before going to bed. Are the skin feeling hard and now those bumps something normal? sure will appreciate to know of somebody else who have experienced this kind of situation, thanks
11:12 pm
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Helpline Hosts
18 October 2009
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What kind of cancer does your pup have?
Karen
Tri-pug Maggie survived a 4.5 year mast cell cancer battle only to be lost to oral melanoma.
1999 to 2010
Maggie's Story Amputation and Chemo
Find me now on Tripawds Circle
Ginger's cancer showed up as a non-healing wound on the pad of her right back leg, she had the amputation, dr said: AGGRESSIVE CARCINOMA, which has reached the lymph node, she is on previcox, once a day
Oh, poor Ginger. She's a cutie! Glad you're taking her to the vet to get checked out.
It's hard to picture what you're describing. Along Max's incision line (which healed beautifully) is a tiny, white protrusion that looks and feels a bit like a plastic garment tag almost sewn into him. I sent some pictures to the oncologist and tried to describe it. She thought perhaps there was a calcification on the scar and also mentioned that they sometimes leave plastic staples in to mark certain surgical areas in case they need to go back in--or something like that. It didn't bug him so I let it go. Maybe something like that is happening?
Good luck!
10:33 am
Team Tripawds
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25 September 2009
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Definitely hard to say what it is but your vet should be able to tell you, they see a lot of incisions. Let us know what happens.
Tripawds Founders Jim and Rene
tripawds.com | tripawds.org | bemoredog.net | triday.pet
Thank you for your comments, am taking her to vet tomorrow morning, she is in no pain, actually this last 4 days she has had pretty good days, until last week she had a difficult time with the phantom limb pain; the bumps are on her tummy, one is half an inch from her scar, the other one is about an inch and a 1/2 from scar, her tummy skin close to the scar and the actual scar skin feel thick, and though she used to let me give her a soft massage for a few weeks after the surgery,to help with circulation, for the last months she doesn't relax anymore when I tried to massage her, so I've stopped that, but do give her warm compresses and apply soft pressure, basically trying to massage her with the compress, she does like that. Ginger is my first loved one to be affected by cancer, me and my family have no experience dealing with this at all, but we have faith and do research about helping her, surely appreciate Tripawds website, we are still in a bit of debt after paying for her surgery but when I get the money I'll get the ebooks you offer, maybe all the symptoms she is presenting are explained there, will let you know tomorrow what the vet says, hopefully is not an infection (no pain, great appetite so far) since she loses interest on food while on antibiotics. I did try to post a picture, but I need to figure out properly how to do it 
Vet saw Ginger yesterday: it's the beginning of a skin infection, he prescribed clavamox and to keep her on previcox, he did check her back leg for water retention and recommended to keep massaging it. It's been 2 1/2 months since the amputation, and the water retention, this second skin infection are complete surprises for me, she is doing ok, a bit uncomfortable with the swollen back leg, but I'm working on it, although today she did cry a bit when a I was massaging her, hopefully she will feel better or I'll take her back to the vet and have him give her something to help her be more comfy. I'm giving her a warm water bath to get those fluids working, does anybody have experience with adding apple cider vinegar to a warm bath for their doggies?
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