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!
I am glad that i have found this community, it is so helpful in that we are going throught.
Here is our story! My name is Faye and my best friend calls Melia. We are from Greece and in my country her name means honey 🙂
Before one month started to limp in her front leg so we go to the vet and he told me after axial that she has a osteosarcoma in a very difficult point at the humerus. He advised me to start with the amputation that we did in 17/11. Now she recovers, i undrestand that she is in a sok, she unsterdans that sth is measing and it makes me sad. But i am dedicated to do whatever it takes to have back our wonderful walks without pain.
So here is the firts point that i need your help.
Are we gona have our long walks? I will practice her with food everything to need for balance and not to scare because know she scares.
Is she will able to go up stairs? Know that she has the stitches she cant o because she is a scary tripod?
The vet tells me to start chemo in about 2 weeks, and i dont know what to do.I dont want to make more problems with the hemo/
Doctor says that the metastasis is sure.
Hi Faye and Melia, welcome to the club nobody wants to join. We are so happy you decided to post here. We have had other members from Greece over the years, with VG being the most recent.
You are such a good parent to Melia! And you ask good questions. I will try to answer them for you.
Are we gona have our long walks? I will practice her with food everything to need for balance and not to scare because know she scares.
As you might have guessed, it's not the best thing for a Tripawd to walk more than a few minutes at a time. A fit, strong Tripawd who is fully recovered is better off taking shorter walks of 10-15 minutes at a time, 2-3 times a day. You can still have long walks with a dog stroller like this one, if you can get them where you live. If not, a wagon is second best though it may take time, patience, and treats to get Melia used to it since you report that she is a little nervous. Once she gets used to the motion of being in a stroller or wagon, you can go as long as you want!
Is she will able to go up stairs?
Well, it's harder for front leg amputees to go down stairs, and easier to go up. Stairs are tricky at first and she should avoid them. If you can get a harness like the Ruffwear Flagline that would be ideal. We have our Tripawds Angel Exchange for people who are looking for no-cost gear like harnesses, and you can post there that you are looking for one (I heard that some are coming in soon! 😉 The harness can help you help her go up and down stairs because it has a handle on top you can assist her with, like how we helped Jerry on our stairs.
The vet tells me to start chemo in about 2 weeks, and i dont know what to do.I
Always remember that chemo is optional. Some people do it and some people do not. Dogs don't have the same side effects of treatment that people do, they tend to do pretty well with it. Over the years we have seen chemotherapy can certainly increase the odds of longer term survival, but there are no guarantees. If the cost will stress you out, that is not good medicine for Melia. She just wants you and her to be happy.
Here is a post we wrote about chemotherapy decisions a while back, the information is still the same.
The Chemotherapy Decision: Joys and Regrets
Doctor says that the metastasis is sure.
Osteosarcoma does come back in the lungs, usually. Some dogs will outlive the prognosis, some will not. It's really a toss up. The important thing is to stay focused on the present and enjoy every minute you have Melia with you, that's what she wants most!
I hope this helps. I'm going to try to translate in Greek now, let me know if this worked:
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Γεια σας Φαίη και Μελία, καλώς ήρθατε στο κλαμπ που κανείς δεν θέλει να γίνει μέλος. Είμαστε πολύ χαρούμενοι που αποφασίσατε να δημοσιεύσετε εδώ. Είχαμε και άλλα μέλη από την Ελλάδα όλα αυτά τα χρόνια, με το VG να είναι το πιο πρόσφατο.
Είσαι πολύ καλός γονιός για τη Μέλια! Και κάνεις καλές ερωτήσεις. Θα προσπαθήσω να σου απαντήσω.
Θα κάνουμε τις μεγάλες μας βόλτες; Θα την εξασκήσω με το φαγητό ό,τι χρειάζεται για ισορροπία και όχι για να τρομάξω γιατί να ξέρεις ότι τρομάζει.
Όπως ίσως μαντέψατε, δεν είναι ό,τι καλύτερο για ένα Tripawd να περπατά περισσότερα από λίγα λεπτά τη φορά. Ένα υγιές, δυνατό Tripawd που έχει αναρρώσει πλήρως είναι καλύτερα να κάνει μικρότερους περιπάτους 10-15 λεπτών κάθε φορά, 2-3 φορές την ημέρα. Μπορείτε ακόμα να κάνετε μακρινούς περιπάτους με ένα καρότσι σκύλου όπως αυτό, αν μπορείτε να το πάρετε εκεί που ζείτε. Εάν όχι, ένα βαγόνι είναι το δεύτερο καλύτερο, αν και μπορεί να χρειαστεί χρόνος, υπομονή και λιχουδιές για να το συνηθίσει η Melia, καθώς αναφέρετε ότι είναι λίγο νευρική. Μόλις συνηθίσει στην κίνηση του να βρίσκεται σε καρότσι ή βαγόνι, μπορείτε να πάτε όσο θέλετε!
Θα μπορέσει να ανέβει τις σκάλες;
Λοιπόν, είναι πιο δύσκολο για τους ακρωτηριασμένους στο μπροστινό πόδι να κατέβουν τις σκάλες και πιο εύκολο να ανέβουν. Οι σκάλες είναι δύσκολες στην αρχή και θα πρέπει να τις αποφεύγει. Εάν μπορείτε να πάρετε μια ζώνη όπως το Ruffwear Flagline , θα ήταν ιδανικό. Έχουμε το Tripawds Angel Exchange για άτομα που αναζητούν εξοπλισμό χωρίς κόστος όπως ιμάντες, και μπορείτε να δημοσιεύσετε εκεί ότι ψάχνετε (άκουσα ότι κάποια θα έρθουν σύντομα! 😉 Η ζώνη μπορεί να σας βοηθήσει να την βοηθήσει να πάει πάνω και κάτω από τις σκάλες επειδή έχει μια λαβή στην κορυφή που μπορείτε να τη βοηθήσετε, όπως το πώς βοηθήσαμε τον Τζέρι στις σκάλες μας.
Ο κτηνίατρος μου λέει να ξεκινήσω τη χημειοθεραπεία σε περίπου 2 εβδομάδες, και δεν ξέρω τι να κάνω
Να θυμάστε πάντα ότι η χημειοθεραπεία είναι προαιρετική. Κάποιοι το κάνουν και κάποιοι όχι. Τα σκυλιά δεν έχουν τις ίδιες παρενέργειες της θεραπείας που έχουν οι άνθρωποι, τείνουν να τα πάνε αρκετά καλά με αυτήν. Με τα χρόνια έχουμε δει ότι η χημειοθεραπεία μπορεί σίγουρα να αυξήσει τις πιθανότητες μακροπρόθεσμης επιβίωσης, αλλά δεν υπάρχουν εγγυήσεις. Αν το κόστος σας αγχώνει, αυτό δεν είναι καλό φάρμακο για τη Μέλια. Θέλει απλά εσύ και εκείνη να είσαι ευτυχισμένος.
Εδώ είναι μια ανάρτηση που γράψαμε για αποφάσεις χημειοθεραπείας πριν από λίγο καιρό, οι πληροφορίες είναι ακόμα οι ίδιες.
Η απόφαση για τη χημειοθεραπεία: Χαρές και τύψεις
Ο γιατρός λέει ότι η μετάσταση είναι σίγουρη.
Το οστεοσάρκωμα επανέρχεται στους πνεύμονες, συνήθως. Μερικοί σκύλοι θα ζήσουν περισσότερο από την πρόγνωση, άλλοι όχι. Είναι πραγματικά μια ανατροπή. Το σημαντικό είναι να μείνεις συγκεντρωμένος στο παρόν και να απολαμβάνεις κάθε λεπτό που έχεις τη Μελία μαζί σου, αυτό θέλει περισσότερο!
Ελπίζω αυτό να βοηθήσει. Θα προσπαθήσω να μεταφράσω στα ελληνικά τώρα, ενημερώστε με αν λειτούργησε:
Hello ! i am so sorry that i havent answer before but it was the week of the amputation and i was focus on that!
in these trip i have you, the best community that you can find anything in this serious situation, but there is plenty of hapiness here and optimistic!
First of all, thank of remind me that the thing that matters is to be with your dog the exactly moment and live it.
THe love we have for our dogs in here, gives me strengh to move on!
Secondly i want to inform you our experience so that you have more informations about the amputation. So, the first week was weird. Melia had stressed so much at the vet, she probably did not sleep at all, so when she comes home we made absoletly quiet so she can rest. And she rest.She tried to protect herself and do not make moves, basically it was clear that she didnt use her body and her moves as she did. We went for walk and she did like 10 steps and she sat down every minute.
At the walks we used to go in front of our home.One day, at the end of the firts week, i had to go out for shopping an she came to the door to come with me.I could not take with her, i went for shopping and when i came back i put her in the car and took her in a park.This changes her life! She suddenly restart and she looks like she remember how she used to go for walk. She started to sniffing the flowers and started to run and she did some jumbs , i could not catch her!!!And i was worried if she could be the same dog again with the same expressions etc. But now the second weed, she is back with the same expressions, with the same smile, with the same disposal!!!
Know at the house she is still protective her body, but when she wants to stand upright, she does, when i move from another room to sit she come with me.At the walks we make specific steps but she is very happy when she sees someone and generally. Sunday we went in a park and she run with others dogs that have 4 legs and she was with them make the same distance.
Also, i made an appoitment with a diet and i have start to cooke her! in her whole life ate dry food and now knows that all the chicken is for her! (for 5 days i mean haha)
the diet says to give her 5 days chicken/2 days red meατ or 1 day red meat and 1 fish in companion with offal.Vegetables like as broccoli,carrots,spinach, yogurt, vegetables(apples, pineapple,berries,kiwi) herbs and i have told about the mushrooms and she also aggres about this philosophy and we are going to start. What do you think about the diet?
I also think that maybe because she is running now and not walking she is already lost maybe one pound.People that havent seen her lately also told me.
So these are our news.
I send power to all the people out there and all the dogies.
We love you so much!
The life with the dog is all meanings.Even when they have something they learn you so many things so maybe this is why this love is so big.Because they gives us only good even in the hardest times...
Just catching up on Melia and so glad to hear how well she is doing!
We know the first week of two can be scary to watch oir dogs go through rec. Ots major sur all while trying to adapt to three. It appease Melia is doing a great job of getting through recovery and returning to her happy self!
You'll still want to be able to monitor her and not let her do too much running or jumping all at once. Dealership as you've already seen, she can definitely continue to go on her walks and enjoy running around just like she did on four legs. You just want to do several short Adventures like this as opposed to one long time where she might wear herself out.
As far as the diet she's on I don't have any real insight one way or another. It does sound reasonable though. We do have a section on here on nutrition that you can check out too.
Thank you so much for the update and letting us know how well she is doing. You are doing an excellent job of caring for her and giving her the best life ever!
Hugs
Sally and Alumni Happy 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!
What a beautiful update! Thank you for letting us know how she is doing. Her recovery sounds good, and she definitely sounds like she is making good progress.
As Sally mentioned, try to keep her activity down just so her body has more time to heal. Sometimes dogs get injured when they try to do too much, too soon after amputation. She needs time to build up her strength and endurance.
That diet you are cooking sounds good! I would get the Dog Cancer Survival Guide for some more cooking tips, and be sure to review it with your vet to make sure your dog is getting adequate nutrition.
Do you have photos you want to share? We would love to see them! This is how you do it?
- upload a photo somewhere like your own Tripawds blog, or a public image hosting site like Imgur.com or Imgbb.com
- then copy the image URL (or just tap the image and copy it if you're on a mobile device)
- return here, and paste the image into your forum post.
Hope that makes sense. Let us know if you'd like help!
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Τι όμορφη ενημέρωση! Σας ευχαριστούμε που μας ενημερώσατε πώς τα πάει. Η ανάρρωσή της ακούγεται καλή και σίγουρα ακούγεται ότι κάνει καλή πρόοδο.
Όπως ανέφερε η Sally, προσπαθήστε να διατηρήσετε τη δραστηριότητά της χαμηλά για να έχει περισσότερο χρόνο το σώμα της για να θεραπευτεί. Μερικές φορές τα σκυλιά τραυματίζονται όταν προσπαθούν να κάνουν πάρα πολλά, πολύ σύντομα μετά τον ακρωτηριασμό. Χρειάζεται χρόνο για να αναπτύξει τη δύναμη και την αντοχή της.
Αυτή η δίαιτα που μαγειρεύεις ακούγεται ωραία! Θα έπαιρνα τον Οδηγό επιβίωσης από τον καρκίνο του σκύλου για μερικές ακόμη συμβουλές μαγειρικής και φροντίστε να τον διαβάσετε με τον κτηνίατρό σας για να βεβαιωθείτε ότι ο σκύλος σας λαμβάνει επαρκή διατροφή.
Έχετε φωτογραφίες που θέλετε να μοιραστείτε; Θα θέλαμε πολύ να τους δούμε! Έτσι το κάνεις;
- ανεβάστε μια φωτογραφία κάπου όπως το δικό σας ιστολόγιο Tripawds ή μια δημόσια τοποθεσία φιλοξενίας εικόνων όπως το Imgur.com ή το Imgbb.com
- στη συνέχεια αντιγράψτε τη διεύθυνση URL της εικόνας (ή απλώς πατήστε την εικόνα και αντιγράψτε την εάν βρίσκεστε σε κινητή συσκευή)
- επιστρέψτε εδώ και επικολλήστε την εικόνα στη δημοσίευση του φόρουμ σας.
Ελπίζω να έχει νόημα. Ενημερώστε μας αν θέλετε βοήθεια!
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