Caring for a Three Legged Dog or Cat
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Hi Jake's family
So you brought Jake home on the first evening? That is brave, but it might be hard. If you do find he has trouble standing in the next couple of days or the pain gets worse, you always have the option of taking him back to the vet. I know that sounds a bit mean, but it is a good backup plan. I only say that because they can often do more for pain (think morphine straight to the surgical site) than we can do at home. And the bruising tends to get worse around days 2-5 than the first day. All you can do for the next little while is to help make him as comfortable as possible.
We are wishing you all the best! We are finally far enough away from those days (all of 9 weeks!) that they are starting to seem like a long time ago.
Susan & Tazzie 2
Jakes mom,
This is such a tough time emotionally, the intial shock of taking it all in when it's your baby that's going through all this. The feelings you describe are from your heart and mine goes out to you and your husband.
I don't have much advice to offer at this moment, as you mostly take it hour by hour and then day by day. Boinks, and my big boy Baloo when he had major surgery, had a hard time coming off the post-op meds and whimpered on and off for a few hours after bringing them home. It's hard to distinguish between pain and anxiety during this part of the recovery phase, at least it was for us. Massaging them and soothing music played quietly seemed to work well for us, and for them too. I preferred flamenco guitar, and I like to think my pups did, too. May I suggest something gentle yet upbeat, such as Carlos Montoya. 🙂
Take care,
Mel
Aww Mel - the music is such a sweet idea - I hope Jake enjoys it. Tazzie and I are listening to it now.
And I just love seeing Boinks face.
Susan
Thank you so much for all the advice and encouragement! I started a blog for Jake (Jake's Journey) and it's so comforting to read all the wonderful supportive comments from friends, family and my new Tripawd family! You can check it out as I write more details each day, and include some pictures. Maybe even some videos in the near future!
Today is day 2 post-op for Jake... and it was a million times better than yesterday! He has peed and pooped... even chewed on his favorite flavored raw hide bone... He's gotten up by himself several times, but is really too wobbly (pain meds?) to walk without the sling yet. His appetite has been great (Jake always loved food!)... He is unstable on his feet, and seems to slide alot more on the floors when he walks (front and hind legs), compared to before his surgery when he was limping around with his broken leg. His pain meds are different after surgery, so I'm hoping it's because of that.
Monday he goes in to have his bandages removed. I can only imagine the horror we will feel when we actually see the incision!
I still have moments where I wonder if we made the right decision for Jake... But except for when he has to get up to walk... he seems his usual happy self.
Jake, 10yr old golden retriever (fractured his front right leg on 9/1, bone biopsy revealed osteosarcoma on 9/10, amputation on 9/17) and his family Marguerite, Jacques and Wolfie, 5yr old german shepherd and the newest addition to the family, Nala, a 7mth old Bengal mix kittie. Jake lost his battle on 11/9/2009, almost 8 weeks after his surgery. We will never forget our sweet golden angel… http://jakesjou.....ipawds.com ….. CANCER SUCKS!
Just gotta say... YEAH!!! Go Jake! Tomorrow will be a thousand times better than today. ((HUGS)) to you all!
Jake is doing really really really well, it seems. I sure could not have said that Tazzie was his usual happy self for at least a few weeks after the surgery. Now I can say that - was just thinking yesterday how I can't say he is any less happy than he was as a 4-legged, in fact he might not mind all the extra attention (and excellent food treats) he has been getting.
This morning we got up later than usual, and Jake had started to chew off his bandages... so we removed them. He was going to have them removed by the vet tomorrow anyways. His incision looks good... no funky smells or weird discharge. He gets to wear a T-shirt now!
Later this afternoon, we caught Jake licking away at his T-shirt over his incision... Out came the E-collar!! Guess we'll have to put it on him whenever we leave him for a few minutes, or go to sleep. It must be starting to itch him as it heals.
He is still unstable on his feet... especially on the ceramic floors in the kitchen. It's strange because he seeming to be walking alright before on 3 legs, when his other leg was broken... but maybe he was still using that leg for some balance. I have this paranoid feeling that his remaining front leg is going to snap from the extra weight. Haven't heard about that happening with any other of the front leg amputees here... but I still worry. Is that stupid of me?
Has anyone added any kind of supplements after amputation, to help strengthen the bones in the remaining legs?
Jake, 10yr old golden retriever (fractured his front right leg on 9/1, bone biopsy revealed osteosarcoma on 9/10, amputation on 9/17) and his family Marguerite, Jacques and Wolfie, 5yr old german shepherd and the newest addition to the family, Nala, a 7mth old Bengal mix kittie. Jake lost his battle on 11/9/2009, almost 8 weeks after his surgery. We will never forget our sweet golden angel… http://jakesjou.....ipawds.com ….. CANCER SUCKS!
I don't think it's stupid at all. McGwire is a super tall Golden who's also a front amp, and at first especially, it seemed so awkward that I definitely worried about the other leg. I'm sure your vet checked Jake's other legs for weak areas, displasia, etc. before doing the surgery. I do give McGwire glucosamine/chondroitin to help all of his joints cope with the extra stress on them now. He didn't take it before, but I figured it's better safe than sorry.
As for the licking at the incision, I'm impressed! Mac could never reach his. Regardless, having once licked his stitches so much he opened the incision to the muscle 9 days post op, we kept the e-collar on him unless we were with him. We used both of these http://www.bell.....79-ctg.htm and found them both very successful at keeping him away from it without being too hard for him to handle. McGwire hates the regular kind, and he actually didn't mind these at all and it didn't trash my furniture or walls. (The shipping from Bellas was really quick before.)
It took McGwire a good 10 days to really get his feet on our hardwood floor, which has ridges and would seem to be easier to manage than a slick tile floor. Plus Jake is 2 years older than McGwire. It's like it took a while for those tiny stabilization muscles to learn how to compensate for the missing leg, and now, he's much better at it. Plus I've learned ways to help him (like making him lay down to get petted by visitors, rather than sit, or putting my foot in front of his to keep it from slipping.)
I too worry about the other front leg, especially now when Tazzie runs FAST. Today we were hiking off-trail, a bit more off-trail than I had anticipated. To get back onto the main trail, we cut across some tall vegetation and a small little ridge. At one point he badly mis-stepped in a hole that he (and I) did not see because of all the grass. That really scared me. Typical tripawd fears, I think.
Susan
Last nite I hardly got any sleep... Around midnight, Jake started whining and whining. I thought his e-collar was bugging him too much so I took it off, but he went right to the incision to lick and chew... so I put it back on. Then he kept sitting up and started to scratch his incision with his back leg. Again I flew out of bed to stop him, imagining him ripping all his staples out! The whining and scratching and me jumping out of bed went on til 3 am. Then I put his harness on and took him out... He peed... Maybe that's what he wanted after all, even though we took him out to pee when we went to bed at 10:30... He was real tired from all that and finally fell asleep (without his e-collar), but then I heard him wake up an hour later trying to lick it again... back went the collar. Guess it's going to stay on all the time now.
Even though I'm not going to work this week, I still had to get up with hubby at 6, since he does have to work this week... but I was exhausted with hardly any sleep. Jake peed again and took his meds. I took off his collar to give them to him... but as soon as he was done, he went for his incision again. Man he's fast!
So the T-shirt and e-collar are going to prevent his licking and chewing... but how to I control him scratching at his wound with his back leg?? I'm taking Jake to the vet later this morning to have his incision checked. He was going to remove the bandages then, but thanks to Jake, we already had to remove them yesterday morning. Hopefully the vet will have some good advice about the itching and scratching...
Have any of you had the same problem with your front leg amps and scratching? How were you able to keep them from ripping open their incision?? HELP!!
Jake, 10yr old golden retriever (fractured his front right leg on 9/1, bone biopsy revealed osteosarcoma on 9/10, amputation on 9/17) and his family Marguerite, Jacques and Wolfie, 5yr old german shepherd and the newest addition to the family, Nala, a 7mth old Bengal mix kittie. Jake lost his battle on 11/9/2009, almost 8 weeks after his surgery. We will never forget our sweet golden angel… http://jakesjou.....ipawds.com ….. CANCER SUCKS!
Hi JakesMom
The bruising and pain seemed to be worse from about day 3 to 5, so don't be surprised by that. Tazzie let someone carry him on day 2, but not by day 3. It just seemed to hurt too much (and he is a big dog, so you can't carry him without rubbing the spot - in fact I can't carry him anyway). So don't be surprised by that part - it might be hurting, not itching.
Tazzie did not worry his incision, or at least a t-shirt was sufficient to stop that. But a few days after his torsion surgery this June (what a great summer for him!), his incision seemed to drive him into a frenzy, so that appeared to be an itchiness. The vet gave us a cream that soothed it. I cannot remember what it was called, but it was intended for burns
Good luck. Don't expect to get much sleep this week . . .
Susan and Tazzie 2
Jack, too, wanted to play with his incision. We kept the e-collar on full time, and then had a compression bandage on for the first few days. It's gauze, then a tight wrap, then a stretchy fabric on top of that. It went over him completely like a t-shirt, so it couldn't slip down or fall off. I'm not sure what Jake's bandage was like, but the layered tight kind worked for us. Even if Jack tried to scratch, there was enough padding so that his claws didn't rip anything out, and the bandage was tight enough so scratching didn't move it. Also helped a TON while sleeping because I didn't have to wake up every hour in a panic thinking he was going to scratch his stitches open. We still stopped him when he tried to scratch, but there was some leeway in case we didn't catch him or get to him fast enough to stop him. Perhaps your vet could suggest a cover or anti-itch thing like Tazzie 2 suggested. Hope Jake keeps on doing great!
<3 Laura and Jackers
Well we just came back from the vet visit and everyone was very please with how well Jake was doing. The vet examined his incision site and said it looked good, except for a little bit of drainage and some fluid accumulation. He said it was fine. I told him about the itching since we (Jake) took the bandages off yesterday, so he applied some salve (forgot the name) to help with the itching and irritation from shaving, staples, etc. He then re-applied a new pressure bandage, which we will keep on for another 3-4 days, then re-examin the incision afterwards.
He also started a new antibiotic for the next 5 days. His amoxicillin ends tomorrow. All in all he seemed pretty satisfied with the way things looked, and how great Jake seemed to be doing so soon after the surgery. When we got home I took Jake out to pee, and now he's totally tired and hopefully will sleep for the next couple of hours... cause I need some relaxing time too! ha! ha! Jake is off his pain meds already, though I do have some extra Tramadol left in case I feel he needs it.
Jake, 10yr old golden retriever (fractured his front right leg on 9/1, bone biopsy revealed osteosarcoma on 9/10, amputation on 9/17) and his family Marguerite, Jacques and Wolfie, 5yr old german shepherd and the newest addition to the family, Nala, a 7mth old Bengal mix kittie. Jake lost his battle on 11/9/2009, almost 8 weeks after his surgery. We will never forget our sweet golden angel… http://jakesjou.....ipawds.com ….. CANCER SUCKS!
Glad to see that Jake is doing well. Toby tore off his bandage the first night at the vets (they say it is hard to keep a bandage on a boy hind amputee). So at least Jake is keeping his on.
Hope you get to relax soon. We are waiting for the day when Toby gets cleared for stairs so that we can all sleep in the same room again.
We will keep sending good thoughts your way.
Good boy, Jake! 
Yoda&Mom united: 9/5/06 …….… Yoda&Leg separated: 6/5/09……… Yoda&Leg reunited: 10/14/09 ……… ……………….………….………….……. Yoda&Mom NEVER separated! …………………….….……....….…… Though Spirit Yoda currently free-lances as a rabbit hunting instructor for tripawds nationwide
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