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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Our Abby was very much like this at about this same point in her recovery. She seemed to want nothing to do with us, wanted to be alone, seemed very depressed, and only cheered up when someone else would come to visit. Within a few more days, once the meds were done, she was pretty much fully back to her sweet personality.
Hang in there. You're still pretty deep in the weeds of the recovery. It will start to get better!
Jackie, Angel Abby's mom
Abby: Aug 1, 2009 – Jan 10, 2012. Our beautiful rescue pup lived LARGE with osteosarcoma for 15 months – half her way-too-short life. I think our "halflistic" approach (mixing traditional meds + supplements) helped her thrive. (PM me for details. I'm happy to help.) She had lung mets for over a year. They took her from us in the end, but they cannot take her spirit! She will live forever in our hearts. She loved the beach and giving kisses and going to In-N-Out for a Flying Dutchman. Tripawds blog, and a more detailed blog here. Please also check out my novel, What the Dog Ate. Now also in paperback! Purchase it at Amazon via Tripawds and help support Tripawds!
Chin up, Silver!! I think she's doing great for only 7 days. Really. This is major surgery and she really shouldn't be doing anything more than getting up to potty and to eat/drink for that first week. And yes, she is going to feel bad for a couple of weeks, but in the grand scheme of things, that's minor - I mean, wouldn't you be willing to feel bad for a couple of weeks to be out of pain for the long-term? The vet specifically told us he didn't want Zeus moving around that first week. I promise you that, in a month, you will look back and scold yourself for questioning your decision.
Glad to hear that you are making the food switch now. Once you start chemo, most vets advise not to make the switch until the chemo is done since it could be hard to determine if any side effects are caused by the chemo or the new food. If you have her switched over before the chemo, hopefully that won't be an issue. Maggie's diet sounds almost identical to Zeus' and he has done fabulous on it.
I do so wish you could see our 11 year old three legged dog run through the yard and play with his toys! If our old man can recover this well, your young lady will be fine!!
Lisa
Zeus was a Husky mix diagnosed with Osteosarcoma at age 11. A visible lung met and suspicious spot on his liver meant a poor prognosis-six weeks was our vet's best guess. We decided to fight for our boy and his right front leg was amputated on 12/1/11. We did six rounds of chemo, changed his diet and spoiled him completely rotten. We were blessed with 10 great months after diagnosis. Against the odds, the lung met remained a single met and grew very little over those months. A wonderful furbaby with the most gentle spirit, he fought with a strength that we never imagined he possessed. We have no regrets...
http://zeuspod......pawds.com/
Hi Silver
You don't have to sugar coat anything, most of us here have been through the recovery process and it can definitely be tough for many dogs. Hang in there, these "two weeks of hell" you're experiencing WILL get better. We all second guess our decision to do the amputation but once life gets back to normal, you'll wonder why you were so freaked out. Also, keep in mind that chemo is optional, you don't have to do it if you feel that it's not right for Maggie. Take things one day at a time for now.
I wanted to mention soething her dietary changes. You might want to go easy on that right now, too many changes can wreak havoc with a dog's gut. If her stools are OK then I wouldn't worry but if they don't look good you may want to scale back the changes.
You're doing great, but keep in mind that brown rice is most definitely a grain, and I believe that Spots Stew, is not a grain-free food. They may have changed their formula, I'm not sure, but two years ago it wasn't grain-free as I recall. Check into these resources if you want to go grain-free and feed an anti-cancer diet.
Grain-Free Food Resources from Tripawds Nutrition Blog
Dr. Dressler's Dog Cancer e-Book for Beginners
Dr. Dressler's Free Dog Cancer Diet e-Book
I hope this helps. I'm not trying to overwhelm you, just want to point you in one direction that many folks have found helpful.
Tripawds Founders Jim and Rene
tripawds.com | tripawds.org | bemoredog.net | triday.pet
Admin is right - I don't think that Halo is classified as "grain free ". We chose it for Zeus because it was the one that Dr. Dressler specifically recommended if you are going to feed any commercial food. In his book he describes it as low carbohydrate and that the ingredients had a very high rating for being carcinogen free. I know that it is the carbs that break down into simple sugars which feed the cancer, so the 'low carb' was important to us. I didn't buy into everything in Dressler's book , but the low-carb made sense to us since that matched everything else we were reading, too.
Until Admin's post above, I never really thought about low carb not being grain free (we had ALOT of learning going on all at once and I guess I missed that). Anyone know the school of thought for low carb vs. grain free ?
Zeus was a Husky mix diagnosed with Osteosarcoma at age 11. A visible lung met and suspicious spot on his liver meant a poor prognosis-six weeks was our vet's best guess. We decided to fight for our boy and his right front leg was amputated on 12/1/11. We did six rounds of chemo, changed his diet and spoiled him completely rotten. We were blessed with 10 great months after diagnosis. Against the odds, the lung met remained a single met and grew very little over those months. A wonderful furbaby with the most gentle spirit, he fought with a strength that we never imagined he possessed. We have no regrets...
http://zeuspod......pawds.com/
She is doing well - it was Major surgury and it will take time to recover but even older dogs seem to be back to normal in two weeks. Is there anything that perks her up at the moment (ride in car, visitors etc) just make sure she doesn't over do it. When she has recovered from the surgery and you don't feel she if up to the chemo then you can easily change your mind if you think thats what best for her.
I think we all dobuted our decisions but in time you will realise it was the right one. The pain drugs could be making her feel pretty groggy especially the Tramadol, but that is better than hurting.
Hope you see some improvement soon
Sarah
We feed Charley Orijen Six Fish which is a high quality grain-free kibble.
Hugs and chocolate kisses,
Ellen & Charley
Charley's Blog: CHOCOLATE KISSES
DOB: 3-29-08, male chocolate lab
Dx: OSA L proximal humerus 10-19-10
Amputation: L front leg & scapula 10-28-10
Chemo: 5 rounds of Carboplatin
Video (12 weeks post amp):Tripaw Charley Playing
♥♥♥ Lots of supplements and love!!! ♥♥♥
I have been following Maggie's recovery daily and was sad to see she seems down the past day or two. I have a golden named Harley who is an 8 year old rescue. He has an infiltrative lipoma on his left front limb. I have had the tumor "debulked" the past two summers and the only option now is an amputation. Just like you, I wrestle with my decision. Thank you for taking the time to post and share your experience. I trust the judgment and comments of the site's members and hope soon I will see posts from you with happier days for your Maggie. In the meantime, she is in my prayers.
Harley is an 8 year old Golden Retriever. Amp surgery for an infiltrative lipoma canceled due to two masses in chest. A rescue, he found his forever home on 3/18/07 and left for his eternal home on 1/09/13. His story and medical history are at http://myharley.....pawds.com/
Silver,
I'm sorry to read that Maggie is feeling down. One thing we did differently than I'm reading in this forum is that we didn't crate Rocket 24/7. In other words, we let him "be normal" and lay on the couch with us starting the second day home --which was 4 days after surgery. Keep in mind that he's is a very tall greyhounds, so the couch is a mere small step for him...and basically he wasn't taking no for an answer. But once we allowed him that, he seemed to normalize mentally. He was doing something he was used to doing everyday, and it seemed the other restrictions didn't then matter. I guess what I'm saying is that maybe you let Maggie have something normal back--whatever that may be that won't harm her. I know here is a ton of experience on this site, so if I'm speaking out of school, please feel free to correct me . This happened to work for Rocket, so I wanted to share. Saying "no" to everything they want at this time seems depressing for them to me....normalcy, even a smidge of it, might perk her up.
We're praying for you guys.
Lynda
Silver,
It's definitely hard seeing your girl struggling and unhappy. The one thing we did with Rio is invite some of her favorite people to come see her -- she always was a social girl, and the friends who showed up usually brought her little things that perked her up: a bag of dog cookies, a new toy to gut, etc. That and car rides (she loved going buh-bye), even just to the store, gave her something different to look at for a short period of time. (I think the "cabin fever" can get to them, just like it does with us.)
And I agree that letting her be "normal" is the quickest road to recovery. They know when you are treating them even just a smidge differently, and that can make them reluctant to move forward in their recovery.
Here's hoping that Maggie is feeling a bit perkier in the next few days.
Rio's momma, Micki
 |
~ ~ Rio ~ ~ |
Silver,
As hard as it is to see our babies struggle, the one thing we have to do is to continue to be cheery, uplifting and over-the-top happy around them. As I'm sure you know, the more stressed/concerned you are, the more stressed Maggie will be. After every major surgery with my dog Comet - I was insanely happy - FOR HER SAKE! I was dying on the inside because it was so hard to see her suffer. It really helped her to know that I was happy.
The other thing is don't be chincy with the Derramaxx which is an anti-inflammatory. The anti-inflammatory will take away the inflammation and in turn make her feel better. Give the max dose the vet said you could. The Cetpodoxime Proxetil is an antibiotic, not anti-inflammatory so make sure that is given as directed until done. And giving tramadol at night is a very good idea!
Another thing you may to do is consider starting a new topic about Maggie's recovery so others may step in and help. Unfortunately, with the title remaining as an "amputation" title, some may not click back in to review the updates.
Good happy thoughts to you!
Comet - 1999 to 2011
She departed us unexpectedly January 23, 2011 at the age of 12 1/2.
She was born with a deformed front leg and a tripawd all of her life.
Thank you for posting and letting us know that Maggie is feeling better. You and your wife are certainly doing a great job caring for her and I am sure she knows that. Take care.
Harley is an 8 year old Golden Retriever. Amp surgery for an infiltrative lipoma canceled due to two masses in chest. A rescue, he found his forever home on 3/18/07 and left for his eternal home on 1/09/13. His story and medical history are at http://myharley.....pawds.com/
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