Caring for a Three Legged Dog or Cat
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Hello again.. working on balancing out Jewels meds. She is 6 days post op and seems to be doing well. She was top notch for a couple of days and has taking the "lazy, need my rest, I just had surgery" dive that I have been reading about. She has been tackiling the stairs (only because we sleep up there and she likes to be with us.. the floor was getting old 🙂 , 2 times daily (with help and her ruff wear) but seems to be just fine. I think she could do it on her own, but I don't risk it. She has had a bit of drainage from her stiches, nothing to be alarmed about and in fact I am happy that it is drianing on its own. She is getting around well, has an alright appetite, but again, thats to be expected.
Anyways, my main question is meds.. when she came home she was on tramadol 3x daily with gabapentin as needed. I only gave her the gaba twice and it was more for my piece of mind then hers. While she is on that emotional roller coaster, I do not believe that it is pain and per vets orders yesterday, I am now giving her tramadol 2 x per day, along with her antibiotics, glucosamine, and deramaxx.
Does this sound like what the typically amputated pooch is on about 1 week after surgery? Just kind of curious what everyone else is or has done, again for a little piece of mind 🙂
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That does sound typical and exactly like mine, with the exception of gabapentin (I didn't have any). It's probably good that you've cut back on the gaba since it can have some withdrawal side effects. Unless she's showing signs of phantom pain she probably doesn't need it.
I started to cut back on Tramadol about 5 days after surgery, to 2x daily and by 10 days I was off of it. My successor, Spaz boy Wyatt Ray was off Tramadol within a week.
Here's what member brenrn was taking right after surgery, and you may also want to download our Amputation and Cancer Care Survey, where pawrents describe what meds they were on.
Hope this helps. Her recovery sounds like it's going great! Give her a smooch from us.
Tripawds Founders Jim and Rene
tripawds.com | tripawds.org | bemoredog.net | triday.pet
It sounds like everything is perfect!
Just keep reminding yourself that this is super duper major surgery and the more she rests, the more she heals! She'll be better soon, it just takes time!
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.
Sounds about right, only Chloe wasn't on gabapentin. She was on tramadol (2X day), rimadyl (as needed) and antibiotics (2x day). The tramadol made Chloe dizzy and drooly. She looked stoned when she was on it. So I slowly started weaning her off it if she didn't seem to be showing signs of pain. I did keep her on rimadyl (not as heavy duty as tramadol) for maintenance as needed. Also, once I cut out tramadol, her appetite picked up since it interfered with her antibiotics and lessened her appetite.
Awesome about the stairs! Chloe pretty much had them mastered by the end of the 2 weeks, but only because she wanted something new rather than being in the living room with me the whole day.
-Chloe's mom
Chloe became a rear amp tripawd on 7-29-10. Another tumor was removed on front leg 2-20-14. Found 3rd tumor on neck 2-2015, but she's still kicking cancer's butt at age 14. Chloe's blog
My dog, Maggie, was on Gabapentin before and after surgery. It was a LIFESAVER for her before amputation for severe pain!!! Neither Tramadol or Deramaxx was cutting it.
She was also on Tramadol and Deramaxx and antibiotics, as well as the Gaba. after surgery. None of which seemed to give her the side effects others have talked about like being "loopy". I was VERY thankful to have found something to diminish her pain prior to getting her to surgery(had to wait for surgeon as she was at a conference!)
Tracy, Maggie's Mom
Maggie was amputated for soft tissue sarcoma 10-20-09
Maggie lost her battle with kidney disease on 8-24-13
Benji was on 120g Rimadly until day 10 days after Surgery, mainly because he has mild atheritus and was and is in pain due to that. He had the Pain Patch on 5 days after Surgery and when that came of I substituded it with 2x 50 mg Tramadol. Today was the first day that we stopped Rimadly and I only gave him 2x50mg Tramadol tonight. He will start Chemo tommorow morning and will see about future pain options. All in all I don't think benji has any pain due to the surgery anymore but only due to the pressure on his other joints.
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