Caring for a Three Legged Dog or Cat
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Duke had front left leg amputation on Monday. He has been wanting to get up constantlysince last night and after a potty break is now refusing to sit or lay down, and his right front leg keeps giving out and has fallen a few times but still we can not even get him to sit for longer than 5 seconds. Doctor gave us crazodone to help him sleep but that works for maybe an hour. Hes breathing super heavy working him self up. Our vet is closed for new years. Does anyone have any experience or should find a emergency vet?
Hey...see you're on here now, so a couple pf quick questions.
What pain meds is he on now... doses. frequency, etc. Jow Mich does he weigh? Sis he spe d dirst roght ar Vet Is he on Fentynal patch?
Hang on, this is the toughest part of recovery.
Sally and Alumni Happy Hannah 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!
Looks like we may have missed you in the chat...still there for a bit if you see this soon.
It is still very early in recovery, are you keeping Duke confined? Nothing more than short leashed potty time is recommended right now.
Panting and restlessness are common side effects of pain meds, what is he on?
Tripawds Founders Jim and Rene
tripawds.com | tripawds.org | bemoredog.net | triday.pet
Thank you for the reply. He’s about 90lbs but a tall boxer. Doc gave us carprofen 100mg (1 every 12hrs), Gabapentin 600mg (1 every 8hrs), Trazodone HCL 100mg (2 every 12hrs for rest), and Tamadol 50mg (2 every 8-12hrs no more than 6 in a day. Last two we got day after surgery since he was hyperventilating crying in the morning. We keep him in our carpeted living room but recently wants nothing to do with laying or being in a bed. He was only walking out to the lawn and then back to the room, but just not we took him out, he pooped, and has been breathing heavy and not laying down. Even though his leg either gave out or he relied on the front leg that wasn’t there and he smacked his face on the floor, still panting and having trouble staying still. Maybe the meds are giving him a panic attack???
He came home the night of his surgery and didn’t have any kind of patch or anything, just the first two meds until we got the others in the am. The Trazodone really only knocks him out for maybe a short hour and then he’s wide awake.
thanks for any help...we are having trouble seeing the good reasons why we did this, he’s just obviously not adapting or adjusting well at all.
Alissa
With those meds, that behavior is to be expected. Panting is very common with Tramadol, and if he came home the night of the surgery he has still been working anesthesia out of his system...
Glad you popped back into the chat!
Tripawds Founders Jim and Rene
tripawds.com | tripawds.org | bemoredog.net | triday.pet
Okay, coming home the day of the surgery is not an easy thing to "watch". Most dogs spend the first 24 hours at the clinic IF it's an overnight staffed Vet. Upu arr seeing Duke shake off the anesthesia (which is not a pretty sight), as well as deal with the strong hospital pajn meds in his system.
Face plants do indeed happen, especially with front leggers on pain meds.
Even though my Happy Hannah did spend the first night at an overnight clinic, she was very restless and whiny and just could not get comfortable. I am almost certain she didn't sleep at all the first couple of nights...or very ,little anyway. I know I didn't.
Every dog reacts to pain meds differently. Unfortunately, pain signals like Fuke seems to be displaying, can also be a reaction to the pain meds. Ugh!
The second and third day, especially as the hospital meds start clearing his system, are when tweaking the pain meds becomes important for each specific dog.
We are not Vets and not giving Vet advice. So the suggestions I'm going to offer are ONLY with Vet approval! One thing we have found though is perhaps with the Gaba, a smaller dose may work better three times a day...OR....the dose he's on now could be spread out over 10 to 12 hours. Also, perhaps give the Tramadol an hour or so after the Gaba so he has a steady dose of pain meds jn hom consistently. And just to make things more "interesting ", the Tramadol can cause anxiousness in some dogs and Gaba can cause some woozines snd unsteadiness sometimes.
In my completely nonVet opinion, I think what you were seeing especially the first 24 hours was pro somewhat normal as he was coming out of the anesthesia, etc. So he may not really need the Trazedone as you tweak the pain meds by trial and error.
This si MAJOR surgery, all while adjusting to three, all while being heavily medicated with pain meds. Hoomans eould still be in the hospital on a morphine drip!
Yoj arr currently in the "What have I done TO my dog?" mode. We've all spent time there during the early part of recovery, especially while trying to find the right balance of pain meds. It won't be long before you get to the "I am so glad I did this FOR my dog!" mode!
So touch base with your Vet about maybe reducing the Gaba a bit and trying it at the eight hour mark, keeping the Tramadol but just not giving it at the same time.. He may want to reduce the Tram just to determine which, if any of the doses may be causing some of the restlessness, which, isn't too uncommon for some dogs.
You do have a victory to celebrate! Many dogs don't poop for several days, so YAY FOR DUKE for that 
victory!!!
STAY CONNECTED! We know this part is rough! Try and grab some sleep when you can.
Hugs
Sally and Alumni Happy Hannah and Merry Myrtle and Frankie too!
PS. Is he on an antibiotic alao? Eating, drinking, peeing?
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!
Benny,
Thanks for the great advice! We are going to reach out to the vet tomorrow morning with 1000 questions about dosages. We are definitely in the “complicated did we do the right thing” mindset right now but hopefully he pulls out quick. He’s been on the Gaba and Carprofen for the last few weeks even before his surgery so it may be the new two meds that were added.
As for an antibiotic, no nothing was prescribed, but we will ask to make sure they don’t recommend anything. Peeing, drinking, and great appetite are all present so we are good in those realms!
Words cannot express how grateful we are for everyone’s support like yours. This has been rough since he’s our buddy that has been everywhere from Seattle to Key West and all places in between....seeing him down is tough but your support gives us a glimpse of hope!
Thanks,
Alissa
You are a great advocate for your pup. You're doing a good job of monitoring his behavior behaviour. Good observation about the meds he was on prior to surgery not seeming to cause any restlessness.
I didn't find this great community until day six. My first post was something like, "Six days after amputation snd I fear I've made a HORRIBLE decision!" So you are definitely in rhe right place fot reassurance, knowledge and understanding from those of us who have been where you are! Recovery doesn't last furever, it just seems like it.
And YAY for eating. drinking, peeing!! A good sign!! REALLY!!
Let us know what the Vet says about tweaking rhe meds, as well as taking an antibiotic (usually given out just to ensure no infection creeps in)
You're doing a great job! Stay upbeat and confident...your pawsitive energy helps in the healing process. If possible, do TRY and get some sleep. I know I was so exhausted mentally and physically, I thought I was going nuts! And of you can't sleep, eat junk food...it helps😎
BTW. Loooove the avatar pic.
Hugs
Sally and Alumni Happy Hannah 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!
Hang in there, it DOES get better. My boxer girl sometimes gets restless and pants after taking Tramadol (and sometimes she does just fine and it kind of knocks her out), it so hard to know when we can’t talk to them! It is also heartbreaking and stressful to watch your baby struggle or be in distress, but know that you are doing everything you can and this too shall pass. Sending lots of love and healing vibes to you and your boxer baby!
HI everyone!
A little update on Duke.
We spoke with our vet today and she said that behavior was definitely not right with him wanting to walk around and stress himself out. She thinks he isn’t handling it so well and prescribed us alprazolam aka Xanax to calm his nerves. And definitely wants him off Trazadone. We haven’t given him trazadone or any tamadol(although she thinks the tamadol is fine still) .
With no doses of either of these he has been just been sleeping. He woke up last night and started to cry so at the recommendation of Pam aka Luckys Mom we put some music for dogs on and he passed out. He stumbled around a little after he took a pee break and then sleep for a good few hours. He got up and started walking towards the door to go potty and did great by himself. Came back in ate, walked around a bit then finally layed back down.
A little nervous about giving him the Xanax, just don’t want the same awful experience we had with the trazadone. Is this a thing experienced often?
Hello there, just want to let you know that you are not alone and it WILL get better. My boxer Maya had the same reaction with Trazodone. by the second time I gave it to her I noticed that she would get super weird and restless so needless to say I stopped immediately and she was another dog. I kept her on tramadol, gaba and meloxicam and she slept a lot the 2 first weeks and sometimes at night she would get restless but we think she was just bored. Wishing Duke a speedy recovery.
Thanks for sharing your experiences with your boxer babies. Boxers have such personalities it’s so hard to see the struggles when he is usually 99.9% happy all the time. But your experiences give us hope we’ll get our sweet fun guy back after we get through this recovery.
A little nervous about giving him the Xanax, just don’t want the same awful experience we had with the trazadone. Is this a thing experienced often?
All dogs react a little differently to sedatives especially when combined with pain medications. You kind of have to play it by ear. It sounds like your vet is really good about pain management though, so I would trust that the Xanax will be helpful for anxiety. But you may also want to discuss the idea of adding Amantdine into the mix instead of the sedative. Amantadine will actually help address any pain he is experiencing, while Xanax will not.
I hope he's better today. Hang in there!
Tripawds Founders Jim and Rene
tripawds.com | tripawds.org | bemoredog.net | triday.pet
Thanks for everything Jerry. We will bring up that med when we talk to her next and see what her thoughts are. Today we didn’t give him any Trazadone or Tremodol and he’s been great without that mixture....so not 100% sure which one it was. Today he was getting around fine and no stumbles or face smacks! He’s actually sleeping more without those pills so he must feel more relaxed...and haven’t given any Xanax yet, going to save that for another bout of anxiety or late night spaz. Overall seems like he’s headed in the right direction so thank you all again for helping us get through! Keep you updated!!
Oh good! So glad to read this! Med tweaking is a bit of trial and error, but it sounds like you have the right balance now. So yeah, if you can hold off on any of the anti anxiety /sedative, Duke may start to balance out with his pain managed properly and with rest that's more "naturally" induced.
Good job of hanging in there!! Still in the "hard" part of recovery, but Duke is showing improvement today, and that's a great sign!!
Hugs
Sally and Alumni Happy Hannah 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!
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