Caring for a Three Legged Dog or Cat
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Hi, I'm new to this site, so hoping I'm not repeating what's gone before! I have a 3 legged papillon dog. She lost her front leg 3 years ago and for the past 18 months has been having phantom limb pain. She has gabepentin which she's been on about a year now. It has definitely made an improvement, however seems to be getting worse again now and were back to daily incidents of her yelping and frantically licking the site where the leg used to be. We also tried the farabloc
blanket but doesn't seem to make much difference. Had anyone else had experience of on-going phantom limb (since the op was 3 years ago). Also any other suggestions how to manage this as it's heartbreaking when you can do little/nothing to help. I have found that (as she's tiny) picking her up seems to help. I will be speaking to the vet but any other advice from anyone with similar experiences would be great.
Thank you
Lynzi
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Use the Search button above to find many topics discussing phantom limb pain or search all blogs here.
Don't miss this video discussing phantom pain and other complications too!
Tripawds Founders Jim and Rene
tripawds.com | tripawds.org | bemoredog.net | triday.pet
Gosh, sorry to hear yor pup is having these issues!! Ugh!
She is absolutely adorable! I hope you'll post more pictures when you can and tell is more aout this cutie pie!
Perhpas others will chime in and Ihope the links will help you find answers.
It does seem odd that this has come on a year and a half after amputation.
Now, I'm sure as heck no vet, but what other possibilities jave they checked out.......bone chip, pinched nerve in back or neck givi gthe appearance of it beingnthe amp. site.....just throwing crazy stuff out there!
Okay, while we're on the "crazy" part.....has the site been xrayed to elminate any possible "foreign object", left over staple (guess that wouldn't be an option given the time lapse...heck...mention it the vet anuway)!
I kow t hurts to see your girl yelp out in unexplained pain. Redirecting her focus, massage, ..hmmm, I wonder what the "picking her up motion" changes to thepoint that it helps alleviate the pain?
Keep us posted and, hopefuly, you can get some good insight here.
Sendingn you and your sweet pup lots of hugs!
Sally ad Happy Hannah
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!
Hi- oh boy, this is tough. Wow, that's a lot to witness. I'm with Sally: I'd be wondering if something in there is causing problems. It might also show up in labwork - are her WBC normal? Body temp? Picky eater?
I also found that touching the amp site when phantom pain , or a bump, struck helped a lot. Giving nerves a chance to focus on touch, on something, seemed to calm him down.
Good luck! Please keep us posted! I hope you find a solution.
~Katy & Jackson
ACL tear in right hind leg 12/5/12 and scheduled ACL repair surgery 12/21/12. Pre-op xrays revealed osteosarcoma. Amputation 12/28/12. Chemo (carboplatin) started Jan 10, 2013 and ended on April 5, for a total of 5 doses. He handled carbo like a champ! No side effects. We started metronomic therapy at his third chemo and have been also doing some holistic treatments. He's a lively, playful 10 year old huskie-boarder collie and a very proud member of the Winter Warriors! Our love. Our funny little guy!
Thanks for the replies! She has previously been checked by the vet and has nothing left in the amputation site. When I pick her up, I massage the area which def helps. I've can also feel it pulsing when it's at it worst. It also seems to come on if she's been holding on to a wee or poo for too long (which she seems to do) or if she's overly excited or scared of something. So, I do think its phantom limb. She's been fine last couple of days, so hoping the last week was just a bad one and it will settle down again. At its best it still happens about once a week. She's certainly not off her food and fine in every other way.
Thanks again for responding, much appreciated.
Lynzi (and Peggy- she came to me already named!)
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