Caring for a Three Legged Dog or Cat
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Hi all -
I used this website prior to amputation to prep my house for a tripod. I read some of the discussions / blogs as well, but didn't sign up at the time. I thought I did my due diligence & prepped sufficiently for this experience.
And the bottom line - is nothing can prepare you for this major change. So I need to hear good, positive stories to help me cope with this overwhelming guilt that I put my beloved pup through such a terrible procedure, and what I believe to be a terrible decision on my part.
Phineas is a 7.5 YO flat coated retriever. He has been limping (front leg) since last November- but at that time, the ortho (properly) diagnosed as elbow dysplasia. Fast forward to now, when over the last few months his limp because worse, and his recovery after play was longer. I was referred to an orthopedic surgeon who is known for his research on conducting arthroscopic surgery to "fix" dysplasia. Instead of the surgery, we exited the vet in shock when a mass was found. The biopsy and pathology confirmed histiocytic sarcoma, common in this breed. Staging indicated that the cancer had not spread, so amputation was the chosen path.
One week ago, I dropped him off for the procedure. He stayed in the hospital for two nights, and I got to visit him a few times. I tried to be upbeat and positive with him during this time.
Then I brought him home...and this is by far one of the hardest times in my life. His lively personality and deep thoughtful eyes is nonexistent. He looks at me with such sadness that I'm perceiving as hatred, because what he knows is that I dropped him off at the vet and he came home changed. My Phineas is an old soul - a sweet, sensitive boy that would crawl into bed on a Sunday morning and flood me with kisses. I want this boy back, but I fear - dreadfully- that he won't come back. That this has destroyed him and his livelihood. I chose the amputation because it was the only option to hope for some quality of life - and I'm so worried that this is insurmountable. So - I'd like to hear experiences about personality changes & rebounding from amputation?
My main living space is on the second floor. I have a hallway on the first floor leading up to stairs- Phineas and I have been "living" in the hallway since he came home. I am losing sleep because he pants all night long. I have a fan on him & plenty of water, but it's like his rhythm is all messed up now- he'll sleep JUST fine during the day (while I'm at work) but not at night. And, he just wants to hang outside all day long, like he doesn't want to come into the house which worries me. Any advice on this? I am losing my mind - because not sleeping well and I've actually yelled at him to stop, which makes me feel even MORE guilty because here I am, with all limbs and it was my decision to chop his off... He's on tramadol, gabapentin, and an antibiotic. I spoke to the vet today, and he recommends trying to wean him off of tramadol.
Phin did moan, whine, and groan initially but now, he only does if he lies down wrong. He's not eating much, so it's hard to drug him on an empty stomach. Yesterday I had to make steak to even interest him, and even then, I had to hand feed him for a few bites before he dove in. This morning was the same - he wouldn't eat immediately, until I pulled up a chair and started to feed him.
Sorry for the long post. I just want my dog back - to validate the decision that I made in attempt to give him a quality of life. And this is so unbelievably scary.
Also- once he heals, any advice on stairs? I don't want to live in a hallway the rest of Phin's life, so hoping that we can eventually make it up to the second floor. He's too big for me to pick up and carry (~80 lbs).
Thank you for any advice, I appreciate this forum because I'm losing my mind second guessing this process...and hating what I did to my beloved dog...
Caitlin
Welcome Caitlin, your future posts will not have to wait for approval.
I don't think any amount of reading or watching videos can prepare you when it's your dog. You are stressed and exhausted and Phin is not himself. I spent 6 weeks sure I had made a terrible mistake by choosing amputation for my pug Maggie so I know how you feel. The vets said that most all dogs do well on three, I convinced myself that Maggie was the exception.
Phin is trying to get used to new balance and is using his muscles differently. He is not sad or mad at you, he is stoned on pain meds so his eyes are distant and he doesn't feel like doing anything. Pain meds are a necessary evil at this point and this early in recovery he should be resting as much as possible.
Is it cooler outside where you are? Many post amp dogs seek out cool places because it feels good on their incision. Also- dogs naturally hide themselves when they are sick or hurt because in the wild they would be the pack's next meal!
As far as stairs go- most dogs can do stairs once they are healed up.
In hindsight it made sense that my pug Maggie didn't bounce back as quick as most do here- 2 to 3 weeks normally. Maggie was a stubborn thing who HATED any change in her routine. She finally got her sparkle back around week 6 and hopped happily though life for almost 4 years. She lost her back leg to a mast cell tumor.
Hang in there, you are in the midst of the hardest part of recovery. I know it doesn't seem like it now but you will get your Phineas back!
Karen and the Spirit Pug Girls
Tri-pug Maggie survived a 4.5 year mast cell cancer battle only to be lost to oral melanoma.
1999 to 2010
Hi Caitlin, I'm so glad you decided to join in. We are here for you, and we can help. It sounds like he's having a totally normal recovery. Really! Your worries are something everyone who has gone through this has experienced.
First, Karen is right, he probably wants to lay outside on the cooler ground (dirt and grass is cooler than carpet).
Next, weaning him off tramadol should really help. Many dogs behave that way on it, mine included.
You must remember, our animals are reflections of our emotions. I know we say be pawsitive a lot around here, but we say it for a reason. Dogs want us to be in charge, they need to know everything is OK with us. When we project worry and anxiety, they are also worried and anxious. See this book for some really great insight about how they mirror our emotions.
I know it's tricky because you live on your second floor, but do try to get back to a normal routine as soon as possible. Living on the floor doesn't help him feel like things are normal. His stitches are probably coming out soon right? That's when you can help him with stairs by using the Ruffwear Webmaster harness . See our video of Jerry doing the stairs for assistance tips.
Also, please watch this video if you haven't already:
More will chime in, stay tuned OK?
Tripawds Founders Jim and Rene
tripawds.com | tripawds.org | bemoredog.net | triday.pet
Okay....the best support and advice I can offer is from my first post in February 2013. The original. "Link" ...even though it gives an "update" in tbe title, was "fear I have made a HORRIBLE decision.
http://tripawds.....-decision/
http://tripawds.....on/page-3/ this link is day 10 where I jjst KNEW I had made a horrible decision and she may not recover!!
I know it's a lot of reading, but I think you'll find an enormous amount of reassurance from Happy Hannah's experience and sll the invaluable support shared!!
Pay particular attention to the March 1st and several days later, where I could not believe I had made such a HORRIBLE decision! It was just myself and my dogs and I was physically and emotionally exhausted and in a constant state of fear and second vuessing a d regretting.
IT TOOK ME THREE WEEKS BEFORE I COULD FINALLY SAY I DID THIS FOR. MY HAPPY HANNAH AND NOT. TO. HER!!!
And you will see that for yourself soon!
Sending lots of love!!
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!
Caitlin:
I am so sorry you and Phineas are at a rough point in his recovery, but I am convinced it is going to get better. I did not actually find this place until a few weeks after our amputation, so my early posts are all past the point you are at and not really talking about recovery. I have to confess, Pofi and I were lucky and his was a bit smoother than many.
And I would say, yes, I have heard of many who say their dogs have a tough time with Tramadol and pant. Pofi was actually taking Tramadol, Gabapentin and Rimadyl before and after surgery. His pain was pretty well controlled by the time he came home - it was tougher in the weeks prior to diagnosis and amputation. I thought at that point his panting was the Tramadol, but it turned out his meds really needed to be increased and the panting was pain / stress. But you have to work with your vet to tweak up or down and see what works. Frequency as well as dosages can sometimes be changed to hit the right combination for where your dog is at.
If you are lowering and going off Tramadol, you might ask about another pain med - Rimadyl is an anti inflammatory and works differently from Gabapentin (nerve pain) and Tramadol (narcotic - pain receptors in brain). So even if it is the Tramadol, another modality might help to control pain in these still early days. Pofi was on meds for one full month post amp, tapering in the last two weeks.
I have done lots of hand feeding to get Pofi started eating before and after surgery - if it works, it is fine and I wouldn't be too concerned. But you could also give him Pepcid AC - one over the counter tablet once or twice a day - to help coat his stomach and see if that helps him handle the meds better and makes him feel more like eating.
If you don't mind me asking, what are the dosages and frequency for Phineas' pain meds right now? He is going to be about Pofi sized and Pofi took:
- 300 mg Gabapentin 3 x daily
- 75 mg Rimadyl 2 x daily
- 100 mg Tramadol 3 x daily
- Clavamox 2 x daily for 10 days
And you asked for good stories to give you hope - here is our first blog entry one month after surgery to show you how well we were doing: Where We Are Now
Later blog entries show him taking on stairs, etc., in video. And Pofi turned 12 this last week. I am very hopeful and fairly confident Phineas is going to become more Phineas again....
Lisa, Minneapolis
On October 27, 2016, nearly 6 months after amputation, and 18 months since his cancer likely started, we lost Pofi to a recurrence of Soft Tissue Sarcoma in his spine quite suddenly. His canine sister also succumbed to cancer on March 1, 2019 - we lavished her with our love in the interim, but life was never quite the same without her only real canine friend. Cliff kitty had to leave us, too, suddenly, in August 2019. Lucia kitty grieved all these losses, but helped us welcome two new Lurchers into our home and our lives, Shae and Barley.
Caitlin-I so understand where you are coming from- our Golden Retriever, Porter, became a Tripawd 4 weeks ago. The first 10 days were exactly as you are describing. Our happy go lucky baby seemed sad and depressed and was whiny and panting. We figured out (with the help of the vet) that at the 10 day mark we should try weaning him off his medication (he was only on Tramadol at that point) because they thought maybe that was the issue. It did indeed help and day by day he has returned to his "old self". Also, he didn't eat a lot the first couple of weeks but has gradually returned to his old eating habits. I would say this past week (week 4) has definitely been 100% better! There is a now light in his eyes again and we can tell he is getting back to normal. He was running around the yard last night with his tail wagging and we are feeling so much better about our decision! Hang in there!
Hello Porter and family, your future posts will not have to wait for approval.
Thank you for sharing your encouraging words here!
And please consider starting your own thread to introduce Porter and tell us all about your Tripawd.
Karen and the Spirit Pug Girls
Tri-pug Maggie survived a 4.5 year mast cell cancer battle only to be lost to oral melanoma.
1999 to 2010
Panting can also be a sign of pain. We noticed that Otis starting panting when his tramadol dose was wearing off. The solution for us was to stagger the dose - he was on three pills every eight hours. I ended up giving him two, and then the third one hour later, so he maintained a more consistent level through his system. Many dogs see a crash around day 5, when the hospital meds wear off, but it does get better. And many dogs improve dramatically when the staples come out - between days 10 and 14. And if he is happy laying outdoors, let him be outdoors. It was winter when Otis had his amputation, but very quickly he started moving over to the patch of sun by the sliding glass door. Sunshine and fresh air means so much to a dog. And yes, his personality will come back. Otis was the exact same dog - shorter walks, but everything else was the same.
Otis - 106 pound lab/Dane mix, lost his right front leg to osteosarcoma on Febuary 9, 2016. Four rounds of carboplatin completed in April, 2016. Lung mets August 25, 2016. Said goodbye too soon on September 4, 2016. Lost his adopted sister, Tess, suddenly on October 9, 2016. likely due to hemangiosarcoma.
Wherever they are, they are together.
Hi Caitlin,
I still feel like a newbie around here and Isa is more than two months post-amp. I will bow to the others in their seniority but will add the best thing that happened at our house was getting off the tramadol. Maybe Isa had an idiosyncratic reaction to it but I didn't see her "true self" come back until the tramadol was gone. We had zero problems with the gabapentin. Sounds like you've still got a ways to go with pain meds but pick and choose what works for Phineas (and you).
I'm still waiting for the magic of stair climbing ability to resurface. I have gotten Isa upstairs a couple of times but it's not easy and she requires a lot of encouragement. She's really not ready/strong enough for it but some nights I need to sleep in a real bed.
You absolutely made the right decision for Phineas even when it doesn't feel like it. Things will get better and the true Phineas will surface, he just needs a little more time. Hang tough and stick around here - Tripawds absolutely saved me and it will save you.
Right rear leg amp 7/12/16 due to OSA. Metastatic lesion on her right front leg, January 2017. Joined the Winter Warriors January 19, 2017. Run free my sweet girl.
Hi Caitlyn,
Im so sorry to hear you've had a rough go so far. We have certainly had our ups and downs as well. Kylie is 3 weeks post op tomorrow, she's a left rear limb amputee, 9yrs old with osteosarcoma. Meds are a tricky thing. We have a love-hate relationship. 😒
She was on metacam and Tramadol already prior to surgery because of her cancer pain. It didn't seem to do much then. She had Tramadol twice daily and metacam. Then after surgery she was on same meds but Tramadol 3/day. We didn't know how long to keep the meds up at that dose (no one said to wean down or when to stop) so by day 12, I called and they said oh she should have been fine 5-7 days after surgery! After reading these forums I thought it would be weeks! Kylie showed a lot of the same behaviours as u describe, she was slow moving, slept a lot, panted a lot, not eating as much & just looked dopey & not herself. We started to feel hopeless. We just wanted our happy girl back.
Turns out that once her pain lessened, the full dose meds were just sedating her 😳 So once we got her off the Tramadol she came back to herself within a day! We were so pleased! But it was timed badly being the same day as suture removal day 13 when the Vet said she is off bed rest & can have short walks again (10mins) & because she felt good she began being more active again. So we had a setback because she did too much too soon 😟 Started hurting, could barely walk, wouldn't eat again, mood is sullen etc. So then back on the Tramadol we go! But only twice a day not 3. This helped her sore muscles heal and feeling back to normal once again. She is just perfect now and had her first day of chemo! 😄👍
We don't regret the amputation, for us we felt there was no other choice because it was such an aggressive tumour she would've died within weeks. As a new tripawd she is walking like a champ and no pain, at least no where near bone cancer pain. She is happy and spunky and back to her old personality before she was ever hurt. She's back 😘👍
As for the uncomfortable sleeping arrangements I know all about that lol My husband dragged a double mattress from the spare room upstairs down to the living room and that's where we slept with our new tripawd for the first 13 days.😄 I slept on the couch. He and she took the bed. We baby gated any stairs. The recovery period is not easy. Once the sutures were out however we assisted her up the stairs and we are all back on the king size pillow top mattress every night now and we sleep great! So once the sutures are out u should be able to get him back upstairs too. And by assisted I mean we simply follow Kylie up the stairs by lifting up her belly slightly to take the pressure off of her leg she does the rest on her own. She's 70lbs. We also have a ruffwear harness with brushguard which helped immensely today getting her in and out of the truck to her chemo appt.
Best advice I can give is just love the crap right out of Phineas right now and stay positive as u can and do things as normal as is realistic for u both at this stage of the game. Some light massage on sore muscles and around incisions site seemed to help Kylie. He will come around soon and all this stress, doubt and sleep deprivation will all seem very worth it. Hang in there! And use this site for support, they are friggin awesome here, not sure I could have stayed sane this long without them!
~Chris & Kylie xox
In terms of sleeping arrangements, I slept downstairs on my mattress for a while. (Interestingly, I had just moved back into my bedroom about 4 months earlier after cruciate repair surgery for my other dog). In week 3, after the staples came out, Otis started jumping back up on the sofa, so I moved my box spring down too. At almost month 3, I removed the baby gate . Otis spent a couple of days just looking, and then he was up and down without assistance. I kept the upstairs baby gated during the day when no one was home, but we moved back upstairs for sleeping (although I continued to use just the mattress and box spring without the frame to make it easier on both dogs to get up and down). Some dogs do stairs much faster. And the Ruffwear Webmaster Plus harness (see it in the gear blog) is great for assisting them up and down stairs. I had plenty of room downstairs, but it sounds like you might need to be back upstairs sooner, so the harness might be a good way to start.
Otis - 106 pound lab/Dane mix, lost his right front leg to osteosarcoma on Febuary 9, 2016. Four rounds of carboplatin completed in April, 2016. Lung mets August 25, 2016. Said goodbye too soon on September 4, 2016. Lost his adopted sister, Tess, suddenly on October 9, 2016. likely due to hemangiosarcoma.
Wherever they are, they are together.
Thanks all for the support- I just figured out how to respond 🙂
Last night was better- I went against doctors orders, and hope I won't be judged for this- but I brought him to the second floor living space last night. Shockingly, he navigated the upstairs very well- and I had help getting him down, though he still did well! He slept with me last night and the panting only started around 530- so I was thankful to get some rest!
Prior to this surgery, Phin was on rimadyl, amatadine and gabapentin for his spondoloysis and then his dysphlasia. We came home with those meds plus Tramadol and antibiotics. I have not given him tramadol today and he's made some progress. Still didn't eat this morning but once he got comfortable, he started eating when hand fed. What a diva! But when I got home, phineas and I had a date- we went out in his first car ride since bringing him home from surgery- in the convertible to get ice cream. He was comfortable, and loved the ice cream.
I know that there will be many more difficult times ahead- and the high potential for the cancer to recur- but today was a good day. He even started 'nursing' his pink blankie, which he's done since I took him home. Today was the first day that I didn't regret my decision. And I'm so grateful for the advice from this forum- he may have been anxious because we weren't normal- we lived in a hallway and he may have felt underestimated- but today I had 60% of my boy back....progress is encouraging 🙂
I will post a pic if I can figure that out!!
thank you!
caitlin and Phin
Way to go Phineas! Hooray for ice cream! And hooray for a good night's sleep!
Otis - 106 pound lab/Dane mix, lost his right front leg to osteosarcoma on Febuary 9, 2016. Four rounds of carboplatin completed in April, 2016. Lung mets August 25, 2016. Said goodbye too soon on September 4, 2016. Lost his adopted sister, Tess, suddenly on October 9, 2016. likely due to hemangiosarcoma.
Wherever they are, they are together.
Thank you! So fortunate to get advice from loving dog owners who have 'been there'!
Good to hear that Phin has made some progress!
We try not to make any judgements around here- as long as you are doing your best for Phin!
And some say that the sooner you get things back to 'normal' then our pups feel more normal. Just be careful on the stairs.
Actually it's not to shocking that Phin can climb stairs, in general front amps can go up pretty easily, down is more of a challenge. Conversely rear amps tend to be more challenged going up while down is no problem. That being said most tripawds can manage stairs, both up and down. My little pug mix Elly is missing a back leg, she flies up the stairs faster than my quad-pug.
Yay for an ice cream date! Another thing that helped perk Maggie up after her surgery was visits from people she liked. I think she got tired of me watching her every move!
Karen and the Spirit Pug Girls
Tri-pug Maggie survived a 4.5 year mast cell cancer battle only to be lost to oral melanoma.
1999 to 2010
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