Caring for a Three Legged Dog or Cat
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Sooo I am starting a topic. I'd rather not, but
Before Manni's surgery he showed close to no signs of anything whatsoever. He did have bouts of licking and salivating however, which I kind of put down to having acid reflux, or something to that extent. It did seem to get better after half a pill of Ranitidin (antacid) but I just noticed now that this had not occured again since surgery. Until now. So mayyyyybeee I was wrong and it was a sign for pain? Any experiences with that? (I know licking can be a sign, but it's always with salivating).
In addition, I feel that he's not as fit as he was. Now, that's very very subjective. He still wants to go out, he eats, and so on. It's more that I feel he stops earlier on our walks than before. And I am not sure his balance is as it was. But I admit that I am a worrier, so maybe it is only in my head. That is a possibility.
I said before once that he has lumps that are believed to be Lipoma. He now has a wobbly bit underneath his chest. Kind of feels like a little fluid built-up. Or a lot of loose skin. It is not lumpy, more like an "area". I would take a picture but it's not so big that you would be able to see it underneath all that fur.
So yes, I did make an appointment with our vet-prof but that is not until the 10th, which is a week and a half yet. That man's pretty booked but I would rather have him see Manni than someone else not familiar with the history.
Am I overreacting? Am I underreacting?
(I made a huge list of questions/symptoms/possible causes for the vet. Not the best way to make friends 
)
Right now Manni is lying beneath my desk, licking his snout, leaving little spit puddles. What do I do? Apart from waiting for the appointment.
A worried Tina
Guardian of Manni the Wonderdog. -Or was it the other way around?
Osteo and amputation in Dec 2015. Second, inoperable, primary osteosarcoma found in June 2017.
The end of our adventures came Dec 10, 2017. 2 years to the day.
I hope and pray everything is OK for your fur baby. I'm going through some of the same with mine. Just wanted to say that I would call and see if you can get a phone consult before the 10th-maybe to just alleviate some of your fears. If it's pain, maybe some pain meds and see it helps??
I worry about every little and big thing too. Talking to my vet or oncologist always helps.
Best wishes-Kellye
TINA!!! Of course we overreact here! You lnow by now that is what we do best!! It's like a badge of honor!! Oh, and add being hyper vigilante, throw in non stop worrying and making up worst case scenarios all the time! 🙂 hep, that's what we do....so well!
If the antacid helped before, even though he's not salivating, I'd give him a dose anyway.
Since he has no other obvious symptoms of pain, it's seems highly unlikely he is in any pain. Of course, not a vet, etc, etc
Do you notice any slight nose drip at all? Could be a seasonal/allergy type thing.
Yeah, we're very lump conscious here, thsts for sure! Doesn't sound like anything, but the Vet can give you reassurance in that.
Now, as far as not "seeming" as fit, heah, very subjective indeed! Man I has been a tripawd for a loooong time (in human years) and he has gotten older! So the fact that he doesn't want to be in motion walking all the time and wants to stop and smell the roses sounds PERFECTLY NORMAL to me!!
Okay, that's my 2¢! In the meantime, give him the Pepcid (with Vet approval of course), give him some treats and watch his tail wag! All is well in the World of Manni!!!
Lots of 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!
I hope everything is ok with Manni. I absolutely know what it is like to be hyper-vigilant and worried about everything. But don't worry about having a list of questions for your vet. Ask as many as possible! It is their job to answer them and they should be happy to do so. Lord knows I have asked enough questions to write a novel in the past 6 weeks. We will be thinking about you and Manni.
Lip licking and drooling were a sign of nausea for my Otis - he was on Pepcid A/C during his chemo, and I put him back on a couple of weeks before the mets were discovered. No idea if there was any connection with the mets.
And, as Sally mentions, being a tripawd does not make our dogs immune from other health issues. For now, keep him comfortable, don't worry too much about the drool (but do the Pepcid or something if your vet is ok with it), and wait for your vet appointment. They will probably take an x-ray, which will give you more idea of what is or is not going on here.
No, you are not over-reacting. We know our dogs better than anyone in the world. If you think you see something, there probably is something (but, remember that the something might not be cancer!).
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.
When was the last time he had his mouth checked? Obie told me he had a bad tooth when he drooled a puddle on my lap. Obie has OCD licking issues so I can't tell anything is up with him by that, but he only usually drools when he is nervous and not as much as he did when he broke a tooth.
Will he let you look in his mouth? How is his breath? When a pup needs a dental the breath is sometimes pretty bad.
How's he doing now?
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
MANNNNNNIIIIIIIII !!! You stop that drooling NOW unless you ARE planning on drooling on your momma's shoes or , better yet, head! Or important mail! Or tax documents! DROOL on the passport MANNI!!!!! Spit, slobber, and DROOLLLLLL = BADGE OF HONOR!!! Girls ( yuck Manni! We love our mommas but they are SUCH girls!!! And fussy about FARTS AND DROOOOOOLLLLL which is what the best BOYS are made of!!!) are sillyyyyyyyyy!!! Shake your big Whiskery MANNI HEAD and see if the drool will hit THE WALLS!! Or your momma's dinner! USE THE DROOOOOOOOOOL to your advantage MANNI! ( But, if you MUST be civilimized...maybe Pepcid can be added to your Puppucino?!?!)
BIG SLOBBERY DROOOL KISSES AND HUGS AND PYRPAWS! And a belch and fart or two....ooooooooohhhhh MANNNNIIIII, can we have a farting contest?!?!?!!!!!! Because THAT is what younnnnnnnng pups like us do best!!!!!!!!!! says Da Bear! ( EmmaRose throws serious side eye at that kind of behavior...)
Thank you all! The licking-and-drooling- issue is kind of on and off. This morning he was up before me, which is unusual and it was because his tummy was making A LOT of noise. Gave him Pepcid (well, the German version, we'll see how that goes).
When Manni feels nauseous he usually wants me to let him outside so he can eat grass and, well, throw up then. The licking-drooling has not happened at the same time so I doubt it's that. Might still be acid though. But HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO KNOW?? could he not just tell me?? Man!!
I will put the teeth-checking on my (rather large, ahem) list. Good point.
and the overall decline that I think I see: I know that ten is pretty old but I mean it#s not like you hit a switch and boom, they're old and act it. It just feels that this lack of energy and not wanting to do much came in the last, let's say 3 weeks. so yes, that worries me.
and the area on his chest: I just hope it's not what it feels like, which would be some kind of fluid. But I'll just ignore that until the appointment.
I also feel that "Mom-knows-best" and I feel there is something not right. Wish I knew what. Good point with the "it doesn't have to be cancer" I tend to forget that. Like, completely. But as always, I am at the vets' rather 3 times too many than once too late to be honest.
oh, and DaBear?? You guys go ahead and do what guys do (farting and all, or maybe even a spittle-flying contest) but how about you do that at your house?? Sweet EmmaRose can come visit me in the meantime and we'll do the girly wellness-thingy! How 'bout that?? 
Thanks again, love you for your support!
t
Guardian of Manni the Wonderdog. -Or was it the other way around?
Osteo and amputation in Dec 2015. Second, inoperable, primary osteosarcoma found in June 2017.
The end of our adventures came Dec 10, 2017. 2 years to the day.
Pre-chemo my Otis did the grass thng too. Having chemo made a permanent change to his digestive tract. Even when he was not on Pepcid, I found that he got indigestion if his tummy got too empty, resulting in the time honored tradition of 1/2 cup of kibble in his bowl at 2:00 am. The cats still get up then wanting food.
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.
Are his gums still pink? (Sorry, thinking about the fluid and my Tess, although she declined in 12 hours, not over 3 weeks).
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.
yeah, gums are ok (although his are bi-colored so always kind of hard to see). But that's a good point you make, I need to remember to check those more. I mean, I should know. That would be the first thing I would check on a horse...
And I understand what you mean about Tess and I am worried about that kind of stuff as well. I didn't know that it could come on this fast until a couple of weeks ago. Scares the heck out of me...
Guardian of Manni the Wonderdog. -Or was it the other way around?
Osteo and amputation in Dec 2015. Second, inoperable, primary osteosarcoma found in June 2017.
The end of our adventures came Dec 10, 2017. 2 years to the day.
It is amazing how fast stuff can happen. I took Otis and Tess for baths Saturday morning. That afternoon, he began to have difficulty breathing. Went to the e-vet where they drained air from his lungs. He came home for Sunday, and transitioned about 9:00 that night. No way we would have gone for baths if I had known that was his last day! And Tess was fine and totally normal until early afternoon, and passed that evening. Now maybe that was better than the worry you ate going through right now, but it amazes me how quickly things can change.
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.
two-edged sword I guess. I mean a lot of times with animals it is so hard to know when the time has come and you don't want them to suffer unnecessarily. So I guess you were spared that. At the same time the sheer horror of that happening so suddenly...
Plenty colorful swearwords for this *#-*-disease in my head right now but I'll spare you.
Guardian of Manni the Wonderdog. -Or was it the other way around?
Osteo and amputation in Dec 2015. Second, inoperable, primary osteosarcoma found in June 2017.
The end of our adventures came Dec 10, 2017. 2 years to the day.
MAAANNNNNNNIIII!!!! Close your ears!!!! Your momma is a bilingual cusser!!!! Really Manni...just come visit us where farting and burping and drooling are the norm!!!!! Dogs don't cuss (hehehehe). Why do humans?!?!?! MANNNNNIIIIIIII,close those handsome ears of yours!
I've tried Greek, too, since Manni's from there but after that decided it's selective hearing on his part...
(make mental note: have the ears checked, add to list 
)
I'm pretty fluent in Swear in maaany a language by now.
Guardian of Manni the Wonderdog. -Or was it the other way around?
Osteo and amputation in Dec 2015. Second, inoperable, primary osteosarcoma found in June 2017.
The end of our adventures came Dec 10, 2017. 2 years to the day.
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