Caring for a Three Legged Dog or Cat
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Our 6 year old Italian mastiff mix had a front left limb amputation on Wednesday. We were delighted that he was in such good spirits post op. At the vet, he surprised even Dr. Katzer by running before his dressing change. He did not eat while at the vet, which is normal for him to not do unless we are next to him.
He has yet to eat any of his food. He is drinking. He is taking treats, even a pig ear, his joint supplements and hotdogs/summer sausage with his meds. (He HATES the tramadol and I’ve gotten good at hiding them). Is this normal?
He is urinating, however has yet to have a bowel movement, but hasn’t had a true kibble meal since Tuesday evening (he eats once per day at night).
What can I also expect for pain? Yesterday Beau had periods of breakthrough whining and panting. He still wags his tail and wants to go for his nightly car ride. Last night, during the night, he cried quite a bit and when he got up to stretch, did yelp. He is taking Tramadol 50mg 4 tabs every 8 hours (which we are sticking very close to 8 hours) as well as Rimadyl 100mg 2 1/2 tabs once daily.
Is all of this “normal”? And when can we expect the pain to lessen?
Hi and welcome to you and Beau. Your future posts won't need approval so post away!
What you are describing sounds really typical and actually super positive considering that his surgery was just a few days ago, and that he's on a really low, low, amount of pain medications. I'll get to that in a sec, but first:
Let him eat anything he wants right now, you can gradually transition him back to kibble. Pain meds do a number on appetite and it can be tricky to feed at a time like this. So scramble some eggs, grill a steak, whatever he wants. And whatever you do, don't hide the tramadol in his main food OK? Treats, sure, but not his main meal or it's easy to turn a dog off from eating completely. Pill residue can stay in bowls for a long, long, time, even if they get run through the dishwasher, dogs can smell it!
Oh and eventually, he will poop. It takes time to normalize but he'll get there. Just make sure he's urinating.
As for pain. Yes, he is showing pain signals . As for the meds, is that all he got, the Tramadol and the Rimadyl? If so, it's not enough. Now, I'm not a vet FWIW, but we interview pain management specialists all the time, and modern pain control for amputation pain involves more than Tramadol and an anti-inflammatory.
In the old days, dogs would come home with Tramadol and an NSAID. But not anymore. Tramadol is now shown to be pretty worthless for any kind of acute pain. The Rimadyl is fine, but that's not going to address the other types of pain he is experiencing, like nerve pain. So, please call your vet and ask for additional pain control. Gabapentin is pretty typical, and works well with Rimadyl. For a dog his size, the typical dose is about 300 mg 3x daily, sometimes 400 mg. Here's an article you might want to check out:
Best (and Worst) Pet Amputation Pain Drugs
I hope you can get in touch with them. Until you talk to the clinic, do your best to stay ahead of the pain. Once they are showing signs of pain, it will take 2x as long to bring it back down, so don't let it get to that point. If he is showing pain signals before 8 hours, it's probably OK to dose him again (check with your vet's instructions).
Let us know how he's doing! He sounds like a strong, amazing dog!
Tripawds Founders Jim and Rene
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