Caring for a Three Legged Dog or Cat
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Hi, my 9.5 year old shepherd mix, Oona, was diagnosed with osteosarcoma about 1 month ago. We opted to go with amputation of her front leg and she has been doing very well for the last several weeks. As of yesterday; however, she is suddenly not eating and vomited what she did eat last night. She is also very recently trying to lick one area of her stiches (which are due to come out on Sat). Has anyone experienced anything like this? I'm wondering if she could have an infection. She was on antibiotics, but the prescription only went for the first two weeks. Thanks for your help!
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Oooh, it sounds like Oona is going through typical post-amp issues. I myself have had a few episodes of barfing and not wanting to eat. Since it's only been a day, as long as she's drinking water and eliminating, you might want to hang in there, and when you see your vet on Saturday, be sure to mention this. But if something is telling you it's more serious, be sure to call them tomorrow. After all, we aren't vets, and can only share our own experiences with issues like this.
Did you feed her anything different that might've caused her to barf?
I lick my missing limb area quite often. Mom and Dad think it's odd, but it doesn't harm anything so I figure why not! A lot of Tripawds do this.
Hope she's feeling better!
Tripawds Founders Jim and Rene
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I think licking is normal. My baby licked her stitches often (keeping a t-shirt on her helped with this) also a warm washcloth pressed on it several times a day helped with swelling and fluid drainage.
I would at least call the vet. I called my vet for every little thing she did that I did not like. My vet asked the same things as Jerry. If Oona is still drinking and going you may not want to panic. Sometimes Timber did not want to eat, just like us they feel bad and do not want anything sometimes. I would cook her a chicken breast to get her to eat and see how she does with that, it worked for my girl.
I know for the first month of Timber's recovery I was so paniced if she had the slightest sign of anything out of the ordinary. I would call the vet and just ask if they think you need to bring Oona in for a check up. If it persists too I woul definately bring her in.
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I liked to lick the incision too. Mom put a t-shirt on me to prevent me from getting at it.
It took me almost two months after the surgery to get my appetite back to normal.
... I was given Tramadol and Metacam the first couple of weeks after surgery. About six weeks post-op, one day I took off chasing other dog and fell on the asphalt. My wound was scraped badly, and I was put on antibiotics for 10 days, however my mom and the vet had come to an agreement to stop the adminstering of the meds after 7 days, because I had three episodes of throwing up precisely 2 hours after a meal and the meds.
Since then, it took about another two weeks to get the stupid meds completely flushed out of my system before I felt like eating again.
My mom was a bit concern the enitre two-month period cause the vet said I needed calories intake and most importantly protein to help heal. So my mom had been very creative to prepare varieties of food each day to try to get me to eat, and hoped that one day she would hit the jackpot that I would start chowing down again.
Thank you for your feedback. I took her to the vet yesterday, as I was scheduled to get her stitches out anyway, and he recommended I stop giving her Rimadyl to see if that helps. She ate boiled chicken and rice two nights ago with no vomiting, but I gave her the same meal last night, and she only ate the chicken and then promptly threw it up. I guess I will give it a few days to see if the Rimadyl leaves her system and helps her out. Thanks!
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