Caring for a Three Legged Dog or Cat
Tripawds is your home to learn how to care for a three legged dog or cat, with answers about dog leg amputation, and cat amputation recovery from many years of member experiences.
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Holy moly! How did I miss all these posts? Catching nup just in time to see you've fotten great advice!
As you can already tell, there is no better place to be for support, understanding and invaluable information! Clearly you know by now you are not alone on this journey! We understand the stress of this journey like no others can! It is exhausting. It is intense. It is scary. And it is also exhilarating to see the sparkle come back once recovery is over!
Your precious Oliver doesn't give a rip about any old stupid diagnosis. He could care less about days on the calendar! All he cares about is getting on with life and soaking up all that magnificent loving and spoiling that he is getting every single day!
As far as the job thing goes, one other thing you might want to try is massaging alley before he gets up. Gently go up and down his spine, his neck, and the muscles in his leg. Also do some very gentle stretching of his legs. Some light massaging around the incision site may also be helpful. It may indeed be a little bit of a pinch from the Stitches or possibly a staple. if it is Phantom limb pain the Gabapentin should take care of that soon.
3 days is very very early in recovery. Ollie needs rest and potty breaks for now. Oh, and by the way, YAAAAAAAAAY FOR POOP! 🙂
It took me about 3 weeks before I could finally say I did this FORr my happy Hannah and not TO her! And yes, it was a very long 3 weeks. I don't think I slept more than 5 hours total the first three or four nights of recovery. There was a lot of whining and restlessness going on for the first many days and nights. Happy Hannah was walking okay on three legs but the surgery site itself must have been pretty painful.
It may have already been mentioned, but a walk around the block may be a bit much right now. I know it's hard trying to limit the energy
of this puppy! He'll soon be doing all the puppy things he wants........And all the adult things he wants.........and all the senior things he wants:-) This little guy isn't going to be missing out on a thing!! He is sooooooooooooo loved and soooooooooooooo happy having you as his humans! 🙂
One more thing...eat lots of CHOCOLATE! It helps!
Hugs and 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!
Thanks so much Sally! It's now 4:36AM on the east coast and Oliver has been up since about 1:00AM. He can't seem to figure out how to lie down. I read in another post that it could be the meds. Does anyone have any tips on getting our dog to lie down?
Hi:
Glad you brought Ollie in and have reassurance that everything looks right. I think moderating the Tramadol makes sense, but I, personally, would err on the side of more frequent Gabapentin. It takes several days to reach full effect and for us, every 8 hours seemed key. Gabapentin works on the nerves and what you are describing sounds like nerve pain or phantom limb pain to me. Our boy did not actually have this pain, but I think it was because we were on an every 8 hour frequency for Gabapentin before and after surgery.
I'd love to see bigger pictures of Ollie (hint, hint).
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.
Lisa,
Your wish is my command. My avatar is from Oliver's 1st birthday (6/6/16), only a few weeks before we found out he had MST. And wow, I didn't even think of that. I've been spreading out his Gabapentin and only giving him 1/2 doses at a time, because he was whining a lot. But, at 10AM, I'll give him both tablets. He finally laid down at around 7:45AM. Woke up at 8:00AM and was crying trying to get up, but we started petting him and gently guiding him back down, so he's been out since. Dreading waking him up at 10AM to give him his pills, but I gotta do it. We contacted our surgeon, so he'll get back to us today at some point, too. I'd love if they could give him something for his anxiety, so I'm going to mention it, but I'm also worried about how it will react with everything else in his system. I will keep you posted on what they say.
Oh, that face!! What a doll!
It is tough to determine if a dog is whining because the meds are causing that unsettled reaction or whining because there is pain. 10 days before surgery, just a few days post initial diagnosis of a nerve sheath tumor, Pofi was suddenly panting a lot and whining. Had just talked to surgeon/rehab doctor about cutting back on Gabapentin as we said it "could" be the drugs when whining became full on crying and I knew it was pain. Instead of cutting back dosage, we kept the dosage and went from every 12 hours to every 8 and for us, that was the "turn the corner" moment.
Pofi had to have MRI and x-rays prior to surgery and all that manipulation caused him terrible pain and they ended up keeping him in hospital and moving surgery to following day, which was shocking. He was in ICU another 36 hours while they moved from IV infused drugs to the oral drugs and we kept up the 3 x daily Gaba for a full 2 weeks post surgery. We were so lucky, because his pain was really well managed (but his system was acclimated to the pain med regime). It really was several days initially for Gabapentin to fully kick in though and others have said the same thing.
All good thoughts for handsome Oliver!!
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.
I can't even imagine what that must have been like, what a strong dog Pofi is and what a strong family he has! Our surgeon called and said the same thing, to try upping dosage to every 8 hours, so that's what we are going to do! Thank you so much for the advice, I'm hoping that this helps put our baby boy at ease.
Our Max was one of those that didn't tolerate the pain meds either. Just very nervous and panted all the time. He didn't sleep much at all the first week or so just catnaps. We had been given some Tylenol with codeine pre surgery for pain before we knew we were doing the amp and we ended up asking surgeon if we could swap out tramadol for that and that ended up working for us. Finding the right combo of meds is one of the hardest things on this journey. Sounds like you are being a wonderful advocate for beautiful Oliver and asking all the right questions of your vet. I'm sure it'll get easier here shortly for both you and your sweet boy! Hugs ((()))
Linda, Riley & Spirits Mighty Max & Ollie
Hi Linda-
It is so frustrating. The poor guy wants to sleep so badly, but he just goes from one end of our couch to the other circling, almost lying on his incision, and then standing up again. He's slept for probably 3 hours from 12:00AM today until now (3:40PM), and that's being generous. We have an appointment with our surgeon tomorrow at 10:00AM, and I'll bring up the Tylenol. Our friends down the hall also suggested "doggy Xanax," not sure which drug it is exactly, but their puppy had to have stomach surgery and his neutering done at the same time, and had a hard time adjusting to sleeping with a cone on. Not sure if that's an option with the combination of drugs that he's taking.
Just a general question for you all who have gone through this, but right now we are working from home this week to take care of him, with the hopes that we'll be able to have one of us stay home and one of us at work every day next week. Is there any indication that it gets easier by the second week, or should we both plan on teleworking or taking PTO next week as well? I know it varies, but our surgeon told us that he would be fine within a few days to be left alone, which is odd to me, since we are terrified of leaving him by himself in the state he has been in.
First of all....his new avatar picture...AAAAAADORAVLE!!!! He is sooooo cute!!!'' Love him!!
As you can see, there is so much varying infor on pain meds, frequency and types.
Olloe's first several nights are soooo similar to my Happy Hannah's. Restless, whining, would sit so emuch but just did not want to lay down.
One tip before you add more meds. Most dogs have a "favorite" side they s@eep on. They have a very definite pattern as far as which way the "circle" before they @ay down, etc. The amputation can completely disrupt this for them in the beginning. So some of what you may be witnessing is related to this, as well as getting the pain meds adjusted and just coming out of major surgery while adjusting to three legs!!
You'll just have to see how far along Ollie is next week. I know you get tired of hearing this, vut every dog is different and every recovery is different!
Hang in there!! You're doing great!
Love!
Sally and Alumni Happy Hannah and Merry Myrtle and Frankie too!
PS..Does Ollie have a cone on? If so, definitely take it off while watching him during his sleep. That may help him relax some.
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!
Sally,
Ollie says, thank you very much! He loves the attention 🙂 That hasn't changed by the way. The kid still wags his tail at everyone on our walks, and really wanted to be pet. One of our struggles is to cut his walks short, because he just loves being out there so much.
I definitely agree with you that he's circling out of habit to his incision side. It was much easier to help him onto his "good side" the first day or two. But on days 3 and 4, forget about it. We just have to let him figure it out, and it really pains us. He keeps just resting his head on pillows that are higher than him, closing his eyes, and trying desperately to get some rest.
Minus the sleeping, I really think he's doing well. I just wish we could help him to get comfortable so that he (and we) could get some rest!
As always, thanks for the love and support. Oliver sends extra tail wags and kisses!
Oliver you are adorable!
Hey guys I'm so sorry, just now catching up on your story and wanted to say "Welcome!" Sounds like Oliver has had quite a restless recovery but as you've seen here with this great community, it's not atypical at all. I think that by next week he'll be fine to be left alone as long as you can find that "sweet spot" with the meds that your onco described.
I'm surprised that the Gaba and Benadryl didn't help, that would knock out most dogs! But then Oliver is a young'un and our Wyatt Ray (who as 8 months when he lost his leg) has similar reactions to pain medication, they make him amped up and bonkers. We did find that Gabapentin and a NSAID was just right for him, the Tramadol made him insane. He was better without it.
Hang in there, things DO get better!
Tripawds Founders Jim and Rene
tripawds.com | tripawds.org | bemoredog.net | triday.pet
Since you have an appointment tomorrow you should ask the surgeon about adjusting the meds. I re-read your posts and I'm wondering if Oliver is having trouble with the tramadol. And since it seems he is having nerve pain maybe you could reduce the tram and up the gaba.
I also notice you said that you are going on walks? Our surgeon said only leashed potty walks for the first two weeks- could he be overdoing a little? Maggie was such a slug at first I didn't have to worry about her doing too much, and Elly was 2+ months post-amp when I got her.
You might also try some gentle massage- your poor boy is probably so tense that his muscles might need some work. Here is a blog search on dealing with post-op pain. There is one post about massage to help with phantom pain .
I would think that by next week one of you at home should work.
Hang in there, it really does get better!
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 Karen + Friends,
I've cut back on his tram as of last night. He didn't fall asleep until about 7:00AM, but that only lasted 90 minutes. Went to the vet this morning, physically, he said he's doing great. He's alert, his incision looks good, he has a small seromas, but nothing that won't be absorbed.
As for walks, we just take him out to pee really. We will circle around the block if we think he needs to go #2, but he's only done that twice since his surgery on Friday 6/17. He desperately wants to stay out longer (high energy breed+puppy= lovessssss walking), but we typically bring him back in after 5-10 minutes. We also live in an apartment building, and the hallway is pretty long to reach the elevator. I've definitely been massaging him, but I will look at these links as well, I'm sure there are plenty of useful things we haven't done.
Just a quick update from the vet this morning: they prescribed him Acepromazine in a last ditch effort to get him to sleep. So far, no dice. He tries to sleep standing up still. We've tried laying him down on his good side, but he screams bloody murder when we attempt that. It just makes us really sad that he can't figure out how to sleep on his other side... and obviously, we're on day 3 without sleeping at night, so we probably need some rest too. Feels like we've tried everything to no avail: no "zen" cone, making him a corner, guiding him down with a pillow, etc.
Both of our jobs have been very understanding, so I'll stay home for as long as I need to.
Wow, wow. When Pofi was younger, my vet did once comment that he "fought sedation like a rhino." But in his senior years, Acepromazine has worked a treat.
Pofi did also think, when I got him a Thundershirt a few years ago, that it was impossible to lie down while wearing it. He tried to sleep standing up... I wonder if the bare skin and staples or stitches (which does he have) just feel so funny to him? He thinks he can't lie down?
Greyhounds can be very dramatic - and scream not out of pain, but because you are forcing them to do something. A lot of Greyhound people call it the GSOD - Greyhound Scream of Death. One woman I know tells the story of her Greyhound or Lurcher letting out a GSOD in the kitchen and it turned out she had stepped on a frozen pea....
He is just so very much younger than so many pets here. I would be tempted to get a little more controlled on leash exercise. Maybe more mental stimulation like treat puzzles.
So sorry it is so rough.
When do stitches/staples come out?
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.
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