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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Lisa,
He has staples and he doesn't get them out until July 6 (was supposed to be July 1, but everyone is on holiday then). Surprisingly, puppy has been sleeping on his stomach when he does finally stop fighting it. I just came out of the bedroom, because I couldn't watch him whimper and try to sleep standing up, and my fiancé told me that he had been lying down for 20 minutes already. Thank GOODNESS!
That's too funny about greyhounds. Oliver is a german short haired pointer mixed with greyhound and Labrador retriever. Wonder if he too inherited the GSOD (I think so!)
Hi, Aubrey:
Woo hooo!!! Lying down!!
You know, prior to amputation and just after amputation was sleeping more on his tummy - I know it is because the side (where tumor was) was just too painful and then the surgical site. He did start sleeping/lying on "good side" within a few days post op and then on the "bad side" a few days later. Now it is anything goes.
I wonder if staples are more prickly or uncomfortable? There was another dog and maybe even two of them recently who seemed very unsettled to after staple removal. Pofi had stitches. I myself have never had either. But Ollie is a very lean dog. And Rachele was a Greyhound with staples who seemed super uncomfortable till staple removal.
When was amputation? Try to alk them into the 30th of June - or even earlier. Pofi had his out at 10 days on the dot and they have said Oliver is healing well....
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.
Just hang in there - you are at a really hard part of the recovery: hospital meds have worn off, you are sleep deprived, and so is Oliver. He will start laying down soon, really, I promise. Just be patient, give him lots of love, hold him a lot, and you will get through this!
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.
You all are such a blessing, thank you! We're just so happy he's sleeping, so his body can rest and heal. I swear, the swelling on his underside has even gone down in the past THREE hours that he's been asleep. I can't believe it's been three hours in a row!
Lisa, that's an excellent point. I wonder if it takes longer to remove staples and stitches. We will definitely email and found out if that's possible.
Don't forget to make sure you are also getting sleep. When Sadie had her amputation, I spent the first several days exhuasted, even though I was sleeping every chance I got. Even when asleep, I had half an ear out for any whimper or movement from her.
This whole process reminds me of having a new baby in the house - sleep when the baby sleeps, and even then, you are always conscious for the slightest movement in the crib. And of course, spending time watching your baby sleep just to make sure he or she is still breathing!
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.
Happy to hear he's finally getting some sleep. Maybe it just took a while for the puppy Prozac to work? I also used to play mood music when Max would finally fall asleep. I think the music soothed him. In any event it soothed me 😳
Linda, Riley & Spirits Mighty Max & Ollie
One thing I did with Otis (and an idea I picked up on the site) was aromatherapy. I scent my bedroom with peppermint and lavender essential oils, so I scented a hand towel and put it in the living room where Otis and I were sleeping. Not sure if it really helped or not, but it seemed to.
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.
WOOF!!!!!!!!!!! WOOF!!!!!!!!!! We have sleep!! YAAAAAAAAAY FOR SLEEP!!! 🙂
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!
Something just occurred to me- I wonder if the tightness of the incision is bothering him. Will he wear tee shirts or anything around his torso normally?
My tripug Maggie was quite the drama queen so I always knew when something was bothering her. She would sit and look at me with the most pitiful expression. And she hated anything around her body, we put a float coat on her once and she froze like a statue and wouldn't move until we took it off. Same with tee shirts. She did not like harnesses either, often rolled trying to get them off. Anyway, she had her first mast cell tumor removed from her side about 6 months before her amp. The incision was huge, probably 7 inches long (her girth was only about 21 inches) and kind of tight as it was just behind her front leg. That type of surgery isn't that painful, tissue only, but Mag was acting like Oliver, she wouldn't lay down and was quite cranky until the stitches were removed. I finally realized that the incision felt like something was wrapped around her body. No screaming though, I wonder if the staples are causing that.
I am so glad you found something to get him to sleep!
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
Hijack alert!!
Karen, that Stubborn Pug Maggie sure did impart a lot of wisdom for you to share with us! 🙂 When Happy Hannah and I joined in 2013 and I was six days into the amputation journey. 'I was PETRIFIED I had made a HORRIBLE decision! Finishing up the second week I was still petrified. You told me about stubborn Pug Maggie taking six weeks before she started being herself!
I just want you to jnow how I always love how you blend in stories about Maggie in a way that she continues to teach us and inspire us...And give us a lot of laughs! 🙂
..And now back to our regularly scheduled program......
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!
Karen,
I totally agree. We are calling tmr to see if it's possible to get his staples removed sooner, assuming they are ready.
I am not a fan of Ace's side effects. Puppy was a totally zombie after his nap, barely any light on in there. But we did end up giving him a half of a 25 mg about 11 hours from his first dose so we could get some sleep tonight. He just circled up and laid down next to me a few moments ago (after plenty of attempts to sleep while standing).
He also does a weird thing where he circles and is wagging his tail slightly. I've never seen it before. Maybe he's trying to figure out how to circle the opposite way!
Well we are off to bed to sleep more than one hour... Enjoy your evenings! Hug your pups tight for us!
ps--> loved the highjack! You all are incredibly amazing and deserve to see how you've helped others!
As you are already aware, be really, really, really careful with ACE. It can suppress the respiratory system when not given correctly. Glad you gave him a lower dose. Hopefully you won't need it anymore once you voth catch up on your rest.:-) You're doing a great job!
Not sure about the tail wag and circle thing. Ollie, you're a silly boy!
Get some zzzzzzzz's a.d update in the am!
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!
Hope you guys got 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.
Hi everyone!
I wanted to update you that we have found the SWEET SPOT (we think!) We gave pup a 1/2 an ace last night at 11:03PM and he slept from about 11:45 AM until 6:05 AM (right beside me on our mattress on the living room floor, and my fiancé had to sleep on the couch lol). He didn't seem as glazed over when he woke up from the ACE as he was when we ended up giving him the full 25 mg around 11:50AM yesterday. We have also significantly cut back on the tram. He had 1/2 one yesterday AM, and another 1/2 this morning when he was whining a little after going potty. We still have him on 2 gabapentin every 8 hours and his 1/2 rimadyl every 12 hours.
Puppy has been sleeping on the couch next to my fiancé all morning. We woke him up to give him his rimadyl and some food, but he hasn't been too keen on the water. We had to feed him tuna in water last night, but I suspect that's the ACE. We haven't given him an ACE today, and won't until he drinks some water. Our plan will be to administer 1/2 an ACE around bedtime until he gets his staples out.
Good news on that front, we called today to see if they could move our appointment up to June 30 from July 6. As I said earlier, 2 weeks from the procedure would be July 1, but everyone was out of town for the holiday, so we scheduled July 6. After hearing that you can get the staples out as soon as 10 days, we called to move it up. So hopefully he can get them out then!!
Next hurdle for us will be getting the biopsy results back. We are very anxious to hear whether he is "cured," or if we have to do chemo. We also called our pet insurance yesterday and found out that physical therapy is covered (woo hoo!) Our animal hospital has rehab there, which even includes the underwater treadmill. Things are looking up on day 6 
Attaching a photo of him sleeping last night, this morning, and one from day 3 after he went #2 the first time (such a happy boy!)
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