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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Hi everyone. Our sweet, beautiful 7 year old, 4-pound chihuahua Chiffon is having her right hind leg amputated today due to a large mast cell tumor that was removed weeks ago but they didn\'t get clear margins (I had gone into the surgical specialist expecting a second mass removal surgery, only to be told that the recommendation is amputation). They are keeping her at the surgical center overnight tonight and we will pick her up tomorrow evening. I cried after I dropped her off this morning (not in front of her). I have so many questions, maybe someone can help?rnrnHow can we best help Chiffon to recover in the coming hours, days, weeks? She is a rescue who has already survived a kennel fire during which she was badly burned, and in that kennel, she lived in a cage as a breeding dog for her whole life. She is very skittish and scared and doesn\'t respond well to pain (she really was hurting after the initial mass removal and cried a LOT). We want to keep her as comfortable as possible. I am terrified that she is not going to recover well with yet another major trauma.rnWe have a special recovery suit for her and a large supply of potty pads. Any other product recommendations that may help?rnWe have no idea how to help her go to the bathroom - will she even want to try?rnWhat is everyone\'s preferred pain management process? I know they will send Chiffon home with a nerve block that will last 3 days, plus gabapentin and codeine. Anything else we should be asking for ahead of time?rnrnThank you all so much for this forum. I just started exploring it when I found it and it\'s hard to know exactly where to go. Wags,Bonnie
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hi Bonnie, welcome! your future post. Won’t need to wait for approval so post away.
I apologize for making this quick but I have a lot of driving I have to start doing today. I’ll check back later but meanwhile I wanted to get your post approved so others can chime in, and what you can do while you’re waiting is check out or What to Expect articles and also our Tripawds Recovery Shopping List
Take a deep breath it’s going to be OK! You can do this!
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Hey Bonnie and Chiffon. BTW, love her name♥️ She certainly is a fighter and clearly won the Puppy Lottery when uou adopted her!
Jerry gave you some good links to dig through. You have already done an excellent job of preparing for her homecoming.👍
I'll try and address some of your concerns.
We have no idea how to help her go to the bathroom - will she even want to try?r
She may, or may not, want to try and get up to pee. Some dogs take a few days to get their sea legs to be mobile, , some are more mobile quicker. Basically the strong hospital pain meds and shaking off the anesthesia can make dogs not be very active. So having the pee pads under her at first can be helpful. That said, some dogs are more mobile and are able to get up to hop some to pee. IF she shows interest in wanting to potty, as little as she is you can probavly carefully lift her with the help of a towel and take her out. She may or may not be abe to stand, so try not to worry. She'll pee one way or another and will go when she jas to go!
What is everyone\'s preferred pain management process? I know they will send Chiffon home with a nerve block that will last 3 days, plus gabapentin and codeine
Sounds like your Surgeon has a good plan for pain management
As with every aspect of thos recovery, every dog is different and the same applies to how they handle pain meds. She may rest apot and seem zonked out....she may be hyper and restless. The first few days can be a roller coaster of ups and downs when it comes to finding the sweet spot with pain meds, dose and frequency,.No worries, with Vet guidance adjustments can be made IF needed.
STAY CONNECTED ....YPU ARE NOT ALONE!!! Try and get some rest. Your sweet Chiffon will be on some good pain meds and sleeping like a baby. Let is know when she is home.
When you do go to pick her up, don't even bother to look at the incision. Just tell her what a good girl she is and she's going home and just greet her with lots of confidence and positive energy!
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!
Thank you so much for the wonderful advice and kindness. The vet said that she was able to go pee unassisted this morning, which blows my mind! I will pick her up this afternoon and will definitely be in touch - I wish there were an app for this that I could easily access on my phone.
YAY! SO happy that she made it through surgery, that's wonderful! Please let us know how it goes and if you have questions. Don't forget to go over all of the pain meds when you pick her up.
I wish there were an app for this that I could easily access on my phone.
We do too! It's in the works thanks to generous supporters, so stick around.
My 62 pound rescue had his back left leg amputated approximately 30 days ago, so I understand your anxiety. Taz was a very good patient in terms of going outside to potty. He did so from the start
The veterinarian really wanted me to crate him as much as possible, but I could only get him in it once. After that, I couldn’t trick him anymore. So I put his big pet bed in my bedroom and tied him to one of the bed posts using a leash. I know that sounds terrible, but it kept him from trying too much too soon.
Taz whimpered the first two nights. I then talked with the veterinarian about this. She said to give him his anxiety medication every time he seemed uncomfortable. I discovered that if I gave him those pills in between his pain medication he did so much better. The anxiety medication really helped a lot.
Last tip, rest, rest, and more rest!
I hope this helps you in some way.
Sandra, that is so nice of you to share Taz's experience thank you for being supportive of other members. I know it will help them.
I wanted to say hi and welcome.
I had gone into the surgical specialist expecting a second mass removal surgery, only to be told that the recommendation is amputation
This was close to our story. My Pug Maggie had a mast cell tumor removed from her side about 6 months before I found the one on her leg. I was assuming it was cancer again and that they could remove it like before. I was shocked when the vet said amputation.
Mag's amputation was way back in 2006. After a kind of long recovery she did great for almost 4 years. She was a stubborn girl who hated any change in her routines so she spent most of her time in her bed for 6 weeks post op. No medical complications, no pain issues, she could hop on her own the day of surgery! Once she decided she was OK with her new normal she was back to her old self...but even more stubborn!
You can read about her amputation, recovery and chemo if you are interested, the links are in my signature below.
Maggie's path back to normal was longer than most you read about here. Hopefully Chiffon will recover in the more normal 2 to 3 weeks but be patient with her and know that she will get there when she is ready.
I'll keep an eye out for an update but I am also traveling and I am staying in a place now with no cell service and slow (and not reliable) wifi.
Karen and the Spirit Pug Girls and boy
Tri-pug Maggie survived a 4.5 year mast cell cancer battle only to be lost to oral melanoma.
1999 to 2010
Thank you so much for sharing these stories with us, it’s so helpful!! Chiffon is doing incredibly well, though I’m worried about her nerve block wearing off by tomorrow. She has antibiotics, gabapentin, codeine, and trazadone and we’re just making sure we stay on schedule with it all to keep her as pain-free as possible. I’m seriously amazed by her resilience.
No worries about the nerve block wearing off. Just may take a pain med tweak here and there.....and you may not even need to tweak it at all.
Keep on keeping on Chiffon! Yoi are a ruff and tuff Tripawd Warrior!
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!
Hello,
it sounds like Chiffon is doing great. That is good to hear.
Like a few other people have posted I have recently been in your position with my 55 pound lab. We did have some complications but a little more than two months out I have my dog back to normal and happy as can be. As others stated we understand the anxiety around it. Take it one day and a time and you might have a couple of set back days but just need to keep getting the days behind you and your anxiety will lessen and Chiffon will go back to her old routines and then get back to her usual self and you will begin to forget all the anxiety you had with this process. Good luck and can’t wait to hear new Chiffon updates. Keep up the great work!
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