Caring for a Three Legged Dog or Cat
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I woke up this morning to Levi trembling and he seemed very scared. He would hide in the bathroom...I took him to the Vet. They said he looks great and prescribed some Gabepentin. I gave it to him around noon today. He was pretty much crashed out the entire day. Which is fine...Hard to watch him this way, but I know the rest is good for him. Now I'm concerned again because he finally started perking up so I got him some food. He ate happily for two bites and then cried out like he was in pain...Now he is scared and trembling again. I'm wondering if he got a sharp phantom pain and it is scaring him?? I am going to call the vet's office a gain in the morning. (I think I've called everyday so far). But if anyone is online tonight and experienced something like this let me know!
Levi was diagnosed with Osteosarcoma 7-7-11
Ampuversary 10-14-11
Lung Mets Discovered 1-4-12. Chemo seemed to not be working so we switched to Artemisinin and other supplements. In May, Levi developed a sinus infection and started having seizures. The cancer had moved to his brain. We let him go 6-26-12.
Is Gabapentin all they gave you for pain? We were on a rotation of gabapentin, tramadol, and metacam for the first week. It could very well just be regular pain. Shifting onto the incision or even brushing against it can be very painful. Staying on top of pain management is the best solution. We had a few fits of crying out and trembling in pain the first few days. I remember curling up with my girl in her pen in the middle of the night to calm her when she woke. It can be a scary time, but it doesn't generally last to much longer. Keep in touch with your vet and maybe inquire about more agressive pain treatment.
I don't want to make a recommendation because I don't remember correctly but I know we als odid heat packs for a certain number of days and then ice packs for a few days, but I don't remmbe which came first . . . sorry I guess that's not much help.
Bo had pretty severe phantom pains after surgery. They are scary! And they make you feel helpless! Unfortunately, for some, it is just a normal part of the healing process. Bo's phantom pain would be a LOUD yelp/jump and then he would start shaking, tail between his legs. At first, it took him a good 5 minutes to collect himself again and move on. Sometimes, he would actually stop, look at the missing limb, and then have a phantom pain . He had them pretty severely for the first week or so after surgery. The severity of them lifted over time, but he still had an occasional one even like 6 weeks after surgery. Those would just be a little yelp and maybe a 10 second recovery time.
Tripawds has this great article on phantom pains: http://tripawds.....wd-dogs/
The article put in layman's terms what Bo was experiencing. I noticed after reading this article that Bo would experience phantom pains when his body did something new, like go swimming. It was his body's way of adjusting.
Bo was on Gabapentin too, for nerve pain. Not long term, just maybe a couple weeks post-op. It made him a little lethargic after a couple of weeks, so we weened him off. We also did what the article suggested and did some gentle massaging of the incision area and we did a lot of "ice therapy", just icing the incision for 10 minutes a few times a day.
At first, the phantom pains totally freaked me out. I was a nervous wreck. Bo definitely picked up on that and I'm sure he was a little anxious from my anxious energy. I would try to stay calm, and I noticed the calmer I was, the calmer Bo was, and the less severe the pains were. We would just talk to him, pet him, and try to comfort him.
Hope this helps! Give Levi a belly scratch for us. What a trooper!
Aww poor kid! Yep, certainly does sound like phantom pain . Bo's Mom's experience and her therapies are spot on (thank you for sharing that link Meghan!). I'm betting it's phantom pain but do call your vet to be sure. Good luck and keep us posted.
Tripawds Founders Jim and Rene
tripawds.com | tripawds.org | bemoredog.net | triday.pet
Sammy went through this, I believe 3 or 4 days post amp. I wrote about it in his blog. So sorry for Levi and you! It hurts so much knowing they are hurting. The gabapentin really helped my boy, it took a few days for it to kick in though, I guess it is supposed to be a cumulative affect.
Good luck and let us know how you both are doing,
Elizabeth and Sammy
Diagnosed with osteosarcoma in the right front leg 8/23/10,
leg fractured 8/27/10,
leg amputated 8/30/10
http://sammyand.....pawds.com/
I couldn't begin to say how special Sammy is to us. Living and laughing with and loving this wonderful boy is priceless.
Gus had phantom pain that started about day 5. The first few days when he had a spell he would yelp at the top of his lungs, and he had some pretty good lungs. It sounded like he was hit by a car, the speels onlt lasted a few seconds, I would try to just pet him and stay with him when it happened, which was maybe a couple times a day. We also started gabapentin at that time and I think it helped. His lasted about 4 weeks, but by the fourth week when he had aspell they were more like mild whimpers. Hold on for the ride, it gets bumpy sometimes. Good luck, paws up, Spirit Gus and Dan
My buddy Gus had a left front amputation on April 7, 2010 and lived a great life until July 26,2010
Valentina had no phantom pains at all. That is surprising to me because she is so big and I would think taking such a big leg off would cause that problem. However Valentina was already on Gabapentin before the surgery for the pain from the tumor in her leg . So I do think since she was on it prior to the surgery that it did help. She stayed on it for quite a while after the surgery too because she had prolonged healing. But I do remember her acting weird the first few days that she was on it and then her body got used to it. It didn't make her as sleepy anymore after a few days too. I did have to wean her off of it over a few weeks so she did not have withdrawal when it was time for her to stop taking it. She did fine going off of it except for a little panting at first. Sorry to hear that Levi is experiencing the phantom pains. It does sound scary for him and for you too! I surely hope that you can find something to help him be more comfortable and ward off those evil pains! 
Praying for better days ahead for you and Levi!! 
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