toby5150 said:

Hello everyone, we're in need of some advise...We brought our 7 yr old pit/lab mix home from complete right forequarter amputation Friday Jan 28th. It's now Sunday January 29th and since bringing him home on 4 different occasions he has cried a screaming yelp when doing everyday things like coughing after a little too much water or a burp after pills, our doctor is unsure what might be causing this. Aside from this he doesn't want to take regular trips outside or drink water without being hand fed, almost like depression since the stronger pain meds wore off. The incision site looks good with only a little redness. Has anyone else experienced these symptons? Any advise would be much appreciated. Thank you.

My dog Rebel could be Toby's twin brother, same age, same breed, same operation just one week earlier. Rebel had all the same symptom you described, he is just starting to smile again. The pains are phantom pains, he gets them less often as time goes on, he shakes like he's scared and I rub his chest and tell him it will go away soon and he slowly comes out of it. He is eating more, but we still have to get him up and make him go for walks which makes him happy after he is done. He is off all medications and the phantom pains are the only thing that bothers him. He is slowly coming back to us, he seemed so depressed it killed us.  Going to chemo doctor monday feb 8th -

Thank you so much for posting your experience!! Our dog Milkshake had her front left leg amputated on Thursday (the 27th) and we brought her home on Sat. Her front arm had been shattered (we'll never know how)since December and after several surgeries, pins, plates, infections, and re-breaks we decided to amputate.

Starting Sunday Milkshake began letting out these screaming yelps while lying down - one session lasted as long as 30 seconds. Each time she jumps up and runs for me and tries to climb up on me so that she can be held (she's 60 lbs)... I called the emergency clinic that did the surgery to be told that she "may be attention seeking."

Yeah, I won't comment on that further... Anyway, the sounds are gut renching - similar to an animal being severely harmed. Today we took her to the local vet and she was taken off tramadol and given a fentanyl patch. She's completely out of it right now and we haven't heard even a yelp since.

Has your dog stopped the screaming yelps? Did the staple removal help ease her pain? I know we're only 4 days post-op, but this is a really awful time. I guess I'm hoping to find a timeline on here - 2 weeks seems to keep coming up as a moving forward time. After 12 weeks of this, I'm ready for her to get better!!