Caring for a Three Legged Dog or Cat
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Hello all!
Sorry very new to this!
My dog had his right front leg amputated last Monday (October 21)
We have had a bit of a rough recovery. He is still wrapped as he's still leaking a little. This caused a trip to emergency vet this weekend as it was alot of fluid. All blood work came back Normal (except for slight inflammation) He has extremely bad bruising down bellow that I thought was weird as it's a right front amputation but my post in this group few days ago advised that can be normal even though both vets have never sen or herd of this and think im crazy lol. He has not wanted to eat much since the surgery but we have been getting water and people food and treats in him with minimal kibble. He was hoping around using the bathroom fine a few days later. He unfortunitsly has an infection and is on his last day of antibiotics. He's still taking all his pain meds. Yesterday he stop walking. When you get him up he'll sit right away or lie back down he doesn't want to move around and when he does they are extremely short hops (like he's stiff) he was not like this before. I understand this is a big surgery and recovery takes a while but is this normal? He doesn't wants to stand or walk and will even sit down and go up on back to legs and look like he's going to flip backwards. He will randomly yelp a little in his sleep or after lying still for a while so I'm assuming phantom pain ? I bought tri-acta supplement for him aswell.
I feel just horrible for him and want to help.
Hi Melissa. Your post has been approved, but it looks like you have already joined ?? I apologize for a quick response, but wanted to make sure ou could get feedback.
Guess I have more questions to start with. How much does he weigh, what pain meds is he on, dose and frequency? Is he on a y anti-inflammatory??
Is his incision showing signs of infection, or the Vets are saying the infection is from something else?
Yes, some bruising can be expected, but none of us are Vets. Depending on the severity it could mean it needs further investigation.
As you know, the first several weeks it's all about minimum activity....just short potty breaks and back in for rest.
For now, massage all up and down his spine, his neck and shoulder area, etc. Does he show any sign of tenseness, tightness?? He clearly is showing pain signals and he may just need pain med adjustment and more rest.
Hang tight, okay?
It's Not Unusual at all to have these types of hurdles the first couple of weeks. I would definitely want to get the infection under control and also confirm that the bruising has not gotten worse, but is actually dissipating.
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!
he is 33 pound and taking 300mg gabapentin 3 times a day and on 15kg metacam once a day he has a visible infection and is on clavaseptin 250mg 2 times a day. He still wrap unfortunately so doing much to his back is hard i feel like he would be happier without the wrap
Hi Melissa, sorry to hear that your dog is having these challenges. What's his name? How old is he? And what was the reason for the amputation?
Do you mean your veterinarians haven't heard of a seroma (fluid leakage after amputation surgery)?
An infection can make dogs feel lousy and not want to eat, so that sounds normal. His pain sounds like it's not under control, but that's just a guess. His dosages and medications are pretty typical but what works in one dog isn't guaranteed to work in another. Yes, he might very well be having phantom pain . His pain medication may need adjusting so I would let your vets know he is still not moving very well and having those phantom pain symptoms.
Can you take a video of him moving around? You can upload to YouTube and paste the YouTube URL here into your forum post.
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