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Caring for a Three Legged Dog or Cat

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Tremor and spasm
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Winnipeg
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13 July 2009
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20 August 2009 - 12:53 pm
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Postcript to Oslo. I missed it before but now I see you are in Montreal, one of the very best places to live! But a bit too far for our dogs to meet!

Susan & Tazzie 2

Montréal , Canada
Member Since:
31 July 2009
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20 August 2009 - 3:24 pm
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An update!

Oslodaddy will give you more details later if he needs to.  Actually, we were kind in a state of panic I guess this morning. We felt useless. We needed to do something, talk to someone and there you were! Oslo had an other horrible day today and so do we.  We've been waiting the whole day for answer and now it came! Houra!  I am so relieved! Gabapentin it will be .  Let's hope it will be effective on Oslo's pain.  We are confident .  Smile

Tazzie:  the tremors/cramps are indeed at surgery site (front-left leg removed).  He still have his "scapula" (hope it is the same word in english...not the shoulder but that bone over it) So when a spasm crisis occurs, he moves his scapula abruptly and screams as loud as he can.  God, it hurts our heart so much seeing him going through so much pain!

Oh! by the way...I'd love to visit Manitoba one of these days.  To me it seems such a peaceful part of our country!!  Smile

Horacia: best wishes to you and your beautiful great dane.  I am sending you a bunch of positive thoughts

Suzanne


Member Since:
22 August 2008
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20 August 2009 - 4:27 pm
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I am glad that your vet will try the gabapentin!  The Tramadol can be increased but I would see what the gabapentin does first. The fact that the scapula was left behind probably isn't helping matters, since any movement can irritate the exposed nerve endings.  Another drug that helps reduce this kind of pain is amantadine.  I started Tazzie on both drugs a day before surgery and weaned her off over several weeks and we were lucky that she had no phantom pain .

Some dogs seem to have bouts of pain on and off for several months after amputation and if that is the case for your dog you can continue the drug long-term without the risk of side effects.  One of our other dogs takes 300 mg gabapentin twice daily all of the time for bad arthritis of the hips and spine and it helps her tremendously!

Pam and Tazzie

Cordoba, Argentina
Member Since:
20 August 2009
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20 August 2009 - 4:53 pm
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Hi Susan & Tazzie 2 and everyone there... thank you so much for your answer. it seems to be the same. The posture is very similar and it is kind of scary to see her all hunched and the tail curled between her legs, but it is really nice to know that this has happened to others before us and that it gets better with a little time.

Cecilia & Horacia

Spirit Horacia, Castaño, Olympia + human family Cecilia, Georg and Julia - - - Hori first diagnosed 8/6/09, ampu 8/12/09, run over the bridge 9/10/09 – We miss you every day dear girl!

Winnipeg
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13 July 2009
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20 August 2009 - 5:14 pm
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Hi Horacia and Oslo

One month ago, I was asking everyone about this hunched posture but no-one had seen the exact thing. Funny you are seeing it in your pup. Tazzie stayed that way for two weeks, and really this week (week 5) is the first time I have truly breathed easily, although he came out of that posture a week or two ago (it was the same posture he showed when in torsion in June, so it was scary to see!).

Similar to Oslo, every morning was a slow start and I was in a state of panic (although Tazzie 2 did not seem to have any intense pain as Oslo does). I breathed easily a couple of times in weeks 3 and 4, but as soon as I did take a breath, the vet's assistant gave me something new to worry about. These days, if Tazzie feels good, I feel good. If he does not feel good (or I just don't know), I am a nervous wreck.

What TazzieDog says about the scapula movement resulting in pain makes a lot of sense. I hope the Gabapentin helps.

This week, Tazzie is gladly hopping (he has learned the tripawd hop) a few hundred metres at a time and swimming a bit, then hopping a few hundred metres home. But he does need the life jacket to avoid going under or going belly up if chasing a big log (stupid me had to throw a 10 kg log into the water for him to fetch - what was I thinking???). He swam without the life jacket a couple of times and it was not a pretty sight. Even with the life jacket he is not exactly Flipper, which he certainly used to be. His legs are still under the belly a little bit (occasionally it looks like he is about to poo, but he does not), but not nearly as much as in the beginning.

People who looked skeptical about the whole idea of the amputation (but never said anything) now seem impressed at how happy and doggy he is.

Susan & Tazzie 2

Cordoba, Argentina
Member Since:
20 August 2009
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20 August 2009 - 5:32 pm
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Hi again, it is so good to read your experience Susan and i am glad Tazzie is doing fine and surprising skeptical people. i truly hope it will be this way with Horacia too. The vets say it will go away when the muscles strengthen, but i had my doubts if this will happen if she lies there the whole day and doesn´t really seem to enjoy anything but food.

At least she is eating and drinking ok. Hope that is a good sign.

Swimming might be great, but she is afraid of water and only dips her toes, anyway it is winter down here in Argentina and not really an option for us.

Thank you Oslo-Pawrents too, all experiences help me cope.

Saludos

Cecilia & Horacia

Spirit Horacia, Castaño, Olympia + human family Cecilia, Georg and Julia - - - Hori first diagnosed 8/6/09, ampu 8/12/09, run over the bridge 9/10/09 – We miss you every day dear girl!

On The Road


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24 September 2009
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20 August 2009 - 7:38 pm
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horacia said:

At least she is eating and drinking ok. Hope that is a good sign.


Cecilia,

YES! This is a very good sign!

Thank you so much for joining us here, it's great to see someone from South America for the first time I believe. As you can see, we've got an incredible group of people here who have all been there with the amputation decision/recovery. Great advice, don't you think?

We hope that Horacia starts to feel better soon, and bet that she will! Keep us posted OK?

Tripawds Founders Jim and Rene
tripawds.com | tripawds.org | bemoredog.net | triday.pet

Winnipeg
Member Since:
13 July 2009
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20 August 2009 - 8:45 pm
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Cecilia & Horacia - I did not realize you live in Argentina. Welcome!!

After the first day home, when he hopped around a lot, Tazzie 2 lay around like cement for two weeks, maybe three. The only time he would get up was if he wanted to eat, thank goodness he did that. I wasn't sure he was drinking enough so added canned food to his water. Other than that, I pretty much forced him to get outside a bit to try to go potty - but he mostly refused anyway. It is summer here so he tended to lie outside all morning, afternoon and night (working on that suntan I suppose). Occasionally I did see him hopping over to the edge of the yard to go potty - that was the most exercise he got during those two weeks.

I tried to bring incentives over to motivate him - someone came over to visit once per day, which made him really happy, but he got very tired after about 20 minutes of that. The neighbour dog would come over, but Tazzie completely ignored her by week 2 (very unlike him) and greatly preferred people at that time and sometimes even now. Some dogs are still too much for him. Then he started to walk, although it was slow and awkward (with the back still hunched and the tail curled under). This week we kind of pushed him with lots of visitors and now he seems to be gaining strength day by day. But we are at 5 weeks. Swimming only started this weekend.

In the early days, short car rides, usually followed by a visit with a friendly human, interested him. But I actually had to drive into the yard and threaten to run him over (! please don't report me !) before he would even get up. It was pretty ridiculous considering he is (at least was) a young active dog. Eventually he started to hop over to the car.

Meanwhile, we were green with envy while a few superdogs were visiting dog parks during their first week. Oh well, we got there or are getting there eventually. Don't worry the way I did! (ha, easier said than done!)

Susan & Tazzie 2

Cordoba, Argentina
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20 August 2009
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21 August 2009 - 8:23 am
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Hello, i can't tell you how much your posts help me. we are going through exactly the same and even my vet tells me she doesn´t have anything really that shoud warrant her actual state... and you know it is terrible to see them like that and not start panicking.

I am so glad to read that Tazzie is now well enough to hop around. I'm counting the days till i see my doggie have some fun again.

It is planned to get the suture off and also reduce the painkillers tomorrow, we'll see if she can manage it.

She actually enjoys riding in the car... but i havent tried it since she didn't want to move... maybe i'll encourage her a bit more and see if it helps keep her spirits up.

Spirit Horacia, Castaño, Olympia + human family Cecilia, Georg and Julia - - - Hori first diagnosed 8/6/09, ampu 8/12/09, run over the bridge 9/10/09 – We miss you every day dear girl!

Winnipeg
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13 July 2009
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21 August 2009 - 8:38 am
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Yes, my surgeon also said it was strange that Tazzie was not moving because he was so lively (hyper) at the clinic. I would be too if I woke up without one arm! But the surgeon also said it was weird there was more pain at home, which seems reasonable given the bruising appeared 2-3 days post surgery. I don't think the surgeons necessary know all of what goes on at home - there is no reason they would.

The drugs can also affect Horacia's inclination to get up. Most people on this site report large improvements once the sutures are out and the painkillers are reduced. I weaned Tazzie off kind of early, thinking he was not in pain, but then put them back on again (the stiff convex posture remained and he was grumpy, which is very unlike him, when I tried to get him up after I had taken him off pain killers. That is why I tried to get him up with the car - so he would not take MY front right arm off 🙂

We were in the city to get chemo, 3 wks post op, when Tazzie 2 first started to perk up substantially, although he still lay around a lot compared to other dogs then. There were small improvements before then, but they were pretty incremental.

When I was at your stage, I searched through the archives to find all the 'late-bloomers', which includes Cemil who you have probably met. I think people sometimes forget how slow their dog rebounded once their dog is hopping around. I think Tazzie still has a ways to go, muscle to build. He has yelped three times this week, so something seems a bit sore.

Susan & T2

Cordoba, Argentina
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20 August 2009
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22 August 2009 - 7:31 am
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Hi Susan!

OK, just came from my local vet, had to get a new stock of painkillers. He was the first one since surgery who told me he thought Hori's behaviour totally normal... his opinion was that she just moved around too much before day 3-4 (when the pain normally sets in after surgery), and that she now is terribly sore just like we humans woud be after a terrible workout at the gym after a year without one. Makes sense... and at this stage i am inclined to believe anything positive!!

Truth is, she seemed a little bit livelier yesterday afternoon and early today, she went a little farther away to go potty (which she used to do really far away!) and her three ´"trips" a day with support (obviously!) were kind of more fluid. Although her back legs tremble a lot when she "crouches" to pee.

Send Tazzie my love and tell him to get a nice muscle tone!

Cecilia & exhausted Horacia Smile

Spirit Horacia, Castaño, Olympia + human family Cecilia, Georg and Julia - - - Hori first diagnosed 8/6/09, ampu 8/12/09, run over the bridge 9/10/09 – We miss you every day dear girl!

On The Road


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24 September 2009
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22 August 2009 - 9:11 am
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Oh that's wonderful to hear! Totally makes sense to us too, since a lot of dogs overdo it after surgery. What painkillers did he get?

Tripawds Founders Jim and Rene
tripawds.com | tripawds.org | bemoredog.net | triday.pet

Montréal , Canada
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31 July 2009
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22 August 2009 - 10:06 am
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Some encouraging news here too!! Big Grin

Oslo began taking gabapentin pills on Thursday evening and by friday morning, tremors had almost ended.  Yesterday, screaming and crying was at lot less frequent.  We all slept very well for the first time in the last 2 weeks or so. (Oslo screamed only 2-3 times last night). What a relief!  Let's hope this positive effect will last ... we are confident 

And I must say our vet deserves credit for being such an open-minded person. He  listened and cared for what we had to say regarding this issue (well he's always been like that and that is why we like him that much but ... I know it is not all vets that have this great human quality) .  Gabapentin is not a drug he would have suggested (it is just not used for dogs here yet I think) But all things considered, he accepted to give it a try.

( I doubt  he will never read this forum but I wanted to publicly praise how good a doctor and surgeon he is Big Grin).  

Suzanne

On The Road


Member Since:
24 September 2009
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22 August 2009 - 4:30 pm
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Oh that is great news! How cool that Oslo is leading the way for other Tripawds in Canada who need a stronger painkiller. Hopefully your vet will spread the word about gabapentin. He sounds really great!

Tripawds Founders Jim and Rene
tripawds.com | tripawds.org | bemoredog.net | triday.pet

Cordoba, Argentina
Member Since:
20 August 2009
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22 August 2009 - 6:53 pm
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Hi,

we had a very good day today. Now getting up and lying down is kind of complicated, Horacia seems to have some balance problems but nothing compared to not even wanting to get up. With a little help she gets on her feet and on one occasion today i had problems keeping up with her (have to admit to tears running down my cheeks while i laughed when this happened - i was soooooo happy).

As to painkillers, i spoke today with my vet and mentioned gabapentin... here in argentina animal care is NOT as developed as in the states, we don't even have chemo or radiation for animals, so of course he had not heard of it. But with a little luck we may not need it. I gather from your posts that gabapentin is used in humans?

At the moment Horacia is taking 2 Rimadyl 100, and 3 Tramadol 75, as of tomorrow we will continue with Rimadyl only. I hope so much, that she does not start having pain.

Hoppfully tomorrow will be better still.

Cecilia & Horacia

Spirit Horacia, Castaño, Olympia + human family Cecilia, Georg and Julia - - - Hori first diagnosed 8/6/09, ampu 8/12/09, run over the bridge 9/10/09 – We miss you every day dear girl!

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