Caring for a Three Legged Dog or Cat
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Brody is 2 weeks post left front leg amputation today and it's been a hard, hard recovery so far. Seems like more downs, than ups. He started having trembling and crying/moaning at the one week mark, so we went in to see the surgeon just to make sure there wasn't something going on and decision was made to stop tramadol since he had been on it for at least 2 months prior to surgery and could possibly be having a reaction to it. He is on prednisone, gabapentin and amantadine for nerve pain and surgeon thought that would cover any pain he has, and if not after a couple days we can give him a tramadol if we think he needs it. Since then, there has been what seems like a small improvement followed by a day or two of backward steps. Over the holiday long weekend Brody slept a lot but I was able to get him to stand and go out to pee/poop, which he does without issue but he is whiny when up and down our two steps in/out the steps to our backyard. He never goes anywhere without his Ruff Wear harness so I can give him an assist up and down the steps. He seemed to making small progress over the weekend but I got home from work today and my husband says he's very, very concerned about Brody's back left leg, which he is now positioning sort of turned out and away from his body and he just isn't steady on his feet. He is also extremely whiny, crying getting up and laying down so I know he's just not feeling good. I 've given him a Tramadol, given him some heat on his neck and shoulders as well as on his hips and now he's just laying down but has been restless. We get staples out on Friday (past the 14 day mark for removal, but it's due to scheduling conflicts of mine and the surgeon's). That is when the surgeon and I will re-evaluate Brody's meds. I just don't know what more to do and I'm wondering if this new issue with the left back leg is just part of Brody learning a new gait and just being so damn sore from the surgery, and laying around so much. He lost the use of his leg about a month ago from the neural sheath tumor and we had it up in a sling, so he essentially was living as a tripawd. I realize though that with the leg now gone, the weight of it and some of the muscle is missing and he has to get used to that. I just sort of thought that at this point he would be less painful and up just a little more than he is now. I know each dog is different, and I'm being patient, but I'm just worried. He seems to take more steps backward than forward in recovery as more time goes on. Just trying to get to Friday to get some answers. Does this sound similar to what any of you have experienced?
The first 2 weeks were really a roller coaster ride with Murphy. I really questioned what we had done a couple of times. Brody will get there...some dogs just take a little bit longer than others. I've seen some post that they had no problems at all during the recover period. It's just so hard not knowing. It sounds like you're on top of everything, though, so I'm sure that he will be fine in no time at all.
Donna
Donna, Glenn & Murphy
Murphy had his right front leg amputated due to histiocytic sarcoma at 7 years old. He survived 4 years, 2 months & 1 week, only to be taken by hemangiosarcoma at 11 1/2 years 6/12/17
Read about Murphy's Life on Three Legs
I'm sooooo sorry. You've both been through a ruffer time than most and you've got to be exhausted. While Brody's challenges aren't all that unusual, I would definitely want to know what the vet's treatment plan is if Brody isn't more coordinated and better by your next appointment.
If you aren't confident with the vet's idea and recommendations, your best bet is to consult with a certified rehab vet therapist so you can get Brody back into great shape. It's amazing what those folks can do, they catch many things that general practitioners cannot. While a new gait and stance is normal, they can tell to what degree it is or isn't with a dog, and come up with a plan to correct it. Here are some links that may help.
Don't lose hope, things will get better!
Tripawds Founders Jim and Rene
tripawds.com | tripawds.org | bemoredog.net | triday.pet
Sorry to hear it's been rough for you guys. We had a difficult recovery with our Dobe Nitro too. He seemed to be in a lot of pain, and was whinny and restless for a few weeks. We ended up taking him to see a chiropractic vet, and that was exactly what he needed! He was out of alignment with his new gait and must have pinched a nerve or something. He now gets adjustments every 4 weeks to keep him feeling good. I forgot to mention that Nitro is a front amp. He's now 15 mos post surgery and is doing well. Hang in there, this journey is definitely a marathon and not a sprint. Keep us posted on how it's going.
paula and nitro
Nitro 11 1/2 yr old Doberman; right front amp June 2014. Had 6 doses carboplatin, followed by metronomic therapy. Rocked it on 3 legs for over 3 years! My Warrior beat cancer, but couldn't beat old age. He crossed the Bridge peacefully on July 25, 2017, with dignity and on his terms. Follow his blog entitled "Doberman's journey"
"Be good, mama loves you".....run free my beautiful Warrior
In one of your previous post you mentioned some vertebrae issue,right? Paula coukd be spot on about Brody needing some chiropractic adjustments
The fact that he was basically a tripawd for a month before the surgery may have caused overuse of those muscles prior to sirgery. It may not have been as noticeable at first because he's just been laying around since surgery.
It does seem like he still has pain though. My Happy Hannah was on pain pills at some level for three weeks.
Rather than wait until Friday, maybe you could get him I to your regular vet for a check up...maybe a temperature check, general blood work, but especially goi g up and down his spine and legs a d hips seeing if he has any tender spots. How about his lads of his laws...do they look sore or raw? Is it the steps that trigger the whining the most? Do you dare see how he does without the harness or is he too u stable for that? Front leggers generally do have a bit harder time adjusting. How about his appetite? I guess with the Pred. thats pretty good. Are you still getting a few tail wags every now a d then?
Recovery IS hard! The way ine dog handles recovering can be very different for the next dog. Being patient is sooooo hard! You're doing a great nob of keeping it together! Iwas a complete basket case for three weeks!!
Come on. Mr. Brody! No more steps backwards! All forward motion from here on out!!
Sending lots of hugs!!
Sally and Alumni Happy Hannah and Merry Myrtle too!
PS..Let us know if you take him into your regular vet. I think it would give you some reassurance.
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!
So at 1:00 am Brody was up, very unsteady, very uncomfortable standing and seemed to be afraid to lay down. Just crying. (I managed not to.) All his treatment since his limp started in March has been at Med Vet (Columbus OH) Hospital and Cancer Treatment Center. They have 24 hour ER. I called and spoke with a vet tech and made the decision to bring him in because there was nothing more I could do to help him and he seemed to be deteriorating so fast as far as his comfort and mobility levels were concerned. I cannot say enough good things about the care he has gotten at Med Vet by the radiology oncologist, his neurologist and surgeon. They always make themselves available and spend as much time as needed to explain everything in detail and answer any and all questions. The ER vet was awesome last night, she had been with Brody when he stayed overnight after the amputation and saw right away how different he looked and the change in his demeanor. She said he was in pain, which we knew, but that because of the pain running across his neck and shoulder area, he was compensating by leaning toward his left which made him push his left back leg out. They immediately started him on fentanyl IV to get control of the pain and he's being seen by surgeon and neuro vets this morning. I called a couple hours ago to check on him and the tech that stayed with him said he rested comfortably the rest of the night and the IV had just been stopped so that surgeon and neuro can evaluate him without effects of fentanyl. Should be getting the call from them in an hour or so. This is breaking our hearts. I am hoping with all I have that this is just a pain control issue and not something else starting to happen. Thanks to all of you for your comments and experiences. It helps to be able to "talk" with those that have been or are going through this process. I was hoping Brody would be one of those dogs that bounces right back after a couple weeks and moves forward - I've been reading about massage, PT Rehab and acupuncture - but we aren't there yet. I am sure we'll be doing some PT at Med Vet once he's ready. I'll post again when I get the call.
Oh sweet Brody....the whole community has all it's paws crossed that you can get this pain managed and get everything "realigned" and on the road to recovery finally!!!
What they are saying makes sense and sounds like it can be worked out.
We're sending love and we are all here for you and Brody.
Sally and Alumni Happy Hannah and Merry Myrtle 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!
Ohhh I'm sorry, what a long night. You really are doing an amazing job making sure he gets seen right away by the right people. He is in GREAT hands, they'll figure this out. Keep us posted OK? {{{hugs}}}
Tripawds Founders Jim and Rene
tripawds.com | tripawds.org | bemoredog.net | triday.pet
Thanks for the support - you know how we all wonder if we are doing the right thing, wrong thing, over-reacting, not-reacting quick enough, etc. All the responses help.
The surgeon just called. Brody is doing well, sleeping and resting. They stopped the IV fentanyl for the exam/evaluation and put a fentanyl patch in place. Surgeon says the symptoms are consistent with what we also saw last week and that we need to retool/reevaluate the medication plan, but there is also the possibility that the second area of disease seen on second MRI taken right before surgery is causing some neuro symptoms. That would be totally new in the last day.
The patch will take 10-12 hrs to take effect so in the interim the IV pain med will be re-started at a lower dose and eventually stopped - to bridge the gap between stopping it and the patch becoming effective. I had the choice of bringing Brody home today or waiting until tomorrow so he can be monitored. Surgeon is also going to call the neuro vet on Brody's case because she is at the Med Vet Cincinnati hospital today and discuss with her other meds or solutions to help Brody. The upside of Brody staying today and overnight is that Neuro vet will be back in town tomorrow and can evaluate Brody and his symptoms in the morning and he will be only on the patch, and his regular doses of Gabapentin and Amantadine. I want her to determine if new back leg symptom is compensation for pain or new issue from second area of disease. I think surgeon is kind of making a jump with that diagnosis, but I am well aware that it is a possibility.
Surgeon thought that Brody staying another 24 hrs was best case scenario, and I was already thinking that. I will let him get as much professional care and monitoring in the next 24 hours as possible and the surgeon said it will be good for me to get a good nights sleep too. Kind of awesome that he said that and realizes this has been a hard recovery. So, that's where things stand. I'm hoping in a month I can look back on this post and say "Boy, we've come a long way!" and that someone else who is going through a tough recovery sees this and gets some reassurance that it's ok to make a call and get help here and from the vet(s). I realize that we are lucky to have two great vet medical facilities within 25 miles - Med Vet and OSU Vet College and hospital. Very thankful to have access to great care. So now we wait. Feeling relived though that our Brody boy has gotten some relief.
I agree that he's in the best place right now and with you both getting some rest, things will look so much brighter tomorrow. Of COURSE you'll be able to look back in a month, we're here and cheering you and sending all the pawsitivity in the world, the Universe has no choice but to respond with goodness! 🙂
Brody is such an awesome doggie, I'm so glad he's getting great care. If you have time, be sure to let folks know about MedVet and OSU in our Forum topic:
http://tripawds.....referrals/
Hugs to you, hang in there.
Tripawds Founders Jim and Rene
tripawds.com | tripawds.org | bemoredog.net | triday.pet
Friday Update: I brought Brody home yesterday afternoon (9/10) and he was pretty loopy. He is on a host of medications for nerve pain (for the neural sheath tumor and any pain possibly caused by the continuing effects of the radiation treatments, the tumor cells should be dying off about now) and pain meds for the pain from surgery. Added to the mix is Trazadone. Brody can be pretty anxious and it doesn't surprise me one bit that the pain and his falls have worked their way in to his doggie psyche and so on top of being loopy from pain meds and seeing pink elephants, he is most likely not wanting to move around because he's anticipating pain and falling. He's pretty unsteady on his feet, even fell over this morning just as he started peeing. It's like a comedy of errors at this point, not to be morose. I finally had my breakdown while calling our regular vet and the neuro vet treating Brody. Many tears and after running through every question I had, including if he was ever going to get over this and why is this happening (I'm normally very methodical and on point with my questions - having been a med mal paralegal) but I lost it this time. Neuro vet reassured me that nothing new neurologically is happening - this is just a medication issue. Brody is overmedicated right now and we are trying to find the sweet spot of pain control without over sedation. Last week not enough pain control, this week and today too much. We are backing off the Trazadone, about halving the dose. Fentanyl patch will come off on Sunday. Continuing Prednisone, Gabapentin, Amantadine and Tramadol, which will take the place as pain med when patch is done. Seems like so much medication....So after a very rough morning, I got him to finally have some water though a syringe so I'm doing that every hour and half now so he stays hydrated and has some fluids to help his liver and kidneys process the meds, and I got him to eat at 3:30. He hadn't eaten since 1:00 yesterday while at the ER. This has been so, so hard - seems like we aren't making any forward progress and won't get our fun, cuddly, spunky pup back. I stop myself from thinking that most of the time and am just working to keep a positive vibe around him. I truly believe we'll get there eventually and he'll start coming around. Just hope to see some little signs of it by Monday if not before. Went out last night and got a sweet inflatable mattress. After over two weeks of the couch, I couldn't face another night on it. LOL! Best $49 bucks I've spent in long time!! LOL!! So color me hanging in there and pushing forward. Thanks for "listening".
carol924 said
This has been so, so hard...Thanks for "listening".
If you ever feel like taling or just want to cry with somepawdy who understands, Tripawds Helpline hosts are always willing to listen.
Thanks for the update. Take things one day at a time and try to Be More Dog .
Tripawds Founders Jim and Rene
tripawds.com | tripawds.org | bemoredog.net | triday.pet
So sorry it's being so ruff, we have been having a relatively easy time so far
Hope Brody starts to feel better
My heart aches for you guys and what you're going through! We had issues too of Nitro not drinking or eating; and I also used a syringe to shoot water down his throat (and spoonfuls of yogurt down his throat just to get his pills and some nourishment in him).
You are SO entitled to a breakdown if anyone is! It seems hard to believe that medication is causing all the problems, but I believe that's true. We went through something similar, but not nearly what you're going through. Trust in you vets, they sound like great ones. Many hugs going out to you all, and hoping you see improvement in the days ahead.
Paula and Nitro
Nitro 11 1/2 yr old Doberman; right front amp June 2014. Had 6 doses carboplatin, followed by metronomic therapy. Rocked it on 3 legs for over 3 years! My Warrior beat cancer, but couldn't beat old age. He crossed the Bridge peacefully on July 25, 2017, with dignity and on his terms. Follow his blog entitled "Doberman's journey"
"Be good, mama loves you".....run free my beautiful Warrior
I read this three ties before I replied because I wanted to make sure I read it right.
You asked the vet if Brody wasever going to get over this. The vet assured you it was not a neurological issure, that it was a pain med issue. Tavlets can't make bold print..or colored pring on this site. If I could, I would make the vet's comments in COLOR and BOLD!!!
And I wouod COLOR you hanging in there!! You make a good point about Brody maybe "anticipating" falling or hurting, thus causing him not to want ro move much.
You are doing an incredible job of staying strong and positive!! OMD! I would probably be in a straight jacket by now!! The entire community is giving you a standing ovatiin right nnow!! Your melt down sounds like a mere whimper compared to what mine would sound like!!
I know how anxious I felt wondering if my Happy Hannah would EVER recover. Her recovery,which I thought was really rough for the first three weeks, was a cake walk compared to what you're going through!
Brody, I have to give it to ya' kiddo....you've added a whole other dimension to "every recovery is different" and "every dog is different"!
Thank you soooooo much for taking the time to update us. I know it's hard to and I know you are absolutely exhausted emotionally and physically. I hope you do feel a little better with what the vet said. It certainly sounds like things should start turning around a good corner in the next weeki-ish.
Now put some nice squishy pillows and a nice cozy blankie on your blow up mattress, snuggle next to Brody and get a good night's sleep!!
Update when you can, even if its to vent and scream!! We all do it!!
We are all...every single oneof us....cheering like crazy for Braody to start getting his sparkle back real soon!
COME ON BRODY!! YOU CAN DO IT!!!
Lots of love and hugs!
Sally and Alumni Happy Hannah and Merry Myrtle too t
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!
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