Caring for a Three Legged Dog or Cat
Tripawds is your home to learn how to care for a three legged dog or cat, with answers about dog leg amputation, and cat amputation recovery from many years of member experiences.
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The folks at Ruffwear told me about this site when I ordered Pete`s harness.
My 9 1/2 year old Dobe , Pete , has been fighting histiotic sarcoma in his left paw for a little over 3 years now .... he just won`t give up . We were told he had a year or so when he was diagnosed . His quality of life , which is the most important thing for us and him, has been outstanding . Even at this stage , he will still chase squirrels , bees and leaves .
It`s finally time to take his pain away . The tumor has become resistant to all chemo and radiation and is growing rapidly and is now an open wound bigger than a quarter . I`m changing dressings 3 to 4 times a day now , and through it all , he`s still Pete ..... he just holds his paw out for me to work on. He is still such a wide open dog , that , after a lot of thought and prayer , we elected this amputation instead of helping him across the Bridge .... hope and pray we made the right decision.
Met with the oncologist and surgeon Monday and did all the pre op stuff .... chest x rays , heart tests , ultra sound , lymph node pathology etc . and amazingly , the cancer appears to be still confined to his foot. The pain is now bad enough that he limps all the time , even with gabapentine . So , we have scheduled his surgery for this Friday ..... I promised him when this all started that he would not suffer or lose his dignity , now it`s time to keep my promise . The facility will keep him for 2 or 3 nights to be sure he`s walking and ok before releasing him , and it`s a 24 hour facility with everything from ER to Oncology with Board certified Doctors.
He`s a big boy ... 100 lbs , so I hope that won`t work against him . He`s a rescue ( along with his lady friend ) and the owner of the rescue has had multiple Dobes come through that were Tripods ..... she said they really surprise us with the way they adapt.I really hope so , as I said , his quality of life is extremely important to us ..... he still has deer , birds and helicopters to chase , yes , he goes after the military choppers when they go overhead !
Any thoughts and/or suggestions to make things easier for him will be greatly appreciated !
Pete and family, welcome. I’m on my phone so can’t type well but I wanted to get your post approved so others could see it. I will be back tomorrow with more thoughts but in the meantime check out Jerry’s Required Readong List for ideas. Stay tuned for feedback from others! Hey
Tripawds Founders Jim and Rene
tripawds.com | tripawds.org | bemoredog.net | triday.pet
Wow you've got a real fighter there in Pete! We're 3 weeks post rear right leg amputation with our dog Murphy and we've learned so much on this site. You've come to the right place. To prepare our house we got a harness to help Murphy up the stairs in our back yard. Making your floors slip proof is also important. Right now we have yoga mats laid out strategically over our floors and they've worked really well. We also got a memory foam dog bed which was especially nice for him when he wasn't moving around much the first few days.
I'm sure you'll get many more suggestions. It's great to stay on the site and keep us all posted with Pete's progress. It sounds like Pete will be up on his feet in no time!
Val
Hi Pete and family 🐾🌸
You've got great advice from Val ☺️
What leg is Pete loosing?
If it is a front leg I would suggest he wears a tshirt under a soft harness to protect the incision until stitches come out.
If it is a back leg he can wear boxers with the tail coming thought the fly.
Hugs and cuddles 😘🐮💫✨🌟🌹
Eurydice 77kg/170lb Great Dane limping end of April 2016, amputation (right front leg/osteosarcoma) 4 May 2016 6 courses of carboplatin followed by metronomic therapy, lung mets found 30 Nov 2016. 3 courses of doxorubicin, PET scan 26 Jan 2017 showed more mets so stopped chemo. Holistic route April 2017. Lung X-ray 5 May 2017 showed several tennis ball size mets, started cortisone and diuretics. Miss Cow earned her XXL silver wings 12 June 2017, 13 months and 1 week after amputation and 6 1/2 months after lung mets, she was the goofiest dawg ever and is now happily flying from cloud to cloud woof woofing away :-)
Just wanted to add my welcome and my good wishes to your Warrior Pete! And he is definitely a Warrior!!
If Pete is limping, that leg is hurting and it needs to go! You will be amazed at how well Pete will do on three legs with that painful leg gone! Now, make no mistake about it, recovery is no picnic for a couple of weeks. This is majpr surgery and Pete is not going to be throwing a pawty for a coup of weeks. But once recovery is over, he'll be chasing helicopters in no time.....and maybe even catch one orr two!!😎
And YAY for good preliminary work up results! 😁
We'll all be cheering for Pete, so,let us kmow as soon as surgery is done.
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!
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