Caring for a Three Legged Dog or Cat
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Hi all...it’s been a few since I updated on Summer. I posted most of this on Boots and Erica’s post from earlier today, but will start another post because I don’t want to hijack theirs.
I haven’t updated sooner because I was waiting until Summer’s stitches came out - which they did, yesterday. I was all set to come on here last evening and say that Summer was doing great. She had gotten her appetite back over the weekend, was asking to go for short little walks in the yard, and seemed to be getting her spirit back. BUT yesterday morning BEFORE we took her to get the stitches out, she refused her breakfast. The surgeon removed the stitches early yesterday afternoon and said she looked good. He seemed pleased with her progress. I told him she had refused her breakfast; he didn’t seem concerned. Summer is supposed to start chemo next Tuesday. But now she’s not eating at all, hasn’t eaten a bite since the day before yesterday. She’s drinking some. Her energy level is down and all she does the past 2 days is lie around looking forlorn. I’ve tried making her some homemade meals (chicken, turkey crumbles with rice, etc), offered her favorite treats, but as soon as I put the dish down in front of her, she literally turns her head and immediately gets up and moves to a different spot.
I’m so worried. Of course my mind goes straight to the worst case scenario, wondering if the cancer has popped up so soon somewhere else. They had done lung xrays prior to her amp surgery, which came back clear, but did not xray any of her other legs or spine (or any organs, other than the lungs). I was hoping she just had an upset stomach, as she does tend to have a sensitive system. I was fully expecting her to go right back to eating today, after eating nothing yesterday. But nope, she refuses it all. She’s been off all meds since last weekend, actually improved in spirit and activity once the gabapentin was discontinued. She doesn’t ’seem’ like she’s in pain - she’s not panting, pacing, or whining, all of which were her usual signals the first 10 days. Her incision looks good. She’s urinating and pooping fine. No diarrhea. She’s just lethargic and refusing to eat. 2 straight days now. If she’s not better tomorrow, I will call the vet. I hope I’m worrying for nothing.
Robin & Summer
Hmmm. I (personally) might call the vet (or surgical team) today just to give them the heads up that this situation’s persisting and see how concerned they may be.
That way you get another opinion about when/whether to bring her in. But again, just my not-a-professional opinion vibe. Nothing to panic about, just a way to have another set of informed eyes/ears on the situation. …also may help you have some peace of mind (which is no small thing!)
Natalie & Juno (aka June)
Am I understanding correctly that she's not eating, but she is still eliminating? Is it possible she's backed up? I had something similar happen with one of my dogs a few years ago and it was terrifying. She didn't eat for a couple of days, but kept pooping. Took her to the vet, they prescribed a laxative and she had an epic poop. Went back to normal after that. I can't remember if we made any dietary changes at that time.
Well, after turning up her (long greyhound) nose for a day and a half, Ms. Summer finally decided she would eat her lunch around 2:30 pm this afternoon. It was her first meal since Tuesday evening. She ate a good amount, now is lying down again, but at least she ate. I don’t think she was backed up (though who knows?) because she had an epic poop yesterday and a smaller one this morning. I’m still not sure what’s going on in her head (or her body), but I THINK she ate too much food on Tuesday and upset her tummy. She’s normally on prescription dog food for her stomach issues, but the vet had told me after surgery to just let her eat whatever we could get in her (within reason of course). So when she wouldn’t eat the normal dry food, we added some canned. That might have been what upset her tummy...a new food. Summer has never been a vigorous eater anyway, though she seldom turned up her nose at treats and bacon, or small bites of table food before. And since she had started to eat nicely on Monday and Tuesday of this week, I guess I expected that to continue, not worsen.
Anyway, I’ll take the small victories and breathe a sigh of relief that she did finally eat a good meal and drank quite a bit of water too. She still doesn’t seem to be enthusiastic about it all, maybe walking around the house a bit less today, but I’m glad she ate. We’ll see what tomorrow and the weekend brings. All good things, I hope. Chemo next week. Go Summer!
Thank you for the suggestions. I sure wish they could talk.
Robin & Summer
Robin I'm so happy to see she's doing better! How is the weekend going?
Many times when a dog or cat goes through recovery, all those little quirks and behaviors of theirs get magnified 10000%. Either we do it ourselves, or these issues (like stomach issues) really do get exacerbated. But it does sound like things are good and she's better I hope!
Thanks @Jerry! The weekend went great. Summer is eating pretty well now, her usual 2 meals per day, but in decent amounts. Drinking, urinating, pooping. Incision looks good. She asks to go for slightly longer walks down the block now and is moving fairly nicely for a long-legged dog with one less front leg. Her demeanor has improved and she gives a lot of greyhound hugs (those who have/had greyhounds know what those are). She is now also greeting us at the front door along with the rest of the pack when we get home from an errand, something she hadn’t been doing since sugery. And her tail isn’t constantly glued between her legs anymore. So things are definitely looking up.
She starts chemo on Tuesday. A big part of me is looking forward to it, if only to get through it and over it; the other part of me is hoping it won’t set her eating and demenaor back for long. But one step at a time. My stubborn girl is a fighter and she is teaching me greater patience. Tomorrow will be 3 weeks since her surgery. We are cherishing each day.
Robin & Summer
Awwww YAY! Robin I'm so happy, this news made my day. Thank you for taking time to let us know. Yes, recovery teaches us a LOT about patience and expectations. You're not alone in that.
I want a Summer hug!
Good luck this Tuesday. Please keep us posted, and we'll keep sending the pawsitivity.
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