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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First off, I am so glad to have found this site! I feel like I am living a nightmare every day and no one else understands... this is giving me some hope.
Here's Buddy's story (short version):
We have two amazing dog kids Zero (an 8 year old husky) and Buddy (approx. 4yrs). They are both rescue dogs and we love them dearly. Recently our neighbor kids have been careless about leaving the front door open and the dogs got out. Then my nightmare began. After an hour of driving around we went home and figured they would come back soon... then a lady shows up at our door to tell us someone has shot our dogs in her yard. She said the brown one (Buddy) is dead and the guy says he is coming over to "finish off" Zero... Anyone who has lost a dog knows the punched in the gut feeling that followed, I went into shock for a moment then we took action to save the dogs. I wish I could say everything after that is a blur but I know it down to the last detail and still can't stop replaying it in my mind. We were able to locate Buddy who was still breathing and get them to the overnight emergency clinic in the nearest large city about an hour from us. That was 4 weeks ago.
Zero has totally healed from his wound but Buddy's leg was severely fractured. We tried surgery with a pin and 3 weeks into it the pin broke through the bottom of the bone and created more damage (Buddy was not aloud any physical activity to cause this). The vet suggested we cast it and wait a week to see how healing had progressed at that time. That appointment was yesterday. Another punch in the gut, he shows no sign of cartilage growth that the bone should be forming to heal. At the 4wk point they should be moving him to a soft cast and letting him hobble around a bit but his body hasn't even begun to heal.
He did have some nerve damage in the other front leg causing his paw to fold over occasionally... I am so worried that if we amputated the other leg won't work well enough to support him though it has shown improvement...
I don't know what to do! I can have him go through another surgery with bone grafting and more time laying on his side in a cast but he is already depressed about 4 weeks of being confined to his side... and there is no guarantee that will work.
Any words of advise or encouragement?
Here's a pic of our brave Buddy Man =D
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I am so relieved when I read on knowing that Buddy is still alive and that Zero has recovered well. Some sick people, argh!
Buddy probably has already been used to hopping on three. I think he will do just fine after amputation; besides, he is so young!
What did the vet say about the the leg with probable nerve damage? Did he suggest any rehab treatments? Hope that he will gain back full control of the other leg gradually.
Please let us know your decision and keep us posted on Buddy's well being.
Cheers.
Dear Buddy's Mom,
What a horrible ordeal for you and Zero and Buddy. The heartlessness of some is just Incomprehensible. We have friends that live in the country and their “weekend” mailman slammed into one of their Labs several months ago. Hit him with the Jeep and sent him fliying across the road. They looked for him for hours and couldn't find him. The next morning, he was on the front porch in pretty bad shape. He, like your Buddy, had several surgeries and not only had his leg pinned, but had a rod also. Confined to a very small space, after several weeks, he still broke the rod and pins and had even more surgery. He wasn't healing at the rate the docs thought he should and they faced amputation also. In their case, they finally got him through it, but it was two months of agony.
As Genie mentioned, Buddy is probaly used to using just three at this point, and won't be nearly as restricted as he is now with that hard cast. Listen to your Vet and your heart, and you will make the right decision for Buddy. There will be a special place in Hell for the guy that did this.
Let everyone know how he's getting along,
Laura and Toffee
So glad to hear that Buddy and Zero survived. There is some great advice on this site. I wish that I had had the time to get better information before we started down so many roads with Brody. I guess when he first shattered his leg, all we wanted was for him was to be able to walk again. The surgery was done on an emergency basis, and he had two plates put in his leg and a cast. Then one of the plates started bending, so they had to remove it, straighten it and then they put an external fixator on his leg. This was also done on an emergency basis when he was just in to see the dr. for a recheck. Finally, the news a year later that the x-rays didn't look right after he had started limping and the emergency amputation. Although our ortho surgeon stated that only about 10% of plate sites develop osteosarcoma, I have read a lot of stories of other dogs with similar stories. I personally think that with all the trauma to the leg, their sweet bodies just can't fight off the proliferation of the cancer cells. So don't feel bad if this all leads to amputation. You might just save Buddy a lot of pain and suffering not to mention having to deal with cancer in the future. I think that Brody is now pain free and is the happiest he has been in a long time. Pat
Oh my gosh! I just don't understand how you should shoot a dog! I'm glad they're both OK! In our case we had to have Jack's leg amputated due to a bone tumor, so there really wasn't any other option. Accident cases are a little different since you're dealing with broken bones and not cancer cells so you don't have the need to get rid of an originating tumor. Since you are worried about the other paw, is there anything that can be done to improve the function? Like, physical therapy for example? Or, if the paw does fold over, would it be a big problem if it happens, our would Buddy just say "oops I stepped wrong" and keep going? If you are worried about Buddy's ability to have a happy life on 3 legs, let me assure you that Buddy's life will be no different if he has 3 than if he has 4. Another doggie on this site, Angel, also went through an accident and amputation, and she is doing sooo well! This is a great place for questions, so please post them all!
<3 Laura
I am so happy both the pooches made it through that horrible mishap. I hope the neighbor kids were given a stern talking to. I'm a huge advocate of second opinions. Let someone else review the case and make a recommendation. It just helps to hear another professional view.
I believe with major illnesses you have to be on the same page as the vet. The TWO of you must make the best choice for the pet.
Believe in yourself, make each and every decision based on what is right for Buddy. You will do the right thing.
And, we will be right here to offer support any time you need it.
Shanna & Spirit Trouble ~ Trouble gained her wings 3/16/2011, a 27 1/2 month cancer survivor, tail wagging. RIP sweetheart, you are my heart and soul. Run free at Rainbow Bridge.
The November Five - Spirits Max, Cherry, Tika, Trouble & Nova. 11/2008 - 3/2013 An era ends as Queen Nova crossed the Bridge.
Thank you so much!!! Everyone!!! Just reading the success stories on here gives me hope for Buddy.
He is our "emotional" dog and I have been rather emotional through this as well which can't be very good for him to pick up on. I was thinking of having them cast it in sling fashion for one more week...(right now it is straight even though the break is at the shoulder, this hinders him because it is longer than his other legs like that) This way he could try to walk on the three legs more (with supervision). This would also give him a much needed break from lying on his side 24/7. He has started to form a sore under his good arm from the last two casts so I'd like to give that a chance to heal too.
This way I will KNOW he is functioning fine on three before we go ahead with amputation. My gut says the depression will kill his spirit if we have to go months with more cast / restriction time.
We talk to the vet tomorrow so wish us luck!
Good luck at the vet tomorrow. Please keep us posted!
Please also consider registering as a member. That way, your posts can be viewed by others without delay.
Cheers.
Okay, I am official now, BuddysMom was taken so I went with HealingPup =)
Thanks Again, we will keep everyone posted.
"be the change you wish to see in the world"
HealingPup said:
Okay, I am official now, BuddysMom was taken so I went with HealingPup =)
Thanks Again, we will keep everyone posted.
And we can see Buddy's cute little face! Lots of good thoughts coming your way for tomorrow.
Shanna & Spirit Trouble ~ Trouble gained her wings 3/16/2011, a 27 1/2 month cancer survivor, tail wagging. RIP sweetheart, you are my heart and soul. Run free at Rainbow Bridge.
The November Five - Spirits Max, Cherry, Tika, Trouble & Nova. 11/2008 - 3/2013 An era ends as Queen Nova crossed the Bridge.
How anyone could ever do anything but hug that beautiful face is beyond me, but there are some very sick people out there. We all will be pulling for you both during your vet visit. I would like to restate that you should go with you best feelings regarding the treatment from here. No one knows you companion better than you and with that assurance you should feel confident regarding any treatment decision you make. My experience has been that recovery from amputation is usually very quick. Buddy has already adapted to getting around with less than functional limb, so he should be able to adopt quickly. I never cease to be suprised at how fast and completely they adapt to any situation. All they ever need is love. As always, such dicisions are about the quality of life and in Cherry's case, she has a very full life after an amputation seven months ago, and two months of horrible chemotherapy.
We all be thinking of you both and sending all the positive thoughts possible.
Bob & Cherry
I am so sorry about everything ya'll have been through. My little poodle, Angel got out of our gate and hit by a car almost 7 weeks ago. We still see that same car going 50 MPH in a 30 MPH where kids and dogs play on the streets! Angel lost her right rear paw, broke her pelvis on the left side, and had about 8x10 inches of skin ripped off of her side then staple back on at the ER. The first 3 weeks were agony, she was in the hospital all the time except for weekends. After a few days the skin flap started to die; altogether 1/2 of it died and had to be debrided. At 2 weeks, they put a plate, screws and wires in her broken pelvis. At 3 weeks they amputated her entire back right leg (with the paw gone). She wasn't allowed to put weight on her new hip until about 2 weeks ago. Now she is hopping a little at a time. Her open wound area has been managed with bandages and is now only 1x4 inches. It should be closed in a 2 weeks.
Just keep talking to the vet and maybe get a second opinion. The nerve damage could very well heal and then he would probably be better of with three legs than be in the pain of a shattered leg. I was very worried about Angel getting depressed. But she has come through! They are always stronger than we think they are. You can give him a little fun with delicious people food, try to get him to chew on his toys or rawhides, whatever you can think of to distract him. The hardest thing is all the waiting. Hang in there. We are praying for ya'll.
Hi HealingPup! It's awful what Buddy, Zero and your family have had to go through. People that do things like that will get what is coming to them in the end.
As for Buddy adjusting to life on three legs. He will do it, he sounds like a real tough dude! Our dog Chuy was hit by a car at 4 months old. When the rescue we adopted him from found him his left front leg was dead so they had no choice but to amputate. We adopted Chuy at 8 months old. He's a wonderful dog and gets around just fine. On May 12th Chuy had to have FHO surgery on his left rear leg. We weren't sure if Chuy was going to be able to handle it, but went through with the surgery anyway. For the first 3 weeks Chuy only walked on his 2 right legs, with lots of physical therapy and love and patience he's back to doing the tripawd hop. Chuy does still fall down face first once in a while, but he gets right back up and keeps on hoppin'!
Our babies are very resilient, more so than we realize. They can teach us so much about life and living in the moment. Whatever you decide to do, Buddy will let you know if he is comfortable or not.
I have yet to see a Tripawd that doesn't smile all the time!
Chuy, showing everyone that Tripawds do everything 3 times better than regular dogs!
Thank you everyone! Your words are SO uplifting and encouraging. It is helping me to be stronger and happier for Buddy and I can already tell a difference in his own attitude. Today he was doing his "Buddy Snuggles" (rubbing his head excessively on my leg while "snorking") again, a little awkwardly, but still just as happy. My heart goes out to each of you who have gone through a similar transition with your companion. I can so identify with the mess of emotions that come with these decisions and the WAITING is excruciating! I am grateful for Buddy's health, it could have been so much worse. What troopers these dogs are!!!
I am still not sure on what to do... His current vet feels we should wait another couple of weeks (the waiting is sooooo hard, I feel like I may miss an opportunity for healing). I have him scheduled an appointment with a specialist for Thursday also to get a 2nd opinion. This specialist can do plating and bone grafting... I also found Osteo-Form online as a supplement to help bones grow so I will keep everyone posted as to whether it seems to help.
Much love to all of you & thank you so much for your support through this!
FuZZy Buddy and his Zero sidekick! =)
"be the change you wish to see in the world"
Oh, that Buddy is a hero. Love the picture! Thanks for posting it.
And aren't the "Buddy Snuggles" great? Cemil does that too. It's my favorite part of the day. I bet I know just how you felt when he was able to get back to something-like-normal. Keep up the good work, Buddy!
Mary
Cemil and mom Mary, Mujde and Radzi….appreciating and enjoying Today
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