Caring for a Three Legged Dog or Cat
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Ditto everything Jackie said. Leave him alone for a couple of short trial runs. Leave him in an area he's used to, the living room sounds good. I think you will find he will be absolutely fine.
The cool garage floor prob6 feels good to him. He'll be fined that's where he decides to be. The blanket on the floor is good too...just don't want it to spread pit to the point it slips around while trying to get up.
And yes, the adjusted hort game of fetch sounds fine.
Kind of follow R's lead. If he feels like he wants to walk around some in the house, fo.low you to the kitchen, etc. That okay. He wouldn't do ot of he felt bad or was in pain.
You can start to relax more and more as you are seeing how well R is handling recovery. The ,main things you want to monitor are no jumping, running, stairs, etc at first. As far as walking around some jn the noise, goi g to the garage, being left alone for a couple pf joirsall good. Just ,make sure his cone is on when you leave him..
Relax with your boy and have a great holiday
Hugs!
Sally and Alumni Happy Hannah and Merry Myrtle and Frankie too!
PS. Yeah, the meds are probably making him do his "stare'. No worries.
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!
Should I be worried R has had his tail tucked most of the day? Pain? Sad? His tail wasn't tucked before hospital meds wore off...
Remjnd me again how much he weighs?
As me tioned earlier, most likely pain meds need to be tweaked. A tucked tail "generally ", not always, would indicate pain.
Massage up and down his back, his shoulders, his neck to release any tension he may be feeling.
When did hempoop last
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!
He was 64 before amputation, so... a few pounds less than that now? I don't think I have much wiggle room in his actual pain meds. He's on gabapentin and carprofen for the pain with no wiggle room on those doses (at least no higher than now). He's also on trazodone, which I could up or down from where we're at. They said if I needed to I could supplement with some tramadol we have left over from pre-op. But that's about all the wiggle we have in meds with vet approval. More/less trazodone or a little tramadol added tomorrow.
He also wanted to play fetch for a couple hours today, ate his food with usual enthusiasm and pooped twice. So other than sad eyes, drug distance staring and the tucked tail...
Fetch may have tired him out. You'd be surprised at how much a leg weighs.
Food, rest, potty, and a little quiet. He is still early in recovery and lots of things are trial and error, ok? He may be a little sore right now, or tired, or both.
Think about it this way. If it was a human getting an amputation, we'd still be on a morphine drip. Animals are a lot more resilient and less willing to show pain. Thank goodness his mama sees everything❤
You're doing a great job. I know breathing is hard because i preach better than I listen🙄🙄🙄
Hopes for a quiet restful evening for both of you.
Hugs,
Jackie, Bo, Andy, Oscar, Phoebe, and the coolest feral tripawd kitty Huckleberry 
Does anyone think it might be the trazodone causing anxiety? He's not giving me other pain signs. He naps calmly, not lots of shifting, not panting, not whining, not reluctant to stand or walk. He still pops back up most of the time if he tries to sit on the incision, but that's the only pain I'm seeing...
Not a vet here, but I would think if he is calm, sleeping well, no panting then it does not sound like anxiety but you could ask your vet if this is a medication side effect.
The pups I have seen here seem to have been more agitated, not sleep well, whiny when they are experiencing anxiety but everypawdy is different. If he is popping up like you mention when trying to sit on the incision, I would say there is a fair chance he is feeling that discomfort.
You could for sure call your doc and ask questions, maybe they will try another med or spread them out differently timed.
I hope this helps. All in all your boy seems to be recovering really well so far.
Hugs,
Jackie, Bo, Andy, Oscar, Phoebe, and the coolest feral tripawd kitty Huckleberry
Ditto Jackie...
Ecerything basically sounds pretty "normal" for this early on....maybe even a vit better than normal.
Based on what you've said, he doe seem to be in a high anxiety state and maybe just a little owweee here and there when he moves a certain way.
The tucked tail yesterday was the only overt indication he might feel some pain. Has ,e tioned earlier, it could indicate a sore neck or back muscle from playing fetch. The staring off k to space may have been the Trazedone. I
You k ow your sog best, but if you could stay away from that, I would.
REMEMBER, we are not Vets and not giving Vet advice. We are merely offering suggestions based on what we see here.
Try hard not to overthink every little thing. And we k ow that's what we all do so well this early part of recovery!😉
The basics are good....eating, drinking, Peru g, pooping, mobile, engaged....those are the things that indicate he's recovering well!
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!
We're going to try a no-trazodone day tomorrow. Vet said we could try it. I can't stand him standing there with his tail tucked all the time. In other news, it seems like my vet can't actually count. She told me to keep R on three Gabapentin a day until Wednesday/Thursday and then try switching to two. ...We would run out of the bottle she gave us two days before our follow up appointment at that rate. Gonna have to fix that.
I'm also wondering if some of our overall sadness is just plain old sadness. That I have basically not played with him at all the ways he's used to in a week. He keeps just standing there staring at me. Every once in a while he'll bring the tennis ball over. And I keep refusing to play. And he is no longer satisfied with injury fetch. So. Great sadness.
Aww I'm just catching up on things. Yeah, see how he does without the Traz. It's not a pain reliever so it shouldn't affect that aspect of things, and his sparkle may come back without it.
So when you refuse to play, do you offer any other activity to take the place of the ball throwing? Have you tried any food puzzles, or even putting little treats under a blanket and having him hunt for them? Playing doesn't have to be a physical activity. Interactive brain games can be just as exhausting and so helpful for both of you. They are especially awesome because these kinds of mental activities are wonderful for senior dogs, so it's something that would have eventually benefitted him later in life. Now, you both get to start those activities now and you'll be well-prepared as he ages.
Tripawds Founders Jim and Rene
tripawds.com | tripawds.org | bemoredog.net | triday.pet
I'm in the Tripawds Chat if you want to talk.
Tripawds Founders Jim and Rene
tripawds.com | tripawds.org | bemoredog.net | triday.pet
Glad he's off the Traz. Just does not sound like he is in a high anxiety state
Great suggestions from Jerry.
Dis you do all the massaging we suggested to see of he had any tenseness? If the tail is basically dropped, just hanging, you'll want to make sure he hasn't tweaked a anything
If he is showing uou he wants to play, that is her a other good sign
If he just doesn't feel like wagging a lot yet and it actually has some muscle co trol, I wouldn't be concerned. He is getting over MAJOR surgery and doesn't feel like throwing a pawty yet.
What is your attitude like? You know R is picking up on your energy. Are you strong, co fident, upbeat, even exaggerate an upbeat mood. If you feel down and sad for him, he may sense that, Of course, we know it's ja4d to be yippee s,pipe happy during recovery, but we bet you can "fake it til you make it"!
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!
"Fake it til you make it" Yes!! You WILL see the light at the end of the tunnel. Please hang tight, stay patient. It will happen. Let us know how you do without the medication.
Please keep your seatbelt on and work through the ride. Meditate? It helps. Sending you hugs and as much patience and calm as i can muster.
❤❤❤
Hugs,
Jackie, Bo, Andy, Oscar, Phoebe, and the coolest feral tripawd kitty Huckleberry
I'm starting to think it's just sad-sad and not feeling absolutely 100%. I do play other games with R, but brain games only amuse him for so long. It adds up to like 30 minutes in our day. So today, for example, we did a game with 1/4 of the breakfast kibble in a muffin tin hidden under various tennis balls. That takes, like, thirty seconds. He's too smart, that bug. Then we did a frozen peanut butter kong in the afternoon. I offered to play our injury version of fetch a half dozen times when he brought the ball over, but this is not longer a satisfactory offering, apparently. I also broke out a new stuffie toy. He wants to tug with it. So... no. And then we broke out the big guns and played a round of 'find it' with the squeaky squirrels in the living room. But that game is really too easy when limited to just the living room because I can't really HIDE the squirrels when I'm trying to limit his hopping and not let him hop anywhere that might hurt him. So all the squirrels are like sitting on a mattress or a shelf or whatever. He's used to 'find it' throughout the house when the squirrels are actually hidden.
The tail is really curled up. Like curled up to touching his belly. He definitely has control over his tail. He wagged it for like thirty seconds when we played 'find it' and it curls up as he stands staring at me in the middle of the room with his sad-face.
Well you are definitely looking at a multitude of ways to keep his mind busy, good for you! Hmmm...what about obedience commands? He may know them already but refresher rounds are always good practice. Things like sit, stand, down, look, etc., are all low impact and can work his brain.
The tail curl is one potential pain signal you should mention to the vet. How is he today?
Tripawds Founders Jim and Rene
tripawds.com | tripawds.org | bemoredog.net | triday.pet
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