Caring for a Three Legged Dog or Cat
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Well, we left Ziva at home in her kennel alone today. I'm a nervous wreck! I have one of our home cameras pointed directly in her kennel and I currently see her just laying there with her head up and panting. I'm hoping she's just panting and not in pain. She had a gabapentin about an hour and a half ago so that should be kicking in now.
In other news, she's doing a good job of getting around on her own now. She's figuring out the tripawd life slowly, but surely. We had a bout of slightly bloody diarrhea last night, but it didn't look like anything to be too worried about. I guess I'll be stopping by the grocery store for some more bland foods after work!
I get to take a lunch in 3-4 hours so we're gonna be going home to check on her. Oh, my other half and I work together - so it's super convenient!
Meanwhile, I need some advice training on stairs. When is it ok to start practicing on at least 5 stairs at a time?
zivadogvid said
I need some advice training on stairs. When is it ok to start practicing...
Once she is healed and stitches are out you can start to focus on strengthening and balance with weight bearing exercises and work on the stairs. Use the advanced search above and you'll find various helpful discussions on the topic...here are just a couple to get started. You can also search all blogs here .
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admin said
zivadogvid said
I need some advice training on stairs. When is it ok to start practicing...
Once she is healed and stitches are out you can start to focus on strengthening and balance with weight bearing exercises and work on the stairs. Use the advanced search above and you'll find various helpful discussions on the topic...here are just a couple to get started. You can also search all blogs here .
Need advice on training my tripawd on stairs
Search results for 'stairs training' (122)
Perfect, that's super helpful! Thank you! Her stitches are out, she just has scabbing left over her incision site. Yay, next journey!
Kaiserin had a rear leg amputated and had no problem going down stairs but trouble going up (which is normal). I tried to rush stairs at first thinking if I just let her keep trying she would figure it out. It was the wrong plan. Instead I supported her with a sling (or harness or towel) for a long time. Having the support actually helped her figure it out better - get coordinated. 6 months later she goes up on her own but sometimes still stumbles a bit if she loses momentum. She can’t get up our very steep basement stairs well but we found a solution - I just walk behind her in the stairs holding her “stump” or side where the leg is missing. Me holding her there for support and balance means she can just bounce up the stairs. And I don’t need a sling or anything to worry about carrying around - just use my hand. Of course you have to wait until the incision area is completely healed so you don’t hurt her touching it.
kaiserinmom said
Kaiserin had a rear leg amputated and had no problem going down stairs but trouble going up (which is normal). I tried to rush stairs at first thinking if I just let her keep trying she would figure it out. It was the wrong plan. Instead I supported her with a sling (or harness or towel) for a long time. Having the support actually helped her figure it out better - get coordinated. 6 months later she goes up on her own but sometimes still stumbles a bit if she loses momentum. She can’t get up our very steep basement stairs well but we found a solution - I just walk behind her in the stairs holding her “stump” or side where the leg is missing. Me holding her there for support and balance means she can just bounce up the stairs. And I don’t need a sling or anything to worry about carrying around - just use my hand. Of course you have to wait until the incision area is completely healed so you don’t hurt her touching it.
That's a really good idea, I like that! I call her legless side her "stump" too, it gives us a chuckle 
Soooo here's an update - Ziva went down 25 steps! I helped her down with her Webmaster harness and it was simple! Of course we had to carry her up the stairs, but we're making progress!
WOW!!!!!! YOU GO GIRL!!! Progress???? Leaps and bounds progress!!!😁😁 Ziva's getting her sparkle back!
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!
Yeah! 25 stairs! Just keep practising while supporting her and she will gain the strength and coordination. Is there somewhere you can practice maybe 3 or 4 stairs up? I found with a large dog it was really about coordinating which leg to put where to figure out up. Just be patient and keep supporting her to keep her from falling and it will get easier and easier! And by the way, the supporting the "stump" with your hand is also a great way to help a large dog get into a vehicle too! I used a harness for a long time to help Kaiserin up into my jeep and it was ok but she is heavy and that method kind of restricted her natural movement. Now, I open the door to the jeep and she jumps in on her own as I hold my hand on her stump and kind of just hoist her up on that side. Basically I am providing the extra power and momentum for the missing leg. It took a little practice but it so smooth and easy now! (Also not to be tied though until the incision is totally healed)
She's going downstairs with my help now and she also got on the couch when I wasn't home! I think she may have scared herself from doing that, though. She hasn't tried it again.
We have about 5 more doses of the gabapentin and we're now 23 days post op. Should we expect her to still need pain meds at this point? We can always call and order more from the vet if need be. We still have a TON of the Deramaxx, but I don't believe she's supposed to be taking it since its an NSAID and she had formed an ulcer.
Otherwise, she's doing great!
Dang, unsubscribed again. What a wonderful update!! Wow.. totally leaps and bounds.. omd! I would think unless she is showing signs of pain that with your vet's permission you could start to wean her down. I remember several speaking of not stopping cold turkey, so I would ask your vet how to titrate her down so that she doesn't have any bad reactions.
I am so glad she is starting to rock her new life on three, I am just grinning ear to ear over here! Way to go!!
Big hugs,
Jackie and Huck 
Hugs,
Jackie, Bo, Andy, Oscar, Phoebe, and the coolest feral tripawd kitty Huckleberry 
We FINALLY made it up all the stairs with the rear sling helping! I don't think she's quite strong enough to keep doing all 3 stories by herself, but she will be eventually.
We're still trying to figure out how to get on the couch. She's constantly wanting up, but she's too afraid to do it alone. She also seems too afraid to put her front paws up, so I think we need to start strengthening her remaining rear leg. I'll have to do some more digging into my ebooks for some exercises 🙂
That's wonderful news! Do you have a rehab specialist somewhere nearby? Getting her strong will help her tremendously!! There have been a lot of dogs that did pt afterwards to build their core strength and did really well.
I'm so glad you're all doing well. It's been a long road ❤️
Xoxoxoxo
Hugs,
Jackie, Bo, Andy, Oscar, Phoebe, and the coolest feral tripawd kitty Huckleberry
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