How Many Tripod Owners Do We Have?

[Guest iaksma]

Our grey, Mabel, had a right rear amputation after a racing injury. I would love to get input from others on their tripods.

 

Since she has only one hind leg, her pads seem to wear pretty easily, even just doing short walks each day. I bought her a TheraPaw for her hind leg but that seems to make her toe knuckles rub together and look sore/pink. I have some Musher's Secret I use as well, even between the toes to help the rubbing, but I'm not seeing too much of a difference yet.

 

Anyone else have these issues? Any suggestions?

 

Oh, and her butt has gone bald on the amputated side. Sometimes I see her licking at it, but not very often. I wonder if that is just from sitting?

 

TIA!

Jill

[queenwinniesmom]

Hi Jill, how old is Mabel? How long have you had her? My Winnie has been a tripod (same leg) for 3 years, due to osteo. But we've never had any of the problems you have. Have you contacted the girl with Therapaws? She's very knowledgeable. I'm thinking the hair loss may not have anything to do with the amp. Winnie's fur on that side is thick, but she's on lots of supplements because of the osteo. Has Mabel been checked for low thyroid? That often causes hair loss.

Good luck with your girl, and paws up from one tripod to another.

[Aerosmom]

Snickers is a very recent tripod -- about four weeks. So far we've cut our walks short by a little bit, but she's still going about 20-30 minutes. I let her be my cue. I haven't noticed any issues yet, but a lot of her walkng is done on dirt paths. She does seem more uncomfortable on asphalt.

 

 

 

Hi Jill, how old is Mabel? How long have you had her? My Winnie has been a tripod (same leg) for 3 years, due to osteo. But we've never had any of the problems you have. Have you contacted the girl with Therapaws? She's very knowledgeable. I'm thinking the hair loss may not have anything to do with the amp. Winnie's fur on that side is thick, but she's on lots of supplements because of the osteo. Has Mabel been checked for low thyroid? That often causes hair loss.

Good luck with your girl, and paws up from one tripod to another.

 

Winnie is three years into osteo? Wow! What are you doing for her? Did she have chemo and what supplements?

[Guest iaksma]

Hi Jill, how old is Mabel? How long have you had her? My Winnie has been a tripod (same leg) for 3 years, due to osteo. But we've never had any of the problems you have. Have you contacted the girl with Therapaws? She's very knowledgeable. I'm thinking the hair loss may not have anything to do with the amp. Winnie's fur on that side is thick, but she's on lots of supplements because of the osteo. Has Mabel been checked for low thyroid? That often causes hair loss.

Good luck with your girl, and paws up from one tripod to another.

 

Mabe is 3 years old. We got her in March. Her leg was amputated in December. She gets around just fine, although sometimes I note when I'm walking her that her rear end will go down, like she's going to fall, but I think that might be when she's stepped on something uncomfortable. I'll try to attach a picture of her pads and what is happening.

 

 

I have not contacted TheraPaw but will do that and see if I can get some clues. Thanks for the tip.

 

Thyroid is on my list to get checked. What kind of symptoms would I look for?

 

How old is Winnie? Congratulations on 3 years of survival!

 

 

Wow, 4 weeks for Snickers?! Hope all goes well for you guys! I'll be keeping my eye out for updates.

[Guest greytfulhounds]

My Mystery is a tripod.........front, right leg. The hair in the front is fine with the exception of a thin scar where the amputation was done. He is 5 years old and has been a tripod most of his life. I really do not have much to offer in the way of advice as I do not have that kind of experience with his other front paw. Could the therapaw be rubbing/sliding as she walks and maybe that is causing the problem with her pad? I know with Mystery his one front paw takes a lot of stress to compensate for the missing paw and I would think that if he were to wear a therapaw that it might slide on him.

 

Good luck with your girl!

[Guest iaksma]

My Mystery is a tripod.........front, right leg. The hair in the front is fine with the exception of a thin scar where the amputation was done. He is 5 years old and has been a tripod most of his life. I really do not have much to offer in the way of advice as I do not have that kind of experience with his other front paw. Could the therapaw be rubbing/sliding as she walks and maybe that is causing the problem with her pad? I know with Mystery his one front paw takes a lot of stress to compensate for the missing paw and I would think that if he were to wear a therapaw that it might slide on him.

 

Good luck with your girl!

 

She got the "pink" pads before we had the therapaw unfortunately I think I have a high-maintenance hound!

[Guest MorganKonaAlex]

Morgan has been a tripod for 17 months from osteo. His was a front right. No bald areas. We had a prolblem with a strained neck/shoulder once, but he had that a few times over the years before his amputation. He jumps off the 3 steps of our back stoop instead of walking it. That's a lot of stress on his shoulder so I built him a ramp. Morgan's biggest problem is a back toe that is twice the normal size from an old injury. We should have had it amputated years ago but it wasn't as much of a problem when he had 3 other legs. We can't do it now.

[Xan]

Hugs to you all, just for starters.

 

My Wabi is not a "true" tripod, since she still has her right hind leg, but it doesn't much work. It never did, so she's functionally like a tripod with a sort of floppy "kickstand". No hair loss. She's a furry-butt gal for sure!

 

I do put booties on her, both back feet, for walks. She developed a corn on her good foot, but with bee propolis (added to her food) and the bootie, she seems fine for walks as long as 40 minutes, more if there are little dogs or things with wheels to keep her attention!

[Guest iaksma]

Hugs to you all, just for starters.

 

My Wabi is not a "true" tripod, since she still has her right hind leg, but it doesn't much work. It never did, so she's functionally like a tripod with a sort of floppy "kickstand". No hair loss. She's a furry-butt gal for sure!

 

I do put booties on her, both back feet, for walks. She developed a corn on her good foot, but with bee propolis (added to her food) and the bootie, she seems fine for walks as long as 40 minutes, more if there are little dogs or things with wheels to keep her attention!

 

What is bee propolis and what does it do? Thanks!

[Guest greyhoundluv]

Elvis is 10 months old and had his leg amputated when he was about 4 weeks old. He doesn't know it's missing, lol. Elvis too will go down on long walks. We use a thrapaw when we go for walks. He tries to eat it so we dont put it on till we are ready to walk out the door. I do massage his leg and rub out his paw. Other then not being able to jump up on the bed cause its too high, he can do everything else the other dogs do and a few things they cant. When he is tired he likes to throw his stump over my leg and just sit there while I rub out his back leg.

[Guest hamiesmom]

So happy to hear that all of the tripods are doing so well. Now, to Mabel's pink paws. I don't have a tripod but my sweet 9yr old boy has some pink on his back paws. He had corns on those paws, they have gone but parts of his pads are pink. He does not wear therapaws on his back paws. I use a cream for paws that is totally natural and is made by Asher (in Canada). However, Bag Balm and Mushers is fine. They keep the pads soft. Bee Propolis can be bought a natural food store and get the liquid kind. We use it on the corns and I put a few drops in his food. Hamie still has corns on his front paws and wears therapaws when we go out walking, and yes, they do seem to irritate a bit but I just put some cream on it and they seem to be fine.