Tripod Questionaire

[Guest gpagreys]

 

 

This is for Sequoia, who was just diagnoosed with sub dermal hemangiosarcoma on her front right leg.

 

Her owner wants to get some infor from any greys who have become tripod. At what age?, which leg? How did your grey respond to radical surgery and how long did the hound remain cancer free?

 

Sequoia is 9 and a very hefty 82 lbs (12lb more than is appropriate for her build) Her momloves ehr soooo much and is unsure if amputation is really an option for a grey.

 

 

Thanks for your interest.

 

Vicky

[Burpdog]

http://forum.greytalk.com/index.php?showtopic=169522&hl=

 

http://forum.greytalk.com/index.php?showtopic=189644&hl=

 

http://forum.greytalk.com/index.php?showtopic=183222&hl=

 

http://forum.greytalk.com/index.php?showtopic=169254&hl=

 

Above are threads on Winslow, Darcy, Carrier and Snickers. There are several more on board that have had amputations including Dempsey

 

http://forum.greytalk.com/index.php?showtopic=190680&hl=

 

and Bodie

 

http://forum.greytalk.com/index.php?showto...67&hl=Bodie

 

and I know there are more (like Max and Vinnie and Maddison.....)

 

Personally I believe it depends on the grey and owner's desire. Have you/she contacted Ohio State for an opinion?

[Guest HeatherDemps]

As Diane mentioned above, there are quite a few posts around here with lots of good information. To give you the brief highlights with Dempsey:

 

Bone lesion found on 12/21, surgery on 1/16, turned 12 on 3/6. It was his front right leg. We had the surgery done a the University of Illinois by a surgeon. He finished chemo last month and just had a check up today. Lungs are clean, bloodwork was great, and his heart sounded good. So, i guess we are at a little over 4 months cancer free.

 

I'd absolutely do it all over again with Dempsey. We expected it to be extremely difficult- and it was- but in a lot of ways, it was easier than expected. The surgery went well, he looked like hell when we brought him home, within 24 hours of bringing him home, he began looking better. He spent 3 days in ICU and they had him up and moving right away. He came home with pain meds and a pain patch. During the second week home, he was getting up on the couch by himself. I think it was the next week he was jumping up onto the bed. It wasn't long before he was running. He loves to go for walks still and there are only a couple of things he doesn't really do well or we don't let him do (stairs and getting in/out of the SUV). Dogs are amazing in their ability to adapt.

 

Tell your friend to look at pictures of dogs who have been through an amputation. It helps to have an idea of what your dog will look like when coming home. Dempsey looked like he had been hit by a truck- but we saw huge improvements every day. In all honesty, this dog amazed us regularly and still continues to.

[HopeForHounds]

Diane gave you lots of links to stories. Check out Hope for Hounds LINK and read Bosha's story too. He is over 30 months cancer free.

 

Also have her, or her vet contact OSU especially regarding the drug they use to minimize post surgical bleeding during amputations. greyosu@osu.edu

Edited May 29, 2008 by foxysmom

[Guest MorganKonaAlex]

Morgan was diagnosed with osteo in his front right in 1/06 at the age of 10.5. He weighed around 72 lbs. He had amputation and 4 rounds of Carboplatin. The first several weeks were rough especially since we found Morgan is intolerant of opiate pain meds but we got through it. He's now 26 months past his amputation. His quality of life has been very good. He goes for walks daily but they are not very far these days.

[Guest KTsGreytPups]

My Chablis had her front left leg removed. She did amazing. She was basically back to being herself within 3 to 4 weeks. She was even digging holes with the one leg. She was very fit and only 6 years old so she was a good candidate for the surgery. She was a bit chunky (around 70lbs) for a girl.

 

I was worried about the doggy door and she had no problem at all. Once she got her bearings she did great. I don't regret it for a minute. She was a happy girl and the missing leg did not slow her down one bit.

[packmom]

Zinger was 7, around 75lbs. He was always energetic and playful and headstrong. He was just the same after his amp. (front leg). His only problem was some neck and shoulder pain-sometimes-as a result of re-aligning his body. They truly become tripods-tilting the opposite limp toward the center for balance. If you watch his video through the Hope for Hounds link you can see him tearing around the yard and jumping up steps

[Guest Vinnie]

First of all - I am so sorry to hear about Sequoia - but amputation is not the end - far from it! Many greyts take it right in stride (literally) and are just as happy with 3 legs as they were with 4 legs. Many vets say that the 4th leg is just an extra anyways. The recovery is fairly quick - you do need to be prepared to deal with dressing changes, stitches, pain - but that goes away quickly enough and you are left with your beautiful grey and you wonder what he/she ever looked like with the 4 legs again.

 

Our Angel Vinnie was a tripod - and it never slowed him down - in fact, I think he was actually faster! Vinnie was 11 months old when he was diagnosed with osteosarcoma - we did the amputation and chemo route - unfortunately this was a very aggressive form of osteo and before his 3rd chemo we asked for another chest x-ray - it had filled his left lung and was attacking his right lung and his remaining front leg was weak - we were terrified that it would snap while he was playing (he never let the osteo get in his way of running and playing :wub: ) so we made the very difficult decision of letting him go to The Bridge (difficult for us as we wanted to be greedy and keep him here with us - he was so young - but knowing that it wouldn't be right to do it for us - letting him go was for him - he deserved to be pain & disease free). He was 14 months old when we let him go. Would we do this all again - yes, in a heartbeat.

 

We got a lot of help in making our decision for the amputation and lots of good advice from those who have or had tripods. Things like make sure that you have a t-shirt over them while you have the dressing for the sutures in still - this keeps them from going after the dressing and the sutures. Make sure that they have cushy beds, lots of throw rugs on slippery areas, that the areas they frequent (like in the yard) is stable - no holes or things to trip over. Try to keep them from over exerting themselves - especially at first. If you have another at home - make sure that they can still connect but not rough house. Try to keep things easy on them - raised feeders were very helpful for Vinnie. And when playing or going out - he was on lead until we knew he was ok on his own - after the sutures were out!

 

Other things that helped us - our vet is always looking for ways to make things easier for his patients - he used a new technique (at the time) that was starting to be used to prevent phantom pains from the missing limbs - something like deadening the nerves in the area before doing the actual amputation - is how he explained it. Vinnie did not have a lot of the issues that I know others had when they amputated (and I cannot tell you how much that helped us to deal with his surgery). Also, watch her face for signs of discomfort so that even if you have a time table for pills, sometimes they need before. Don't worry when they decide to lay on the side that has been amputated. That freaked us out at first as you would think that would hurt the most - but that was Vinnie's favorite way to lay.

 

Most of all - don't think of her as a tripod or different - when we looked at Vinnie we forgot that he had the fourth leg. He was amazing. Please feel free to pm us with any questions as I know this is more than long enough. Good luck with whatever decision you make, you have to make the right one for you and not base it on what others have or would do. You know her best of all, not us. Please keep us posted. There are many of us here that have been in your situation.

 

And there are a lot of heroes out here to look up to - Darcy, Dempsey, Winslow just to name a few and now Morgan and Bosha and others just by seeing this post. And we look up to Vinnie and so many others who have paved the way by being part of the studies - hoping that their lives will lead to a cure.

 

Here's a photo of our crazy Angel

Edited May 29, 2008 by Vinnie

[queenwinniesmom]

That lovely silver and black face in my avatar is my Angel Winnie, a tripod for 3 1/2 years after her right hind leg was amputated (osteo) when she was 8. She did great. We lost her to kidney failure in October 07. She had a few quirks after the amp---never walked on my kitchen floor again---but in general, was happy to be with us, and the amp didn't really slow her down.

Here she is running with her sisters a couple years after the surgery. I used to hold my breath sometimes, but she loved it so much that we let her do whatever made her happy.

[Burpdog]

Vicky: this thread has a lot of information!

[Guest greytgovernor]

Governor broke his left hind leg last fall. The bone shattered above the ankle joint and they were unable to fix it. He will be 10 years old this July and he is doing just fine being a tripod.

 

The first week was the hardest with him getting used to only three legs and the medicine, etc. Here is a video I took of him that was about 1 week after the surgery - It is very grainy but you can see how well he was doing (hope it works).

 

http://pets.webshots.com/video/3034588570102268717OwySmW

 

We have steps at every entrance to our house so we made a ramp for the front deck. Once he was comfortable with that we moved it into the fenced in back yard. It is a steeper incline there but he does very good with it - especially now that winter is over. You will need a few more carpets near doors, food & water, etc.

 

I don't regret it one bit and he doesn't either!!!

 

PS. Governor was 85lbs when he went in for a dental a few weeks ago.

 

ETA: added a link - couldn't get the video to post

Edited May 30, 2008 by greytgovernor

[Guest HeatherDemps]

Check these out for some added inspiration.... Never ceases to amaze me how dogs take whatever life hands to thoem and, well, run with it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Guest gpagreys]

Bless you all. I am sending all this to Coleen. She has lots to think about. I just don't want her to dismiss this surgery out of hand because it appears to put a pup through a lot. I have and old ig who had the same sub dermal cancer and had this surgery 4 weeks ago....doing great!

 

Vicky

[greysmom]

I don't know if my experience will add anything to the great success stories above, but I'll relate it anyway!

 

Dude didn't have his leg amputated, but he did just go through a hind toe amp. His leg was in a bulky splint/cast for two weeks post-surgery, and then for 3 more weeks as we tried to heal up some splint sores and infection. He got around on three legs just fine - and he went up our steep stairs and jumped in the car after he started feeling better. He could run just as fast on three legs as four and even managed to bump-n-jump with his brother before I could stop him. He adapted amazingly fast, only held back by his pain and weakness after the surgery. We even had to start putting his nose collar on to walk him for potties as he could pull just as hard, too!

 

In fact, our biggest problem now - after he's all better - is getting him to use his 4th leg again!

 

I know cancer adds a big unknown, but I wouldn't hesitate because of a grey having only three legs after. They do just fine apparently!

 

greysmom

[Guest Vinnie]

Any news on Sequoia?

[Bevd]

Can I also add this link for all those with tripods (or for those who may need to consider surgery)

 

http://www.tripawds.com/forums