Post-amputation And What Can They Do When?

[Tracey]

First of all, Cosmo is recovering very well. We took her to our vet (not the surgeon) on Saturday because I was concerned about bruising and hanging skin that looked like it had pockets of fluid in it. The vet said everything looked good and not to do anything differently and now today the bruising is almost gone, the skin's tightened and the pockets of fluid appear to have dissipated.

 

As long as we are there to supervise, Cosmo is hanging out with both Morgan and Chase again. She's going potty off-leash in the back yard with my supervision. She wasn't too happy about going in the front yard at the end of a leash, so this works much better.

 

What I haven't done yet is take her for a walk, although when she was leash pottied she kept trying to trick me into taking her for one (I'd let her walk around a bit to see if the pipes would start moving and the next thing I knew she had us two houses over and tried her darnedest to keep going too).

 

I also haven't allowed her to try to navigate the stairs to our second floor, where the bedrooms are. She is doing the stairs in and out of the house, though it only amounts to three. My confusion comes in because the surgeon's notes said no stairs for 4-6 weeks. The veterinarian who discharged her told us it was okay if we let her go up once a day and down once a day so she could sleep with us. We didn't ask for this; she just volunteered it.

 

My inclination is no walks and no stairs at least until her staples come out, which will be July 7. I can tell she's bored though. I guess I would just like some input from those who have been where we are. Assuming your pup felt up to it, how soon did you resume walks and letting them do flights of stairs? Thanks!

Edited June 30, 2009 by Tracey

[Guest MorganKonaAlex]

We were told no stairs until the staples are removed. We carried Morgan up and down the stairs so he could sleep with us. We took him on walks as soon as he felt able although they were very short in the beginning. It will take a while to build up the muscle for her new locomotion.

[MaryJane]

I would wait until it's more healed to do stairs or walks. The pups seem to feel so much better because the pain is gone but, I think that they can't do as much as they think......

 

 

[lflaherty45]

We waited weeks until we felt Clark was ready for a walk at our local park. He had 1 step to go outside so that wasn't a problem. It seemed to take a month to 5 weeks before he actually felt comfortable really walking and then running around the yard. After his first run, we took him for a leash walk and did about half the usual distance. Just allow enough time for them to get use to 3 legs and to build up some additional strength, you'll know when the time is right just by watching. He choose not to do the steps to the rec room so we stayed on the one floor until he went to the bridge.

 

 

Good luck, know you and your grey will be fine.

[Bevd]

I can't advise re stairs as our gang don't go upstairs unless its for a bath (and Darcy refused to even contemplate our stairs when she had 4 legs never mind 3....but amazinly she will doany number of steps in the park ) but regarding walks. I think a gentle walk might be worth trying, just to keep Cosmo's spirits up and give her something else to think about rather than her home environment.

 

Because Darcy was such a dreadful patient (as we've discussed) we were advised on day four, to take her out to her normal walking location (in the car) and just let her do as much as she would - which turned out to be virtually nothing more than lay on the grass and eat 'salad' but it did do her good mentally.

[GreyAcresMom]

Altho Jack-fooy never really had use of her (back) leg. She was up and chasing a bunny the day after her surgery. She was extatic to have that "stick" out of the way. Don't pamper them to much. You would be suprised how strong they are. Give Cosmo a chance to tell you what she wants to do. If she walks on lead, and only goes about 4 houses then you know.

 

But again, this was the rear leg. I am sure that it was *easier* to adjust.

to you... on the nose to the baby...

[mom2four]

We have a bungalow, so not many stairs. But Jamey REFUSED to go up and down the ramps that Michael had made for him. From the day he came home he's done the two times 3 stairs to get onto the deck and into the house. Depending on how tired he is, it goes really fast, or we need to encourage him. A thought that I had was about our regular vet's office....if he ever needs to go downstairs there (where they do surgeries, dentals, etc), they will have fun! I'm going to discuss getting an elevator with them! (It's in an older building).

Jamey was also very bored, sitting in his ex-pen for 2 weeks+. We went in there with him to cuddle him etc. It was set up in the living room, so he was in the middle of all the goings on. I can just tell you that once he was totally free (one week ago), we could tell he was much happier! We can still really tell that he needs to gain more strength, he tires easily. But last night he saw a squirrel...and he went running after the little thing!

 

We're thinking of you Cosmo!!!!!

[Guest HeatherDemps]

We live in a ranch, so thank goodness, stairs weren't really an issue. We let Dempsey try the deck stairs at my parents' house once- w/ one front leg gone, he went down to fast, it scared me to death, and I never let him do them again. I think I posted a lot in those days about my fear of stairs.

 

I tried to be really careful for the two weeks that the staples were in. I think they do a good job of letting you know when they are ready... Dempsey always loved his couch and started trying to get up on that right away. I put boxes and all kinds of stuff on it before leaving him and came home to find him laying on top of everything I had put up there. The first time he jumped back up on the bed, I think I freaked out. I lifted him down though until the staples came out.

 

Judging how long to walk him was always tough because he LOVED to walk. Walking around one block was a pretty long walk, it wasn't a small block. Halfway home, I got scared he was tiring out and called my mom who picked us up and drove us the rest of the way home. Initially after the surgery, we stuck with potty trips only. Then we moved on to the back yard. Once he started trotting/running back to the front of the house, we moved up to walking to the end of the street and back.

 

You will probably continue to feel nervous for a bit about her recovery and every time Cosmo does something again for the first time. The day we brought Demps home from the hospital, I panicked when he pooped for the first time at home as a tripod. I was yelling into the house for my husband asking what do we do, what do we do, he needs to poop!!! Um yeah, he pooped just fine.

 

I took lots of pictures of Dempsey's recovery- I think daily- so I could remember how far he was coming. Every 24 hours brought new miracles.... Glad your girl is doing well and I hope you have many, many wonderful days ahead with her.

 

Take care,

Heather

[Tracey]

Well...

 

Apparently Cosmo had had enough of being shut down in the living room while everyone else got to go upstairs to bed. I've been baby gating the stairs so she can't go up and to be honest she hadn't tried. Last night before bed I leaned the gate against the wall so Morgan and Chase could go up. I walked over to turn off the tv and as I did so Cosmo shot past me and before I could stop her she had gone upstairs. When I got upstairs myself I found her lying on our bed looking pretty satisfied with herself. This morning she got down the stairs by herself as well so she could go out to potty. After that she took a little sunbath. Now she's back on our bed where she enjoyed her morning snack. I'll make sure she doesn't overdo it, I promise.

 

By the way, Cosmo got her special tripawd shirt from Cara-Lea yesterday and apparently they come with special super powers in them because as soon as Cosmo put it on I got my little girl back. [And yes, I know the rules. Pictures later, I promise!]

[CaliforniaGreys]

What a great update Tracey, she's doing so well

[Bluesky]

Cali was doing upstairs the 1st day home. I was terrified but she has a mind of her own and I just needed to steady her until she got it.

 

I wouldn't let her go down the stairs and carried her for 3 days. She let me know when she'd had enough of that and it was the same as upstairs, I just steadied her until I was sure she was OK.

 

The vet didn't tell me not to let her do stairs, so....

 

Now she can jump in and out of the van all by herself.

[racindog]

I brought Ivy home 4 days post op. We had always slept together and the first night I froze-what to do? She immediately picked up on my dilemma and before I could say or do anything hopped up into the bed without incident-just like she always had done. We resumed our walks as soon as she arrived home. Short ones at first- 100 yards. Then almost 200 yards and she was ready to try and go after squirrels again! Then around the block in only a week or less. She was running with me shortly thereafter. She also continued to "fly" around the yard. I was concerned but the vet said I needed to let her and I know it was true. She was sooooo happy when she ran. You really couldn't tell she was a tripod because she was going so fast she was a blur!

[iluvgreys]

Sounds like she's doing very well! Go Cosmo!

[Bevd]

Well done Cosmo

 

(Although I'm sure your Mother looks a bit like this :!! )

[GreyAcresMom]

BEAUTIFUL!! They are so resilient!! Don't hold her back..just watch her. She WILL let you know!

[Guest vahoundlover]

Cosmo

[greymomnc]

I'm glad she's doing so well! Does she still watch TV like she used to? I used to crack up reading about her and her TV watching.