My dog hannah had her rt rear leg amputated on 1/11/10 due to chondrosarcoma. The lab result s show no signs of cancer in the healthy tissue and bone surrounding the original tumor site. She is still very lethargic and acting depressed 10 days late. She is eating (I’ve added chicken and brown rice and green beens to her organic dog food) but also is drinking an excessive amt of water. Can anyone offer additional feedback of what to expect after surgery and when she will start acting like herself again. Her sutures will come out either tomorrow or the next day and I also wonder when I can giver her freddom to go outside unleashed or run and jump? It is not suggested that she receive chemo just a follow up of xrays every 3 mos.
I’m afraid some of what you’re saying reminds me of when my dog, Maggie, got amputated back in October. 4 days after surgery, she went off her food, had a slight fever for 2 weeks and drank ALOT. Glad to hear your dog is at least eating!! After those two miserable weeks, she finally came around…with not much help from vets, I might add. They had no answers for me and not much help.
I will also add that my dog has taken quite a bit of time to get back to her ‘normal’, confident self. But now, she’s really really improving by the day now!
The first two weeks were HELL…but I see you’re almost done those two weeks! So maybe things will get better soon!
Just know we’re all here to give you support!
Tracy, Maggie’s Mom
I can give you our experience with amputation. Our dog, Max, had his left front leg amputated in Nov, 2008. We got A LOT of medications along with that amputation. He was on meds for the first two weeks, which made him slightly lethargic and a little loopy. The next two weeks he was coming down from all those meds. Max didn’t start acting like himself again until about 4 1/2 – 5 weeks post amputation. We let him go outside unleashed during this entire time, but monitored him.
Just be with her when you’re outside; she’ll run and jump again when she feels up to it. Remember, she’s still getting used to having one less leg. Good luck to you and Hannah!
Welcome and thanks for joining! It is still early in Hannah’s recovery journey. Is she still on any pain meds and if so, what?
If you haven’t read them yet, you may find Jerry’s top ten amputation recovery concerns helpful. You will also find much more advice and help from the entire community in the discussion forums!
Hi there and welcome to Tripawds!!!
I’m sorry to hear about Hannah’s diagnosis and surgery… but chondrosarcoma seems to have a better prognosis than osteosarcoma… so that’s good news for Hannah!! 🙂 Also good news that they didn’t find any cancer in the tissue margins!
The first 2 weeks (for some dogs maybe 3 weeks) is usually the worse. Lots of ups and downs while recovering… Many are definitely more lethargic and slow… Keep her diet healthy, give her supplements like glucosamine, fish oil… there may be more good tips from other tripawd members. Try not to let her run and jump until she has fully recovered from her surgery.
Is she still on any pain meds and/or anti-inflammatories? If so, which ones? When my Jake got his stitches out 2 weeks post-op, he was finally able to go swimming in the pool with his younger brother Wolfie… But he did get tired quickly, and we made sure not to overdo it…
Just give her lots of love and spoil her rotten!!! Looking forward to seeing more pictures of her, and more updates too!!
Angel Jake’s Mom
Thanks for the advice ! We are spoiling her and I am very glad when I at least see an occasional tail wag. She is on Tramadol which I am giving her 1 now every 8 hrs and she has 1 more day on antibiotic. I also am trying to give her the cottage cheese fish oil mixture which she had 2-3 times a day pre op but now I’m lucky if she eats it once a day. Also I giver her ester c . I just get so worried cuz she seems to be getting worse instead of better but I will give it another week or two. Also I don’t know how long to continue the pain meds . I don’t want to withhold them if she is still having pain but I know they are a big factor in her lethargy.
Thanks I will 🙂
Thank you!
Hello,
As others have said there seems to be a two week minimum for most dogs. Once off all the meds, and staples and suteres are out Hannah will probably show some good signs.
Like Tracy’s Maggie, my Maggie took quite awhile to completly adapt. Physically she was fine, but mentally she took awhile. Give Hannah time- she will figure it out.
Also- be careful just turning her loose to run and play. You know her and if she will pace herself. She had a huge surgery and will need to work on her balance and strength for awhile.
Check out the fourms on this site- tons and tons of good information and support. Someone, and usually many, can answer just about any question you have.
Karen and the pug girls
Oh I will I am definately leash walking her and she hates it. My concern is she seems to be getting worse instead of better , After the 4th day she was trying to jump on the couch and go up the stairs and we had to watch her every second but now we have to make her get up . I don’t want her muscles to lose their tone so I am trying to take her out at least 4 times a day but she just lays there all day. Yesterday was the first day she didn’t finish all of her food at once . She will get her stitches out tomm I think, so we will see what the vet says. I was just concerned about a secondary infection or something going on. Thanks for your info
I was really, really thirsty too after my surgery for quite a long time, but now I am back to normal. I had my ups and downs for about 1.5 – 2 months, but I am all better now.
I am glad to hear that !