It’s almost Ginger’s one-week anniversary as a Tripawd! She’s the best pill taker ever, she gobbles up her vitamins and painkillers like treats. I didn’t know she would be this positive; she seems to have no idea her leg is missing at all! She has tried to get at the stitches a couple times, but the cone has done its work, thankfully. I was doing some mental stimulation with her while she was on bed rest; she’s an easily frustrated dog and won’t work too hard, but we did some easy stuff and she was pretty happy. We’ve started going on short walks outside of the backyard and letting her move around whenever she wants. Should we still enforce rest, or is this a good stage to give her a little more freedom? She’s still living off scraps mostly, she’s learned if she makes us pity her we won’t make her eat her kibble, ha ha 😅 She has yet to stumble and is INCREDIBLE at balancing; however, it’s pretty obvious she’s working that remaining left leg. We still don’t know what type of cancer she had, we’re just keeping our fingers crossed she’s okay and it didn’t spread. Ginger can be a drama queen and is super spoiled, she is loving her special sick treatment. I bought my friend with four dogs doggie bow ties for her birthday and kept a couple for Gingy when she gets her cone off, which will also be when I get to start doing her leg exercises with her! If you’ll let me brag for a second, I’m a great dog trainer and Ginger has learned sit, shake, down, up, lay, drop, roll over, and spin (though sometimes drop is a little glitchy… like I mentioned in my last post, cute and stubborn). I looked at some videos, including exercises specially for dogs who have lost hind legs, and I think we’re going to go with up down side to side stretching for core strength, including touching her remaining hind leg and her head, plus weaving cones and repetitive sit-lay commands. Like I said, she’s easily frustrated but if there’s easy treats involved, she’s in. Please put suggestions for more exercises in the comments!
Thank you for your tips and kind words, and I’ll give an update on Stinky soon!
Keira
Good to hear from you and HOPPY AMPUVERSARY to Ginger! She’s amazing!
And yes you’ve now witnessed the incredible resilient nature of dogs. They are so much stronger and more determined than we are. With your guidance and care, I have no doubt that she will be 100% soon.
You want to keep her physical movements really, really low-key until stitches are out. So no unleashed running around, no walks other than to potty. Once your vet clears her for activity (usually when stitches come out) you can start building up her exercise very very slowly.
Did you know our foundation will pay for the first visit to canine rehab therapy? Yes! See:
https://tripawds.org/2015/09/vet-rehab-reimbursement/
We really suggest having her evaluated by a therapist to ensure that she doesn’t pull a muscle, and they can show you how to do the best kinds of exercises for her. That’s really the safest way to begin. Show your parents that link and let them know about the program OK? They can call us with any questions too 844-TRIPAWD
If you guys can’t get her to therapy, we also have this course for hind limb amputee dogs;
https://downloads.tripawds.com/product/canine-rehab-rear/
You DO sound like a great trainer! Those things are not easy for any dog to do. Ginger’s got SMARTS!!! And with your skills, well, she’s a real superstar.
Thanks for the pupdate!
Thank you for answering! I’ll post an update this afternoon.