Any owners of three-legged pets?

[LAMchop]

It's been a rough weekend...

My grandma's sweet calico cat was attacked by another animal Saturday morning. Grandma insists it was a coyote, but she didn't actually see it, so I'm not sure. Coyotes tend to get a lot of blame around here. Anyway, her right rear foot was horribly mangled. I convinced Grandma to let me take her to the vet this morning, and to make a long story short, they amputated the leg this evening. I'm so happy that shes taken care of- but I'm sure the bill will be jaw-dropping.

I know animals are very adaptable and recover quickly from amputation, but that's all I know. I've never been around any animal amputees.
I would really like to hear about anyone else's experiences. How soon your pets returned to relative normalcy, any challenges, anything else that would be helpful to know! Any kind of reasssurance would be great- I'm freaking out over here!!

 

[tnchickenut]

My cat Pinkerton. He has three legs. Lost the front right. When we found him his leg was bent in a "L" where it had been broke and then healed VERY wrong. Gangreen (spelling?) set in the bend (that is where he put his weight down and started a wound)... vet took it off.

He gets along great. He even is a good mouser. We call him Tripodus. He sits with his front leg dead center to balance himself out. lol. Very sweet cat.

I also have a dog that was hit by a car. She got to keep her legs but her hip and back left leg bones are all artificial. Took her to three vets that all said to put her down... then we took her to University of Tennessee Veternary and they said they would do the surgery but she will never run again. She runs everyday.

Point is. Don't think they "get down" about it like a human would. They won't. If anything we should learn from these animals. They don't take something like that and just stop trying. They adapt and never complain about it. I also think that they are very greatful to you for helping them. Makes them better more loyal pets.

 

[paddock36]

We had a three leg baby goat once. My DH called me all concerned that the baby was born with only three legs and didn't know what to do. I told him to just leave him alone and wait he would be fine and besides the baby didn't know how many legs he was supposed to have. He could run just as fast as the others. I guess I should add that my DH was also upset because how were we going to sell a three legged goat. I told him 25% off.

 

[PeepsInc]

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[Haviris]

We owned a 3 legged cat, she was attacked by a dog and lost her tail and leg, but they took a long time before they took the leg, they needed to let some extra skin grow after removing the tail. She got along great and was one of my favorite cats!

Currently I have a goat that is missing a foot. She disappeared, I looked and looked, and had about given up, I thought maybe someone took her. I posted flyers all over and was shocked when some people working on the road called and said they thought they found her (I think she'd been missing 3 days). Her foot was mangled and looked like it had had something wrapped around it, to me it felt dead already, but the vet thought it would heal. It didn't, infact once I desided we needed to go back to the vet (it was the weekend of course), I come out the next day to see it hanging off. So needless to say we had to go back and have what was left removed.
(her stump gets cold in the snow)

 

[NewHopePoultry]

My dog Hope got caught in a hunters trap and had to have her leg amputated.
She doesnt let it slow her down,she still palys, hunts and does everything else she did before.
Every animal recovers different,but Hope was back to her old self in a few weeks and it took all we had to keep her inside and not to let her room until she was fully healed.

 

[LAMchop]

Thanks everyone! I feel much more at ease now. She'll be a sweet little tripod.

I was a little unsure if we were making the right decision, as she's almost 13 years old, but she's in perfect health. I hope she has more happy years ahead of her.

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Love this!

Haviris, that is an adorable little goat!

 

[ConchRepublic]

I got an old cairn terrier that has 3 and a half legs. He was a rescue dog that had been skinned and shot. The bullet is still in his back leg and he hardly ever uses it so he is pretty much 3 legged.

 

[The Chicken People]

My neice has a mini pin that lost its back leg to a pit bull but that doesn't slow Roxy down!

 

[Katy]

I have a cat that had to have one of her front legs amputated when she was about 6 weeks old because she became tangled in some wire in the barn. My daughter in law has a rat terrier who had to have her back leg amputated because of an injury. They both get along fine and it hasn't slowed them down one bit.