Our very athletic German Short Hair Pointer had her left front leg amputated last week. Her wound is healing well but she seems depressed. She is eating and drinking normally, but in between walks, she doesn’t move off her bed. She freaked out last week after I gave her 2 Tramadol, so I have cut back on the dose. She doesn’t seem to be in pain (no whimpering or other obvious signs of pain). We thought the lethargy might be due to the Tramadol (I have cut back her dose to 1/2 tab 2x day). Could she be depressed? Or maybe in pain? Any advice or experiences would be appreciated.
Hi Mollie & family, welcome to Tripawds, the club nopawdy wants to join! How come you had to have your leg amputated?
Less than a week is not a lot of time. Many dogs appear depressed (at least this is how humans interpret it) but it’s more of just the fact that they are recovering from major surgery and getting used to using their body in new ways. It’s exhausting!
Try not to worry. Think of how you would feel less than a week after the loss of a limb. If you put yourself in her paws you’ll see she’s handling it much better than any human.
As for the pain meds, talk to your vet about adjusting them. Dogs do a great job at hiding pain so oftentimes when humans dont believe they are in pain they are really hurting. I would keep the conversation going with the vet to ensure she has good pain management (tramadol as pain relief is really nothing more than a very weak form of vicodin that humans take).
Oh, be sure to hop over to the Forums where you’ll find LOTS of support from others who have been there.
Good luck and remember we are here for you.
Thank you, Jerry for your comments. They do help. Mollie is better today. Showing a few signs of her old habits. She did not have any pain meds yesterday or today and does not seem to be in pain. She is a bit more perky.
She had the amputation because she suddenly developed a mast cell tumor on the upper part of her left front leg. One day it wasn’t there, the next day it was. We discovered it on January 12, went through a whole lot of workups and by January 21 she had the surgery. Tough decision, but our very good surgeon explained the downside of trying to just remove the tumor. It was in a bad place to try to do that. She still has to go through chemo, but I am hoping she handles that well. The oncologist says most dogs do.
I am glad I found this site. Good info. I could use a little help in how to access the forums. Any advice is appreciated. Linda
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