Be More Dog
July 3, 2017 11:17 AM Subscribe
I am sitting under a rough wood shelter, in the midst of a Virginia thunderstorm, surrounded by three-legged dogs, watching the lightning flash ever closer. Frankie, the coonhound, starts howling. Adelaide, the husky, joins in. "It's fine," says Jim Nelson, co-founder and president of the Tripawds Foundation. "If anything, it's going to hit that transformer over there." He waves vaguely behind me. At his feet, his dog Wyatt Ray (three legs, face covered by a fabric calming cap to distract him from the storm) seems unperturbed. How the hell did I wind up here?
Tripawds: Help For Three Legged Dogs And Cats
How to Be More Dog
YouTube
I could stand to be more dog
posted by drewbage1847 at 1:28 PM on July 3, 2017 [3 favorites]
posted by drewbage1847 at 1:28 PM on July 3, 2017 [3 favorites]
I once saw our dog's perfect doppelganger, and perplexed the owner by exclaiming: "Oh! she looks exactly like ours! except yours has that extra leg." Obligatory (RIP my good ol' girl)
posted by Mary Ellen Carter at 1:32 PM on July 3, 2017 [5 favorites]
posted by Mary Ellen Carter at 1:32 PM on July 3, 2017 [5 favorites]
I agree, wotsac. I had a cat who broke her leg at a young age. The vet tried to save it for about a month, then had to amputate it. After I saw how much happier my cat was, and how well she dealt with the amputation, I wished we had done it immediately and not made her suffer through the surgery and leg cast. She was not in pain anymore, so she was her old lively self within a few days. She lived to be eighteen and that missing leg did not slow her down for the remaining fourteen years of life. It's been a few years since she died of old age, and I still miss her so much.
Johnny Wallflower, this was a wonderful article. I loved how the author addressed the way an online resource site about a specific issue (in this case, about how to help your pet cope with amputation), can evolve to become a warm and supportive community that people belong to for years and years, even after their initial reason for joining has passed.
posted by hurdy gurdy girl at 2:06 PM on July 3, 2017 [9 favorites]
Johnny Wallflower, this was a wonderful article. I loved how the author addressed the way an online resource site about a specific issue (in this case, about how to help your pet cope with amputation), can evolve to become a warm and supportive community that people belong to for years and years, even after their initial reason for joining has passed.
posted by hurdy gurdy girl at 2:06 PM on July 3, 2017 [9 favorites]
My dog is missing an eye.
Well, I wouldn't say he's missing it. Apparently he was blinded in the eye when a puppy, so has been doing fine without it his entire life.
Well, fine might be overstating it. He can't judge distances and can't catch things we throw to him. He gets frightened by things that are far away if they make a lot of noise, because, who knows, maybe it's something small and very close?
And because he lost his vision due to a fight with another dog, he sometimes panics if we approach him from his blind side, or if another dog's face gets too close to his.
But, all told, he's generally doing better than I am, and I have both my eyes.
posted by maxsparber at 2:19 PM on July 3, 2017 [6 favorites]
Well, I wouldn't say he's missing it. Apparently he was blinded in the eye when a puppy, so has been doing fine without it his entire life.
Well, fine might be overstating it. He can't judge distances and can't catch things we throw to him. He gets frightened by things that are far away if they make a lot of noise, because, who knows, maybe it's something small and very close?
And because he lost his vision due to a fight with another dog, he sometimes panics if we approach him from his blind side, or if another dog's face gets too close to his.
But, all told, he's generally doing better than I am, and I have both my eyes.
posted by maxsparber at 2:19 PM on July 3, 2017 [6 favorites]
I've got a friend with a pseudo four legged cat - one of the back legs is present, but unlike the old song, the hip bone IS NOT connected to the thigh bone. You'll notice if you watch closely for long enough that he's not much of a jumper, and his gait isn't totally right. But otherwise he's a normal cat. Not a bright cat, but normal.
posted by wotsac at 2:51 PM on July 3, 2017 [2 favorites]
posted by wotsac at 2:51 PM on July 3, 2017 [2 favorites]
To be fair, had the leg been saved and returned to mostly full function, you'd be telling us about how you were sorry you put her through so much pain but her so happy now that she's better made it worth while. Hindsight is 20/20, give yourself a break.
My take away is that as long as they have their people, your pet will be happy either way so make the best decisions you can with that in mind.
posted by VTX at 2:57 PM on July 3, 2017 [4 favorites]
My take away is that as long as they have their people, your pet will be happy either way so make the best decisions you can with that in mind.
posted by VTX at 2:57 PM on July 3, 2017 [4 favorites]
gasp look at all the puppies whose faces I want to smooch and whose ears I want to scratch
posted by Hermione Granger at 3:08 PM on July 3, 2017 [2 favorites]
posted by Hermione Granger at 3:08 PM on July 3, 2017 [2 favorites]
"My dog is missing an eye. Well, I wouldn't say he's missing it. Apparently he was blinded in the eye when a puppy, so has been doing fine without it his entire life."
Every cat that's ever joined the McGee household (4 so far) has just the one eye. Usually they lost it while stray, either fighting or getting scratched up by thorns and brambles and getting infected.
Doesn't slow 'em down a bit. My smartest cat did some experimenting with peeking around the door jamb with the Eye That Was Not before he got the idea that it was gone for good. They've all been pretty good jumpers -- sometimes they measure the distance more times than a two-eyed cat would -- and once they've healed up from the surgery people frequently don't even notice for the first half-hour they're scritching my cats and then they're like, "WAIT IT IS MISSING AN EYE."
We have to be a bit watchful of normal kitty eye infections because they've only got the one, but that's about it! Three of them have had some minor facial nerve damage on the side the eye was removed, so they tend(ed) to sneer when they're tired. One of them ate like a moron but we couldn't tell if that was from damaged nerves or because he had terrible cat manners and never learned how to do it properly. We couldn't change food bowls because he had to balance his top teeth on the rim and scrape the food up with his jaw (like a moron, and it was a HORRIBLE noise) so when one got lost we had a major crisis trying to find a replacement!
(PS, Uno the one-legged chicken sounds awesome)
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 6:23 PM on July 3, 2017 [4 favorites]
Every cat that's ever joined the McGee household (4 so far) has just the one eye. Usually they lost it while stray, either fighting or getting scratched up by thorns and brambles and getting infected.
Doesn't slow 'em down a bit. My smartest cat did some experimenting with peeking around the door jamb with the Eye That Was Not before he got the idea that it was gone for good. They've all been pretty good jumpers -- sometimes they measure the distance more times than a two-eyed cat would -- and once they've healed up from the surgery people frequently don't even notice for the first half-hour they're scritching my cats and then they're like, "WAIT IT IS MISSING AN EYE."
We have to be a bit watchful of normal kitty eye infections because they've only got the one, but that's about it! Three of them have had some minor facial nerve damage on the side the eye was removed, so they tend(ed) to sneer when they're tired. One of them ate like a moron but we couldn't tell if that was from damaged nerves or because he had terrible cat manners and never learned how to do it properly. We couldn't change food bowls because he had to balance his top teeth on the rim and scrape the food up with his jaw (like a moron, and it was a HORRIBLE noise) so when one got lost we had a major crisis trying to find a replacement!
(PS, Uno the one-legged chicken sounds awesome)
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 6:23 PM on July 3, 2017 [4 favorites]
/uncorks a neck of Three-Legged Red, pours a glass, pours some out for my tripod boy Rocket (RIP), settles in.
posted by mwhybark at 7:33 PM on July 3, 2017 [2 favorites]
posted by mwhybark at 7:33 PM on July 3, 2017 [2 favorites]
My wife had her dog's back leg amputated at the end of January. She's the little black one that's licking the lamb standing in front of our refrigerator. During the process, two vets and a tech assured us that, "All dogs are three-legged dogs. They just come with a spare." I was a little worried about her adjusting, because she is neurotic and basically unable to deal with change.
Went fine. She was back home the next day. I was worried that I'd spend the rest of my life holding her up to pee. Nope. Right out of surgery she just up and squatted. So that's nice. She jumps up on the couch and the bed and in the car. Not the 3/4 ton though, but that was always touch and go. Still chases the cat. Occasionally chases rabbits. Still runs halfway across the 65-ac pasture and refuses to come when called.
And I always wanted a tripod. Plus, when she sprawls out on the floor she looks like the 'It's a mystery!" ghost.
A++ Would amputate again.
We did learn that her leg only weighed 2-3 pounds (45 lb dog previously). And that they wouldn't let us keep it. I wanted to make it into a lamp but, noooo, the vets wanted to do a stupid biopsy.
6 months later, entirely cancer free.
posted by stet at 2:39 PM on July 4, 2017 [3 favorites]
Went fine. She was back home the next day. I was worried that I'd spend the rest of my life holding her up to pee. Nope. Right out of surgery she just up and squatted. So that's nice. She jumps up on the couch and the bed and in the car. Not the 3/4 ton though, but that was always touch and go. Still chases the cat. Occasionally chases rabbits. Still runs halfway across the 65-ac pasture and refuses to come when called.
And I always wanted a tripod. Plus, when she sprawls out on the floor she looks like the 'It's a mystery!" ghost.
A++ Would amputate again.
We did learn that her leg only weighed 2-3 pounds (45 lb dog previously). And that they wouldn't let us keep it. I wanted to make it into a lamp but, noooo, the vets wanted to do a stupid biopsy.
6 months later, entirely cancer free.
posted by stet at 2:39 PM on July 4, 2017 [3 favorites]
I have a very mysterious 3-legged dog, in that I have no reliable information about why or how he got that way. I adopted him as an adult, from a foster home that said that the unpaid overworked pound volunteer speaking a non-native language claimed it "looked like it had been amputated, not born that way" but that's literally all I know about it.
No signs of prior abuse, "outgoing and friendly" is basically his defining characteristic. He shows little to no fear in almost any situation, even situations where other dogs are scared (thunder, vacuums, etc.), doesn't startle easily, has a bit of a thing with guarding a few objects, but if not given those objects in the first place he's fine. Otherwise in perfect health.
He doesn't seem to miss the leg, at any rate. He can run fast and even swim, the only thing he can't do is stop abruptly once he gets up to speed. People joke about 3-legged dog owners saying that they often forget the missing leg is even a thing, but it's true, the dog forgets, so the owner forgets.
(I remember, though, every time he climbs up me when I'm reclining and jabs me in the boob with his stump)
posted by gloriouslyincandescent at 9:41 PM on July 5, 2017
No signs of prior abuse, "outgoing and friendly" is basically his defining characteristic. He shows little to no fear in almost any situation, even situations where other dogs are scared (thunder, vacuums, etc.), doesn't startle easily, has a bit of a thing with guarding a few objects, but if not given those objects in the first place he's fine. Otherwise in perfect health.
He doesn't seem to miss the leg, at any rate. He can run fast and even swim, the only thing he can't do is stop abruptly once he gets up to speed. People joke about 3-legged dog owners saying that they often forget the missing leg is even a thing, but it's true, the dog forgets, so the owner forgets.
(I remember, though, every time he climbs up me when I'm reclining and jabs me in the boob with his stump)
posted by gloriouslyincandescent at 9:41 PM on July 5, 2017
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posted by wotsac at 11:54 AM on July 3, 2017 [2 favorites]