Goes out 6-7 times an hour

[cybor462]

Thanks for the suggestions. I can't say I know what has happened although we thought it was over until the other day she did it again. I had just had her out during the day. She urinated but that was it. Her eating habits also changed about when this all started.
I left her out at least 15 minutes because she would normally do both in the morning around 8am. When I saw she did not make an effort to go I brought her in.
I was downstairs working for maybe 20 minutes when she came downstairs and came up to me with her ears back and stared at me. I knew something was wrong so I went upstairs to look and she went in that same room both things.

I can't say i know what is going on with her. I think the reason she is not eating( she always ate her breakfast at 8am and supper at 5pm) now she will not eat until 2pm and wants to eat supper at 10pm.

We are just waiting her out. I give her the food from 8-9 and take it up and supper from 5-6 thats it for the day.

That has not worked.

The other day I knew she needed to exercise bad but with her leg I can't stand her suffering when we do, but I thought a short walk. a block. Well we went out at 8:30am after waiting to see if she would eat (she did not) so we started out and went a half block and she started hopping holding her leg off the ground. We went home and she ran and ate her food. I think that is the trouble. She does not exercise so she does not have the urge to eat.

I think this eating issue has her bowel movements messed up too.

We were told to have the leg taken but I can't. To think of that happening when it can be fixed is wrong. We are still trying to get her leg fixed and when I know there is nothing we can do MAYBE I would think about that but I really do not think I could do it.

Thanks for the suggestions.

[kjd]

Jim,

Dogs aren't like humans. Take a limb away from a human and they'll be conscious of the fact it is gone -- the elephant in the room. Take a leg away from a dog, and they adjust as if three legs were the norm. One of my brothers had a dog that lost one leg in the front and had no attachement of a rear leg. (The missing and useless legs were on opposite sides.) He was basically going on only two legs! Didn't bother him a bit. He was a very happy dog and loved playing with other dogs.

If you want to wait while you see if it is possible to get it fixed fine. But to MAYBE consider it if there is nothing else you can do, that is unfair to Lucy. You would be condemning her to a life of constant pain. (Or putting her down when she could live many happy years with only three legs.)

Please reconsider.

kjd

[MaxHollyNoah]

Hi Jim (and cc: kjd),

I understand very well that you want to keep Lucy's leg. I also understand what kjd is saying, especially now that Angel (my foster dog) is doing just so fine. I am going to paste some of the messages I got from Angel's mom here so that you will see how well 3 legged dogs can do. She works at a vet.

>dated Sept 8, 2009 (before she adopted Angel)
I think like you I have some concerns as to whether the leg really needs to be removed. I am hoping it will be x-rayed before the surgery if it hasn’t already. That said I have never seen a dog that has not done well after the surgery.

>dated Sept 12, 2009 (2days after the amputation)
I just wanted to tell you how happy we are that Angel is part of our family. She is such a sweet dog and is doing very well. You can see huge improvements every day. She only cried once last night and it was because she needed to go outside. It is getting harder to keep her quiet because she feels pretty good and wants to move around more than she should.

>dated Sept 14, 2009
Angel is doing very well. It is hard to keep her from running around too much. She is so sweet and her whole body wags and wiggles when we come home from being away for a little while. She certainly does love to eat, it makes me wonder if she was homeless with no food at some point. Emma is frustrated because they can’t play yet but they are doing fine together. The cats are staying upstairs for the most part and sneaking down to glare at her from a distance. She joined Emma in chasing them the first day she was here so they have made their minds up about her.

>dated Sept 15, 2009
Angels incision looks great. She still wears the e-collar at all times or she would lick it. She takes a ½ a tramadol(pain) pill and ½ a rimadyl(anti inflammatory) twice a day. I would imagine you would miss her, she is a joy to be with. I took her to work yesterday and she spent the day in a run. She was well behaved and quiet. I took her out at lunch, we were both outside and in the front reception area and she behaved very well. Emma seemed glad to see her when we got home.

>dated Sept 19, 2009
Angel is doing well and is starting to play a lot. I am going to take the e-collar off for a little while this afternoon to see how she does.

>dated Sept 23, 2009 (2 wks after the surgery)
I took Angel to a local park where dogs can run off leash today. She had a
wonderful time playing with 5-6 other dogs. She had no trouble keeping up.
Some people didn't even realize she had 3 legs at first and were quite
surprised. I found we need to work on come. Since she is very food
motivated it helped that I had my treat bag. Mark and I have remaked at how flawlessly she has fit into our family. She can now go up the stairs and
without the e-collar she goes right in her crate at night and sleeps quietly
the whole night through. She always seems happy to see Emma in the morning. I am very happy that it all worked out so we could have her.

Jim, I am not saying Lucy should have an amputation. I just want to reassure you that amputation for dogs is not as awful as it sounds or looks so I don't want you to exclude it as an option if the vet recommends it. As kjd said dogs can adjust very well. Same things can be said for blindness. My dog Max became blind and very hard of hearing as he got old but he could still get around well with his sense of smell and other instincts. Hope you will find a solution that is good for both Lucy and you.

[ambassadorpools]

i daily take my dog tiger for a walk at nehru park near my house but yesterday he jumped into the swimming pool in that park and i don't know swimming. Fortunetly a lady was present there who was a retired life guard rescued my best friend tiger.

[KOPcaroline]

Good to hear your pups ok! Most dogs are pretty good swimmers, you could always look into letting her swim in smaller areas to see how she goes. That way both of you get used to her being in the water slowly!