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The Gold Standard in Physiotherapy and Hydrotherapy for dogs
The Gold Standard in Physiotherapy and Hydrotherapy for dogs
A full limb amputation in canines is almost always a lifesaving procedure, allowing you to spend many more years with your dog. With some preparation and knowledge, you can help your dog live a full, functional and pain-free life for many years following an amputation.
Dogs were, of course, designed to walk on four legs. After an amputation, they will experience significant changes in their balance, leg and back function, and will need your help and support to relearn how to perform everyday activities in a way that protects their bodies in the long run from further injury and degeneration.
Despite the huge internal adjustments required, dogs on three limbs can be happy, healthy and fully functional. The amputation and recovery period is often harder for us, their owners, than it is for our dogs. I hope that in these pages, you will find the tools and advice you need to make your dog’s recovery simple and smooth, and to take the steps that will enhance their post-amputation quality of life.
When your dog comes home from the hospital after their surgery, they are going to need an environment that allows them to rest, feel safe, and build their confidence as they recover. Their post-op recovery could take four to eight weeks, although your veterinary surgeon will advise you on the exact time period you need to plan for, and the specific requirements for your dog’s post-op care. You will want to ensure that during their rest and recovery period, they don’t perform certain activities like jumping on and off of furniture. Your dog will thank you if you’re considerate enough to have these areas ready for his or her homecoming:
The key piece of equipment for post-op care is a good quality support harness or sling. A good harness will allow you to support and stabilise your dog as they learn to balance themselves on three legs. Both ice packs and heat packs have the effect of reducing pain and inflammation. Make sure you have an icepack that is moldable rather than solid. Both ice and heat packs should be large enough to cover the stump of the leg. Post-surgery pain management strategies Your vet will provide you with pain medication during the initial postop recovery phase. If you find that the prescribed pain medication is not enough for your dog, please go back to your vet and discuss additional pain medication with them. The better pain is controlled in the initial phases of healing, the better your dog’s long-term outcome will be. In addition to rest and pain medication, your dog will benefit from regular ice applications around the incision site, together with massage of their back and their remaining legs to reduce any compensation pain or tension. Gentle movement of the skin around the incision site can help prevent excessive scarring, which can also improve their long-term comfort and mobility.
Once your dog’s incision has healed and they are confidently navigating their environments, you can start to prepare them more fully for their new life ahead. A big part of this will be geared towards preventing future injuries or degeneration in the remaining limbs by managing their weight and keeping them strong.
Keeping your dog at an optimal weight will provide them with the best chance of remaining strong and pain free in the years to come. With only three legs, any excess weight will lead to more stress on the joints and the development of arthritis, inflammation and increasing pain. If you need advice on developing a weight loss plan for your amputee, please book a consultation so that we can help you on your pet’s weight loss journey.
Exercise is incredibly important for your amputee to help them maintain mobility, strength and endurance. While they will love going for walks just as they did before their amputation, you might find that they fatigue more easily and want to run instead of walk. This is completely normal – balancing while walking is much harder for your three-legged dog than slow running, where they can use momentum to maintain balance. Even so, their body is working much harder on three legs than it did on four, and taking frequent rest breaks will be necessary. Pay attention to where your dog’s current stamina level is, and slowly build it up over time.
While dogs carry their weight on four limbs, not all four limbs are the same. Dogs carry 60% of their weight on their forelimbs and 40% on their hind limbs.
The limbs also have different functions: the hindlimbs are important for forward propulsion, while the forelimbs are important for changing directions, slowing down and balancing.
Together, these points mean that dogs generally cope and adjust more easily to a hindlimb amputation, taking a little more time and requiring a little more help when it comes to a forelimb amputation.
There are a few key areas where you can pick up compensation and biomechanical adaptations that can lead to an increased risk of injury. Let’s look at some of these key areas and how you can recognise when they are starting to fail.
In a hindlimb amputee, there is a significant increase in braking force and weight on the opposite front limb. In a front limb amputee, the forces acting on the opposite front limb increase to cause more extension of the carpus. You will want to look at your dog from the side and from the front. Notice the carpal joint and how much bend there is in it. In this illustration, the carpus is bending to bring the paw towards the centre of the body. When looking from the side, the carpus can over-extend, appearing closer to the ground. When the carpus starts to bend excessively either from the side or the front, discuss carpal support braces with your veterinarian and rehabilitation team.
These are the muscles that attach the forelimbs to the body. When they become weak or painful from overuse, they can start to fail. This is especially relevant for forelimb amputees. In this illustration, you can see how much the head and chest drop down to the ground when the dog places their weight on the front limb. At the same time, the hindquarter stays high. This compensation puts a great deal of strain on the front limb and the spine. Keeping your dog’s core strong can help to prevent this from happening. When you start to see this dramatic drop in the thoracic sling, it’s time to check in with your vet and rehabilitation team, as your dog might need pain management and strengthening work to help them cope with the compensation.
In this illustration, we can see that the lower back or the lumbosacral region is rounded. You can also see that the dog is dropped through their thoracic sling -these two things will often go hand in hand, but not always. Excessive rounding of the lower back is a sign of pain and discomfort. When you start to see it in your dog, it’s time to check in with your vet and rehab team.
In this illustration, we can see that the dog’s hips lean towards his right, the shoulders and elbow towards his left, and the head and neck towards the right. In amputees, the spine will naturally start to curve to help the dog maintain balance in movement without a fourth limb. You will want to find what is normal for your dog, and keep a lookout for when that curve in the spine changes or becomes more extreme.
Illustrations by Anna Loyd
Hydrotherapy
In amputees, hydrotherapy can be one of the most effective forms of exercise for weight management as the stress on the joints will be reduced during exercise and we can therefore protect the joints from degeneration and developing arthritis. However, as your amputee’s balance will be very different with three legs than with four, hydrotherapy becomes much more difficult and needs to be performed with additional safety measures in place.
Physiotherapy
Your dog is an individual and will be coping with their amputation in their own specific ways. Our Veterinary Physiotherapy team will develop an exercise programme specifically for your dog. Your dog may also benefit from:
We highly recommend that owners seek Physiotherapy support during the initial phases of adaptation and relearning following your dogs’ amputation, to prevent compensatory patterns, pain and dysfunction from becoming entrenched.
Joint Supplements
Joint protection supplements or a joint support diet can help reduce inflammation in the body and protect the joints from developing arthritis. As your dog needs to adapt his biomechanics and movement patterns, arthritis will inevitably develop in his remaining limbs over the course of his life. Starting them on a joint support diet can slow the development of arthritis and reduce its severity once they start to develop it.
We recommend a joint supplement called “Antinol” as a the product with the best scientific evidence behind it. Use our coupon code below for an extra discount.
Our friendly and skilled physiotherapists are ready to help you and your dog with their rehabilitation.
The content on this page is for advice and information only and does not represent veterinary guidance or direction. Please always consult a veterinary surgeon if you are worries about your dog.
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