Front leg Prosthesis homemade

[WIL69]

Hello Everyone.
I was looking to see if any of the forum group has ever successfully found or made a front leg prosthesis for a dog. I have a Brittney Spaniel who will be going in for a amputation on 2-7 and with the cost of surgery i cannot afford a prosthetic device. But I would like to tell the vet not to remove the entire leg if I could make one . thank you

[Bobbie]

Never seen one, but how about checking out thrift stores for a used prosthetic arm? (No idea if you could find such a thing but worth a try.) Arm or foot, I guess it wouldn't matter if you could adapt it it would be better than starting fresh, or at least give you a model.

[Bobbie]

However, I should add most dogs do fine with amputations and don't need a prosthesis.

[LoveBeagles]

My beagle had a front leg amputated 3 weeks ago and is doing MUCH BETTER than I could have hoped for. I thank this site for wonderful advice from unknown friends to get me through this. Trust them (and now me) that amputation is not nearly as bad for them as it is for us.

[slshepherds]

There are companies who make prosthetics for dogs, for example http://www.k-9orthotics.com/ or http://orthopets.com/ . There is also a relatively new procedure in veterinary medicine involving osseointegration. You can find a bit more information about that at http://www.veterinarypracticenews.com/v ... ation.aspx .

I had a dog who had to have a front leg amputated and he did great, really never missed the leg. Dogs are so much more resilient than us humans

Joanne

[critters]

My preference for such things is to try to get them locally because fit problems may pop up. I agree, though, that my tripods don't need prostheses, but we've been through orthotics with my spinal cord injured boys.

[CarolC]

Hi WIL69,

Attached is an article about a man who "designed a prosthetic limb for the dog out of a plastic antifreeze bottle, a table leg and a rubber stopper." This article was originally published in the Oregon Daily Emerald, the Independent Student Newspaper at the University of Oregon, http://www.dailyemerald.com. The article was no longer on their website or in their online archive, but the ABSOLUTELY AWESOME staff there found it and gave permission to have it posted here for you. Below is the photo of Kuma that went with the article. Kuma is a rear amputee, but it is the only case I know of where the owner made a homemade prosthesis for their dog to use till they could get a professional one.

originally published at http://www.dailyemerald.com/archive/v101/1/991102/celebrity.html

DailyEmerald.com.doc

originally published at http://www.dailyemerald.com/archive/v101/1/991102/celebrity.html

(56 KiB) Downloaded 550 times

WIL69, there is also an article about someone who made a successful front leg prosthesis for their cat (he used to be a member of this forum). He used professional materials which he describes in the article. That website is also no longer active (it was active 2003-2005), but you can see an archived copy of it here or go to http://www.archive.org and search http://home.earthlink.net/~r-azar/jack.html in the Wayback Machine.

http://web.archive.org/web/200312081812 ... /jack.html

Pegleg Jack the Pirate Cat from http://home.earthlink.net/~r-azar/jack.html

You might also want to check out http://www.tripawds.org or post on their forum to get additional information. Best wishes for your dog, however you decide.

Thank you so much to the staff of http://www.dailyemerald.com, Michele Ross, Brianne Beigh, Mike Thoele, and anyone else who helped with this, you people are so wonderful, you have no idea.