Adopting dog without rear paw, prosthetic advice?

Please post questions about pets who are expected to undergo amputation or who have already undergone amputation here, as well as pets born with missing or incomplete limbs.
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FloppyEars
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Joined: Sat Sep 21, 2019 11:26 am

Adopting dog without rear paw, prosthetic advice?

Post by FloppyEars »

Hello!

I am so happy to have found this site! We are in the process of adopting this sweet boy, he’s missing his back paw from birth. The vet has said he’s an excellent candidate for a prosthetic. We will likely start him with a splint and then purchase him a custom prosthetic when he’s done growing.

Can anyone shed light on any issues we should be aware of when adopting a dog with this issue long term? Are there other costs we should be aware of long term? We just want to make sure we know what we are getting into!

Every photo I try to upload said it was too large
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CarolC
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Re: Adopting dog without rear paw, prosthetic advice?

Post by CarolC »

Hi FloppyEars,

Love the name! :lol:

Here is a good website to make your photo smaller (free online)
https://www.online-image-editor.com/

Here is a good website to simply compress your photo. It will be the same dimensions but the file size in KB is usually a lot smaller.

www.tinypng.com

If you still can't get it, please send me a private message (upper right corner of the board) and someone here can resize them for you.

:group:
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critters
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Re: Adopting dog without rear paw, prosthetic advice?

Post by critters »

:whale: Tripods usually do great. I've never had anybody use a prosthesis, but I had a fella who used a custom splint. I think it's a lot easier to use a local orthotics and prosthetics shop, IF they're willing to help. It's helpful to be able to take critters by for viewing, fitting, etc. 1 of our local outfits agreed to do it but didn't, so Koi's splint ended up coming from a mail order joint, and it was terrific. If you have to go mail order, it can work out well, too.
FloppyEars
Posts: 2
Joined: Sat Sep 21, 2019 11:26 am

Re: Adopting dog without rear paw, prosthetic advice?

Post by FloppyEars »

Thank you for your insight! We initially thought he may never need a prosthetic but as he’s grown, dealing with his leg is causing him issues. He’s only missing the paw, so he has to haul around this big ol leg behind him, he’s a large German Shepherd mix!
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CarolC
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Re: Adopting dog without rear paw, prosthetic advice?

Post by CarolC »

Would still love to see the pics. :photo:

There have been a couple of people recently who posted with similar questions. One said he was going to try the prosthesis, but neither member has posted a status update.

You might try posting a message in their threads. The software sends an email notification to people that they have a new reply in their topic, so they might come back and let us know how it is going with their dog. Here are 2 recent threads.

viewtopic.php?f=11&t=20262

viewtopic.php?f=11&t=20451
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