I’ve been meaning to do this do a while but have been busy living in the moment with Cole the last few months. The Tripawds website is an amazing resource and thanks to it, I felt so much more prepared for Cole’s recovery after surgery. I wanted to add my personal list of things we found very helpful to buy and do before the big day. Cole’s right front leg was amputated so some supplies are specific to a front amputation.

Before surgery

  • Look at the Tripawds surgery and recovery gallery https://tripawds.com/gallery/
    • I found this very helpful because the first several times I looked at these photos, I was really queasy and dizzy. I looked at them every day for about a week and was able to see Cole and his incision without getting upset when he got out of surgery.
  • If you have a giant breed like Cole, get a Help Em Up Harness before you pick your dog up from the hospital
    • Our surgeon already had one on him when we came to pick him up and there is no way we could have done it with just slings or towels. We were barely able to lift him in and out of the car and to help him walk even with the harness. He didn’t walk on his own for several days and we still use the front half when we go out just to be sure we have a way to steady him or help him if he needs it
  • Support for other limb
    • Our surgeon also had a brace for his wrist already on Cole when we picked him up. It really helps him and he still wears it and probably always will when outside or walking a lot. Talk to your doctor to see what would be helpful for your dog.
  • Car ramp
    • Get your ramp so you have it before surgery if possible. You will want to introduce it to your dog before surgery so they are used to it and not teaching them to use a ramp while they are relearning how to walk
  • Freezer meals
    • The first few days were exhausting. It was all we could do to take care of Cole let alone ourselves. We got some takeout a few times but had some easy food ready to just throw in the oven too

During surgery

We did these errands during surgery to distract ourselves and keep busy

  • Non skid flooring if applicable
    • We have hardwood floors for much of our house so we got carpet runners and non-skid pads to put down wherever he would walk
  • Gate for stairs
    • This is not an immediate need but if you have stairs, you will need one of these soon after surgery
  • Containment
    • If your dog is active or if you have other pets, a pen of some kind is good to have. We used one of those playpen fences you can set up in a ring.
  • First Aid Supplies
    • We got a plastic storage container and filled it with exam gloves, medical tape, cotton gauze and pads, a thermometer and disposable covers, alcohol, scissors
    • If you have Bupivacaine port like we did, get more tape than you think you need. The one that worked best for us was the gentle adhesive with a little stretch. It was really difficult to keep the port in place but this kind was the best for it
  • Medicine log
    • This was an absolute lifesaver, especially in the first few nights. He had so many different medicines with different time intervals which changed depending on how bad the pain levels were at the moment. We had a notebook and kept a log of every medicine dose, food, water, pee and poo so when we were too tired to remember what time that last middle of the night dose of something was, we could refer back and make sure we had it right.
  • Puppy pads
    • If you have a big dog, get a lot of these in the biggest size available. I thought these were to protect the bed from incision seepage and didn’t get that many as a result. We had a ton of towels and old sheets and I thought it would be fine. We blew through the stash we had and I had to go to the 24 hour grocery for more in the middle of the first night home. I was not prepared for how the large amount of fluid from surgery plus the drugs would make him pee endlessly all over himself and the bed. He leaked pee for days. You will need these in bulk. We also found them handy for feeding our slobbery boy. We used it as a placemat when we brough him food and water in bed.
  • Treats and special food
    • Cole was pretty good about eating and drinking but it was hard to get him to eat much for a few days. Get a variety of treats so you have several things to offer. If he liked one thing one day, he wanted nothing to do with it the next and vise versa. We had rotisserie chicken, bananas, Greek yogurt, cheese, low sodium chicken broth, several kinds of canned food and several kinds of treats in a variety of flavors and textures.
  • Several kinds of pill pockets/pill gun
    • There are a lot of pills and Cole got sick of the same flavor after a while, especially when he didn’t want to eat much. It helped when we had more than one flavor. It would also help to get a pill gun as a back up if your dog has trouble with pills
  • Canned pumpkin
    • Our surgeon recommended this to keep his system moving. That first poo after surgery can take a while and this helps

Things we already had but made sure were ready/clean/close at hand

  • Bed and protective cover
    • Tripawds has great recommendations for types of beds to get. Be aware that despite your best efforts it will likely be peed on or worse so you may want to get something you can either wash very easily or dispose of once the worst of recovery is over
  • Towels, towels and more towels
    • We had a really big pile of old towels and sheets and still had the washer running constantly the first few days. Flannel sheets or towels worked better than regular cotton to cover the bed because it was less slippery. We had to change the bed constantly to make sure it was clean between the pee leakage and dirty paws after a trip outside. We were also always wiping him down with washcloths to keep the urine off his skin as much as possible.
  • T-shirts
    • Our vet had us keep a t-shirt on him for the first 2 weeks until his staples could come  out. These were also changed several times a day to make sure his incision stayed clean so have several of these. I am not sure what the rear leg amputation equivalent would be but ask your doctor for a recommendation
  • Ice packs
    • We had the blue kind that mold to you and wrapped it in a towel
  • Familiar toys and surroundings
    • I don’t know if this helped but we set up his recovery area in our bedroom and brought our old pillows and a few of his favorite toys in his pen. I thought the familiar smells would help him relax.