Chin with 3 legs?

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Lindsey13

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Joined
Dec 21, 2012
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47
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NC
My poor baby somehow broke his leg yesterday so I took him to the vet today and they did x-rays and he suggested amputating his leg. Was curious if anyone has had experience with a chin with 3 legs and how did it affect them? Poor Finley is only 7 months old and I feel terrible having to get his leg amputated but according to the vet that is all that can be done to it because pinning it would more than likely not help because the pins are as big as their bones.
 
I've heard of several 'tripod' chins and they all seem to carry on just fine. One thing to make sure of it to have lots of safety things, like hammocks, placed under ledges and such so that if he loses his balance or isn't as skilled at jumping anymore there is something soft for him to land on.
But yeah, a chin can do just fine with three legs.
 
I'm assuming it's a hind leg?

They get along really great. Pinning is rarely successful truly and you can't tell if they continuously have pain. He would need some lower shelves but will be able to get around just fine.
 
I have a tripod he does fine. He is with a cage mate. He runs in the wheel and is able to still jump. It is right hind leg that was amputated.
 
Have you not heard about my Little Two Paws Shakur??? He was born with only 2 legs, both on the right side!!! He has ony a little nubbin on the back left, and nothing in the left front.

He gets around just as well/fast as my two 4 legged chins. I have him in a completely fleece covered one level cage, but he has shelves with pillows, a tube, a hammock and a corner house. He jumps on a shelf, then into his hammock, and from the hammock into the fleece corner house. He love getting on top of the fleece house, like its a very high hammock.

I aways say that animals are so much more accepting of their circumstances than we humans are. He doesn't know that he only has 2 legs; he just makes do with what he has!!!

My other handicapped chin, a little Black Velvet given to me by a rancher, Blackberry Bunnybutt, has only 1 good leg!!! She was born with a badly deformed club back left leg that angles out on the left and no front left. Her mother and siblings chewed her ears, bobbed her tail to a mere stub, and chewed the fingers on her right hand so that she has a mitten paw and can't hold her pellets or hay, but has to eat out of the bowl like a dog.

Her club leg forces her back right out so that she hops like a bunny and has just a bunny sized tail, hence the name Blackberry Bunnybutt!!! She is my most loving and cuddling chin, and she, too, gets around just fine in her fleece lined paradise!!!
 
I have a rescue named "Tripod" and you wouldn't know it to see her that she has 3 legs. She lives with her sister and mom and loves to run around the cage. It was a back leg that she had broke and had to have amputated.
 
Thanks everyone! I feel so bad for him, poor baby is only 7 months old. It is his right hind leg (strange because when looking online when they have had their legs amputated it has been the right hind leg). He was in a double critter nation cage but right now I have him in a little cage so he can't jump around everywhere, not that he can right now but that is what the vet wanted him in. Once he has had surgery what should I expect with healing etc? Will I ever be able to put him back in the double critter nation or should I get him a smaller permanent cage? He does not have a cage mate, once he has healed would it do him some good to have a little friend?
 
See how he does. After he heals and recuperates, I think he'll adapt just fine. Just make sure that you have lots of hammocks and shelves to catch him if he falls. Start slowly and see how he does...
 
Sometimes amputation is the only option. Even after pinning and trying to save a leg it can end up having to be removed.
 
Finley had his amputation surgery today and is home and seems to be doing good. He has already been eating and moving around some so i'm hoping he will adapt pretty well with 3 legs.
 
Those that have tripod's do you have a picture of their cage? I am hoping to get Finley back in the critter nation eventually and was wondering if any of you have a critter nation or ferret nation and how you have it set up for them? I already had a hammock and a hanging bed in his critter nation but didn't know what to do with shelves etc.
 
I hope he heals fast and without complications for you! I think if you make the shelves really low to start with and progress as he gets used to moving in a new way it should be ok. Did you find what broke his leg to begin with? D=
 
Thanks! No i'm not sure if he might have caught his leg in the cage somehow or fell the wrong way.
 
My ferret nation is set up the same as the non tripods cages. There are just more shelves and a few more hammocks. She runs and hops the same as her mom and sister. I will see if I have a pic here at work.
 
triocage2.jpg


This is an older pic but there are a couple more shelves in there now. Tripod is super fast and races around the cage.
 
Thanks for the picture! Poor Finley is not wanting to move at all still yet. He has an oxbow bungalow in his cage and has not moved out of it at all since his leg has been amputated which was Monday. I've noticed he has not even came out for water and I am having to put the water bottle up to his mouth throughout the day to get him to drink and also have to put his food right up at his bungalow for him to eat. He is on Metacam for pain, I would have thought he would at least come out to drink water instead of me having to bring the water to him.
 
Make sure he is eating, others did mention you sometimes have to hand feed while they are still in pain. Might want to put him in a small travel cage so the water is right in front of him. I'd measure his weight each day =s
 
I have a tripod. He was great for 4 years, but due now he has phantom pain. But this is a freak thing. Like i said, for 4 years he was great, no problems at all. So your little guy will do just fine :)
 
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