Riddle needs a new shoe!

I have a Springer Spaniel (standard sized) 42#, who is a left rear leg amputee. He has recently (Sept) had TPLO surgery for a torn ACL on his remaining rear leg. He has some other physical deformities in his left front paw/leg. He is quite mobile, considering his condition but he constantly slipping on the floor (hardwoods and stone tile). We have put runners throughout our home to help him, but he still finds himself off the runners from time to time and slips and falls. This is not good for him due to the metal device in his right rear leg as a result of the TPLO surgery.

We want a boot for his one rear leg that will be ok to wear indoors and still allow the foot/pads to breath. I realize that dogs sweat through their paw pads, and I don’t want him to have any problem with excess moisture in that paw. Any infection to that leg could be detrimental to the TPLO repair. We want to keep him mobile, however, and with less slipping/falling.

I would love to hear any suggestions that anyone might have about a good boot for indoor use. He seems to get along pretty well outdoors without the slipping problem.

Thanks everyone!

Riddle’s Mom

5 thoughts on “Riddle needs a new shoe!”

  1. Thanks “Admin”! I appreciate your help. I finally found the navigation and had not been able to find the “dashboard” originally. Now that I have, I think I am getting the hang of this.

    Our dog is Riddle! He’s a rescue who was found as a stray in Ohio. Badly broken body… must have been left to die after being hit by a car. He would found months later and all of his bones had healed wrong. He had a dislocated hip, two broken legs, and a welt on his head that looked like someone tried (with a baseball bat) to put him out of his misery. His surgeon said he must have lived on his belly for months unable to move. When he was found he was caked in urine and feces. In spite of all this, he is the sweetest most lovable boy you could ever meet. He has a zest for life like no other I’ve ever seen.

    He first had an FHO surgery to help the left hip/leg. When the leg did not “come back” after surgery, we opted for amputation. He started to do much better from then on. A year later we looked into a total hip replacement for him since his right hip has severe dysplasia. Unfortunately, at that time, we found out that he also had a torn ACL in his right rear leg… so we needed to fix that first. Of course we did and he had the TPLO procedure since it would be more stable on an amputee than the traditional method of repair. He bounced back after a couple of weeks and was back to his old spunky self. Sadly, we were dealing with too much … or Riddle was. He also has end-stage arthritis (from previous trauma) in both of his elbows. We could never let him suffer in pain, so we recently had stem cell therapy treatments done on his elbows and his hip. After only 4 days we saw a visible improvement in the inflamation of his elbows… they had greatly reduced in size and he seemed quite mobile. It’s been a month almost now, and we have seen a little more improvement in the elbows and mobility since. The hip is still bad though. He falls frequently and loses his balance quite a bit. I forgot to mention that his left front leg is deformed (from the previous trauma also) and he walks tilted… as he walks on his carpus rather than the paw pads of his left foot.

    I know it sounds as if this boy is just a horrible mess, but if you could meet him you would know why we do all we can for his health and happiness. He just loves life so much. Always wiggling, always kissing, always so excited to see anyone or anything. He loves all creatures, including our other 2 dogs, cat and even our alpacas (we have a small alpaca farm). There is no sweeter dog on the planet than Riddle. We are on a mission to give him a few more good years if that is possible. His surgeon (a very fair and honest man) did not believe it was Riddle’s time and that putting him to sleep should not be an option… not at this time anyway.

    Now we are looking for something to help with his slipping on the floors and when he gets running. Yes, this boy actually runs!

    All of your comments and feedback are greatly appreciated. We will definitely check out the Power Paws socks!

    Thank you!

  2. Has anyone ever heard of Ultra Paws boots? They look quite nice and I like the double-velcro straps. Supposedly they “stay put” and don’t turn around when on.

  3. FYI: You might consider publishing new posts (Posts -> Add new) with updates like that last one. The Tripawds community gets updated about new posts, but not about comments.

    We’ve never heard of Ultra paws boots, who makes them? Got a link?

  4. Thank you… will do! The UltraPaws website is:

    http://www.ultrapaws.com/

    Let me know what you think. I just looked at the Paws site with the natural latex rubber boots and while the concept looks very easy and user friendly, I would worry about breathability of rubber if Riddle were to wear this boot indoors for many hours a day. This is why I’ve been looking at boots with a mesh topside… for breathability and comfort.

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