We got a new bed and a new roommate in the trailer. I bought a “bagel bed” for Dudley although a little apprehensive because of its shape and worrying about his back leg getting caught up in it. He sleeps curled up and my previous dog beds were such a waste of space since he was only sleeping on half of the bed. The bed seems to be working well for him and he has his beloved blankets and heated blankets so no complaints so far.
We moved our 13 year old “shop cat” into my trailer for the winter after my 18 year old cat passed away. I bought a bunch of pressure sensitive heating pads over the past 3 years and Joey cat is so happy to have a warm spot to sleep and windows to look out. Dudley is not so happy about having a roommate but his only grumble is that she doesn’t even think about looking at his bed. They are doing just fine, he is currently snoring away in his bed while she is crashed out on the couch and her heating pad.
Dudley continues to amaze me with how awesome he is. I think I need to keep a close eye on his claws on his remaining back foot and keep them trimmed short. We had a little walk yesterday with my sister’s husband, the youngest nephew and Dudley to the corner store. My sister’s husband had never walked with Dudley and wasn’t familiar with his gait. I told him to walk ahead of us, as Dudley goes slow and sniffs everything. Let me tell you, people were driving by us and staring at Dudley, unsure of why he was walking so oddly or just realizing that he was missing a leg. My sister’s husband was worried that Dudley needed to poop because of how his back end was, I realized that he had never seen Dudley do an actual walk somewhere. I said “you should see him run off leash….it’s something else!”
We actually had a fun dog walk moment with another dog that got Dudley all frisky. He got the zoomies and was spinning around with a huge grin on his face! And to see a tripawd with the zoomies and spins is so fun!!!
I do not regret ever adopting a tripawd. It was one of the best decisions I ever made. He is wonderful with my mom who is in her late 70’s and also so good with my young nephews. We do acupuncture treatments once a month and he is amazing with them. He educates so many people who would consider amputation to be a reason to put their animal down because of the sheer thought of losing a limb. You just have to adapt as your pet adapts. And to see the joy that they have towards life…we could all take a lesson from them.