Finding out that your beloved four-legged friend is about to become your beloved three-legged friend is pretty devastating news, but Jim Nelson built a site that helps pet parents of amputee cats and dogs feel a little less alone.
With everything from a podcast to health tips to a member chat with helpful Q&A, the Tripawds support community has more than 25,000 members and is known as the “best club nopawdy ever wants to join.”
We’re thrilled to share the news that Tripawds.com is now fully hosted on WPMU DEV – and we look forward to supporting them as they help three-legged cats and dogs and their families all over the world.
Tripawd’s Origin Story
When Jim and René noticed their 8 year old dog Jerry was limping after a backpacking trip, they took him to the vet to figure out what was wrong. They didn’t expect their beloved pet would be diagnosed with bone cancer and his left front leg would need to be amputated.
Jim and René felt alone and scared, so they started blogging about their experiences as a way to process what was happening. That’s how Tripawds.com was born.
When Jerry was given just a few months to live, his humans decided to sell their home, their business and everything they owned to enjoy his final days traveling the country together in an RV. Jerry ended up living another two years, and the story of their epic road trip became the book Be More Dog.
While they traveled, Jim kept adding more features to Tripawds and it grew to the community it is today. The Tripawds multisite network hosts more than 2,100 three-legged dog and cat blogs, with numerous resources to help people coping with a limb cancer diagnoses or amputation for their pet.
There’s also the Tripawds Foundation, a charity established to help amputee pets and their humans everywhere. They support a toll-free helpline, financial assistance for amputation surgery, rescue funds, cancer care packages and more. For a very cute example of the work they do, see how Gidge the border collie is rocking his new leg brace!
Hopping On Over to WPMU DEV
The Tripawds network have been members of DEV for 16 years, and they recently completed migration of ALL their sites to the WPMU DEV hosting platform, as their previous host wasn’t providing them with the support they needed to continue their mission of helping amputee pets everywhere.
They have a large multisite network and moving was no easy task. But with our help, they’ve managed to save an enormous amount of money and now have a fully running site.
“Last year, I feared we may need to put an end to the Tripawds Blogs Network. Now it is running smoothly, and faster than ever, thanks to WPMU DEV and the support team,” says Jim Nelson.
We’re always happy to help with migration for any of our DEV members, so if you’re considering making the move – just reach out! Or, if you’re in education or a non-profit/charity you could also try CampusPress for a more bespoke solution.