It's been a long three weeks. My female Choc Lab broke her femur low on the leg about three weeks ago. It was a stupid mistake on my part too. We were just going a few miles down the road and my buddy and I both put our dogs in the back of the pickup where they've ridden a million times. Well we didn't get 1/2 mile down the road and my buddy sees my dog go flying out the back over the side. I don't know if she saw a pheasant or something in the ditch, but she went for it. I about puked when I looked back and saw her trying to get up with no success.
So we rushed her into the vet and the break was fairly low on the femur bone with one or two chips floating in there. So we put a rod through the bone and wired those chips to the bone as well. Wel about a week and a half later when I went out to feed her the rod was sticking back out through the top of her hip, it had started to work its way out. So, back to the vet to redo the surgery. This time it held a lot firmer. It's been about a week and a half again, and the pin had just started to work its way out again, but hardly any. So I loaded her up and brought her back over for the vet to check out.
Well he just called me back and says that the pin is still doing some good, and he advanced it back down to where it needed to be and I need to keep her in strict confinement for a good 2 to 3 weeks. And if things don't get better in those 2-3 weeks, we're looking at possibly putting a plate on it(which could be difficult to catch considering how low the break is on the bone) or amputation.
If I don't come outta this with an ulcer I'll be lucky.
After the first time, I would have had it plated. I haven't seen the fracture so it is difficult to comment, but a single pin is usually not the best way to stabilize the distal femur fracture. I wouldn't consider amputation unless there is nerve damage or there some financial constraints.
My lab Boston went through the same exact scenario, except I opted splint instead of surgery and pins. He made a full recovery about 6 weeks later and is 100% to this day.
we talked about splinting it and where the break is on the bone is right about where the edge of the splint would go, putting more pressure on the break itself. As far as plating it goes, there may not be enough bone on the bottum piece to get a good hold. The break is down toward the bottum of the femur about an inch and a half-two inches from the end of the bone.
Her attutude is the same as any other day, which is part of the roblem. It's dang near impossible to keep an energetic dog confined and calm anough to keep that bone from shifting a little. We're going to keep her at the vet clinic for the next couple weeks in their smaller kennel. that and she also seems to be a lot calmer when she's in there than when I have her at home in her kennel. She would just be bouncin off the walls in the morning when I would go out to feed her and thats not real conductive to healing a broken leg.
My best wishes for you and your dog.
This won't do you any good, but it might help others avoid the same mistake.
More dogs are injured by falling from the back of trucks than any other single cause.
Each and everytime (even if it's a one block trip) any dog that is being transported MUST be crated
in a crate that is well secured. The crate is their seat belt and airbag all in one.
.
__________________
Ignorance can sometimes be cured, but stupid is forever.
Doc E &
HR UH MHR WR SR Black Forest Casey &
HRCH HR UH Sauk River Friar Tucker (titled at 12.5 months)
Just an update.... She's been staying at the vet's office for about 3 weeks now. Last week he went to x-ray the leg to see how she was coming along, and when he put the x-ray up on the light, there was no pin in her leg! So they went back and looked in the kennel she was in and sure enough there layed her pin back in the corner. She had pulled her own pin out! the good news is he thought she had started healing up beings the leg didn't feel floppy or loose. So we ended up splinting it now and hopefully she continues to heal well and doesn't have any of the problems he was afraid of with the splint.
Well the splint didn't work, he x-rayed her last Friday, and there wasn't any healing going on. So we did end up amputating the leg. I get to take her home today. I'll be leaving to pick her up in a few minutes. I'm pretty excited to finally have her back home, but at the same time pretty nervous to seeing howshe'll adapt. But, I guess she's basically been doing everything without that leg for almost 2 months now. I'll see if I can get some pictures of her sometime this week and post. They say she's doing great now and should recover fully and be all healed up in about a week or two. I'll keep you posted...
Dog broke her leg anyone gone through this?
