Broken Or Dislocated Jaw?

[gryhndens]

Fran had an accident at grandma's house this morning, and we have spent the majority of the day at the emergency vet hospital. She was doing zoomies in the yard (yes, there is a fence) when the ground disappeared and she landed hard on her face. There is a low level retaining wall on the far end of the yard that they had both been staying away from, and honestly I hadn't given it much thought, but when they are running they don't stop when you yell, even with the VOG yell they ignore you.

 

Through palpation it is not clear there is a break in her jaw, as she did not react in any way(?!?!?), and no break could be felt. The vet did not do x-rays, saying he preferred to wait until tomorrow when they could sedate her, to ensure they took clear pictures (and the fact that there was no x-ray technician there). He said she would need to be sedated to put the jaw back into place (if it was dislocated) or put to sleep if it was broken, so they could perform surgery. That team wasn't there, but will be tomorrow. Two different vets examined her, and they had the same opinion. They believe it is broken, but did not understand why she didn't react when they were palpating it. She has several broken teeth, and her mouth is bleeding some. Not nearly as bad as it was at first, but enough that I am staying with her. He said most of the broken teeth would have to be extracted. The jaw itself is definitely not lined up the way it should be.

 

I am uncomfortable with our decision to bring her home, thinking we should have left her at the hospital- but DH wanted her here. He is upset that he didn't have her on a leash (even though it was a yard with a fence) and is blaming himself. He didn't want to leave her in a strange place, a lone- and felt there was nothing they could do for her we couldn't do. There is (iv's and immediate attention if there was a change), but in the end I agreed to bring her home. He is definitely feeling guilt right now, and has said he will spare no expense to fix her (Good thing, as the estimate we received today was close to $3,000 if it is broken).

 

I starting writing this much earlier today- she has not moved from the spot she laid down in at 3:30 (4 hrs ago), but has taken in some water. She won't drink out of the bowl, but will accept water placed in her mouth through a straw. She took a small lick of some pumpkin- but the vet said not to be as concerned with food as we should be with the water. We will be taking her in again in the morning to determine the full extent of her injuries. We will have the vet do whatever they need to if it is just dislocated, but if it is broken, we will be taking her home (we are in GA, and live in FL) to have our vet take care of her- She is being very calm (she has been the calmest of all of us through this whole thing) and just wants to have someone sitting or laying next to her.

 

Has anyone ever taken care of a Grey with a broken or dislocated jaw? If broken, and she does require the surgery, any idea the type of recovery she will have? What we should be expecting?

 

It is breaking my heart to see her in pain and hurt. I am feeling helpless. Please keep Fran in your thoughts, and pray for the best case scenario.

[Guest Tenderhearts]

I have no experience with this, but am sending lots of prayers for your Fran, and hugs for you. Please update us when you can :hope

[RobinM]

Oh No. Prayers for your baby. Please update.

[Guest mecki]

The poor thing. I have no experience with anything like this, just hoping that things will be better than they seem right now. It sounds like she has enough love around her to pull through anything.

[Guest MZH]

No experience but just want to wish Fran well. I suspect a good surgeon will fix her up just fine. I recall a show on Animal Planet at Alameda East ER where they actually took half a jaw off a little dog and the dog adjusted to it. I don't recall much about recovery time ad how they coped.

 

Can you give her pain meds, like Tramadol, to tide her over? Any pill might be hard to get into her mouth though.

Maybe with a piller....

 

Marcia in SC

[Guest charmsmom]

My guess, if it's broken, is that they will wire her jaw shut to let it heal and put in an intranasal feeding tube which can give her food and water. If you're uncomfortable with your decision, you can probably take her back and they'd probably let you stay with her. A lot of hospitals will. I'm not sure where you're at?

[gryhndens]

Pain meds- they gave her a shot of something that they said should last about 8 hrs. He gave us enough Tramadol to go through Sunday. Not sure how easy it will be to get those down her. Normally she will take pills easily, but things are a bit different right now.

 

I am sure she will be ok tonight- I am just having those paranoid mommy moments...

[lothianjavert]

Many years ago, our little poodle, Bridget, fell off the bed and broke her lower jaw when she hit the floor (hardwood floor vs. small geriatric toy poodle was not a good mix)

 

She did lose some teeth, but the vet xrayed her, found the break, and went in and wired it (under anaesthesia). She ate a diet of baby food for a couple of months. She had to have something she could lick up. We never had to do intranasal feeding, she kept weight on just fine with different baby foods (lots of meat ones) and actually once she was healed became quite a picky little Diva about food!! (she wanted the good stuff back!)

[Guest greyhoundlover2]

Hi! Just wanted to let you know a friend of mine just went through this with one of her greys. Both of her greys were playing in the yard together having a good time just like your Fran was. They ran into each other and Chloe wound up with a broken jaw. Tell DH to stop beating himself up, it was a freak accident and could happen to anyone.

Anyway, Chloe had her jaw wired shut but they left it open enough for her to eat baby food and pureed dog food. The vet showed my friend the x-ray and said he was concerned about how well she would heal because the jaw was shattered. Well, last week Chloe had everything removed and she is doing great!! The one mishap they had that maybe you could forwarn the vet about is that after 3 or 4 days of working at it Chloe managed to break the apparatus holding her jaw together and had to have it re-done. The vet said he didn't realize greys were that strong. I think a lot of people don't realize that because they look so fragile. Just a heads up for your vet, ok?

Wishing Fran a speedy and complete recovery and know that she will be ok.

[Guest vahoundlover]

Sending lots of prayers for Fran.

[Batmom]

Yeeks! What a terrible scare. Hope pupper had a good night and vet will set her on the road to recovery today.

[Guest Greyhoundbaby]

Sending hugs and love your way...

[Guest greyhound1]

[gryhndens]

She had a good night... DD and her snuggled on the dog bed all night. The bleeding (from her teeth) has almost completely stopped. She is still only taking water from a straw and will eat wet food and pumpkin- from a spoon. She is playing this up best she can, drama queen- one of the many reasons we love her. She doesn't appear to be in much pain, but like I said yesterday- she has never indicated she was in pain. Will let you all know what we find out today.

[Patsy]

Sending lots and lots of good thoughts and white light to Fran and her family today!

[Guest budsmom]

My parents had a golden with a broken jaw from a car accident over 30 years ago, and the vet wired it together and the dog recovered just fine. This was before I was born, so I don't know anything about the recovery, just that vets have been doing this surgery for a long time and I'm sure everything will be ok.

[Guest Ola]

Oh, what a bummer! Sounds like Fran is handling it ok though, and hopefully you will feel better once the vet can do the xrays and tell you exactly what you're dealing with.

 

Let us know how it goes!

[SAVED2]

Fran is on my Prayer list , our Frannie dislocated her rear leg playing in the yard , four months of leash walks and vet bills and now she is back to being the wild child.

[Guest LittleGreys]

I have an Italian Greyhound that was a rescue from a backyard breeder. The owner said she fractured her jaw as a young puppy (they didn't say how). They said they don't "do vet care", "if they live, they live, if not they die". Well, she lived and went on to produce several litters of puppies. How she managed I have no idea. When I finally got her, the jaw fracture was very infected (she was said by them to be 3 and 1/2 years old then). My vet tried to repair it, but it didn't hold, obviously the fracture was too old to heal. We went to a specialist and he removed the entire half of her jaw. He recovery was nothing short of amazing. I am still amazed at how she managed to eat enough with that severe of a jaw fracture to keep herself alive, let alone litters of puppies.

[Guest luckydog]

If you're worried about her getting enough liquids (and I would be, frankly), then I would ask the evet to give her fluids sub-q. That would be enough for you to drive back home to FL from GA.

 

Hugs and good wishes.

[Guest csusan]

One of my greyhounds was having some teeth pulled due to severe periodontal disease. In the process of pulling one of the teeth out the jaw broke. Seems that with severe periodontal diease the tooth begins to calcify (spell) and becomes part of the bone or something like that. Anyway we were lucky that it was the lower jaw near the front. They wired the jaw from inside ran the wire through the bottom of her mouth so that it stuck out from under her chin. They also wrapped in a figure 8 a wire from one of the long pointed teeth on her bottom jaw to the other long pointed tooth. I say lucky cause they did not have to wire the jaws together so she was able to eat normally as long as I really soaked her dry food. We left the wires for 8 weeks to insure proper healing. Then I kept her on soggy food for another month. Everything seems fine now. If there is a break what they do will depend on where it is.

[Saharasmom]

I hope everything goes well at the vet's office!

[hidoey]

Ouch! Poor Fran, I'm sending good vibes. Hang in there sweetheart.....

[gryhndens]

We didn't take Fran back to the vet hospital in GA- she had a healthy appetite and we were able to get fluids in her. We were able to get the pain pills in her with no problem (she loves pumpkin bread). Although she laid around the remainder of our time in GA (I am sure that is mostly pill induced), she continued to act like there was no pain or discomfort. She smiled at us, and wagged her tail often. She did really well on the ride home, only yelping once when Vicky accidentally conked her chin. Most of the ride home Vicky snuggled her, had their legs intertwined, and Vicky's head on Fran's back. I wish the camera had not been packed away.

 

Anyways, we have returned to FL, and first order of business was taking Fran to the vet hospital here. DH has been there with her just over an hour, and I have had no reports yet. Like I said before, food has not been an issue- as long as it is the wet stuff, she is eating fine. She was refusing to drink water, and would only take a few dribbles from a straw, but DH made some turkey broth and put a little in her water (using the turkey necks, so there was no added salt or other seasonings) and she lapped it all up.

 

Vicky isn't doing well with Fran gone. She is acting like a lost pup, not knowing what to do. Friday night we had Fran sleep downstairs with my DD (in case she continued to bleed) and Vicky was upstairs with us. She whimpered and cried until we took her downstairs, where she and I slept with Fran and DD.

 

ETA: DH just sent a text saying she was sedated for an oral exam and x-rays. They will determine if she needs surgery, and we would have to go back for that. So, it sounds like (from what you can get in a text msg) that if she doesn't need surgery, they will do what they need to today- otherwise, we will continue to have an eventful week around here. Fran did ask if she could add something to her SS wish list... all she wants for Christmas is her three front teeth!

Edited November 25, 2007 by gryhndens

[Guest JohnnyBell]