Broken Leg

[Guest scleach]

I am in the process of adopting another hound she is only 4 months old and broke her leg not to long ago while in her foster home. She just had the cast taken off a couple days ago and I was wondering if anyone had ever gone through the rehabilitation that goes with a broken leg. She had a plate and a few pins put in to set the break. I would just like to know how it's gone for other people. Any help would be great! When I get her I plan to take her to my vet to have him tell me what rehab to do with her but I've never dealt with anything like this before and just want to know how successful other people have been. Thanks!

[Nichole]

I would ask your vet to check if the leg is completely healed. My boy Cian broke his leg in November 2011. It was his back left. The back right was broken at the track. My orthpedic surgeon had a therapist show me some PT to do. I had to leash walk him for a few months after the external fixator came off. He was back to his old self by March 2012.

[PattyE]

Our Joey broke his leg racing. It did not heal properly. After we adopted him, the vet fused his leg together and placed a plate with pins in it. He told us that it would probably need to be removed in about six months before the bone grew over it. We did have it removed because the pins caused bruising the first time Joey ran through the house. Joey now has a corn on that foot which from what I understand is not uncommon when they break a leg because they may walk a little differently. I feel in Joey's case that is the cause of his corn because his leg is still not right, but it is as good as it is going to get. He does wear a boot when he walks outside and he does fine.

[Guest scleach]

Thanks for the info! I definitely plan on having my vet look at the X-rays etc when I get her and reevaluate her. I just want to be 100% sure she really should be using it before I do anything with her. I'm hoping that it heals quickly and correctly but I know you can't rush this kind of thing. This information is really helpful though! Thanks!!

[PattyE]

Just to clarify, Joey wears the boot for his corn not because his leg was broken.

 

Good luck with your new girl!

[greyhoundgang]

Greyhounds and particularly puppies are very resilient. Everything will be fine. Having a baseline xray after the break and cast come off is a good thing. Particularly if there are plates and pins. Keeping a greyhound puppy quiet and not running for months is a huge undertaking. You'll need to be very disciplined. My guess is that will be the hardest part of this. Just leash walking and trying to prevent her from jumping all over the furniture and doing whirleys etc.

 

Broken body parts are very much helped by the use of joint supplements to help with the repair of cartilage and replenishment of synovial fluids. I also like Yucca to take down the inflammation. It's all natural without the side effects of NSAIDs. Grizzly Salmon Oil will help keep the immune system strong to help with repair.

 

as an aside to other PattyE - Greyhound Gang also has many articles about helping corns. Under Learn - Medical - Corns and Warts.

[Nichole]

This is what Cian's left break looked like. He is on Springtime Joint Health and Fresh Factors. I did up the amount he got after the left break.

 

 

[Burpdog]

You really need a specialist for a puppy. I am guessing because of the growth issues, plates might have to be removed and/or replaced. Also. rehab on a puppy is totally different because of growing bones than an adult.

[Guest snakes]

I had a foster that had a severe hock break and I got him after the cast came off. he did really well although he tried to do the "bunny hop" while walking a lot. I had to consciously slow him way down (he was rather rambunctious) and then he would use the leg. Doing that for a couple months and he started to use the leg normally. i had to do longer (overall time not individual sessions) of stair training too just to get him to use the leg but he got it.

Good luck, with time he should be basically normal

[Guest OPointyDog]

As burpdog says, your experience may be different from the traditional adult greyhound broken leg (which happen all too commonly!), since your dog is still growing. I'd say it's worth seeing an orthopedic specialist to have them evaluate and follow the dog's recovery. They may also be able to offer you suggestions for exercises and stretches the keep the muscles strong.

 

Our grey Zoe broke her leg on the track when she was just 2 years old, and either the surgery was done incorrectly or the pin and spring came out of the bone spontaneously, leading to a lot of pain for her. Just 2 weeks after we adopted her, she had to have ex-plant surgery to have the pin and spring removed. By then she had been hopping on 3 legs for almost 7 months and the muscles in her bad leg had badly atrophied. Once the leg was sound, she then needed 3 months of physical therapy to rebuild the muscle and repair the damage. Now, 14 months after the original break and 7 months after the second surgery, she's doing very well. Most people can't tell that she ever had a problem. She's a little bit short-strided in the bad leg, and we can see her gait is funny when she transitions from a walk to a trot, but it doesn't seem to bother her.

 

It was a lot of work for us and for Zoe - but doing the physical therapy was a great bonding experience and we have a fabulous dog who loves people and I really think she enjoyed it most of the time!

[Guest bonnebike]

Singh broke his leg back in November. We are currently in the rehab stage. He can have 2 15-minute walks per day. I think he's doing great. He's still got a limp although sometimes he forgets to limp. He would certainly like to go for a longer walk. One thing the vet said is that the plate can get cold in cold weather so to put a bootie on him when we take him out.

[retread]

My adoption group gets many greys with broken legs. We currently have four in recovery out of 19 greys.

We have two 8'+10'pens in our outside turnout area the sick and injured are put in when their group is turned out.

When the cast is removed they usually are still penned for 2 or 3 weeks. After that time they go out into the large turnout yard alone at turnout for several weeks.

When the Vet or Medical Director decides the Grey has recovered enough it is returned to it's turnout group. I am unaware of any therapy used on our hounds.

[JJNg]

I agree with the previous responses that a broken leg in a puppy may require different management than the typical adult greyhound fracture. It also depends on where the break is, and whether any joints or growth plates were affected. Best case scenario would be a fracture in the middle of the bone, with no joint or growth plate involvement. In that case, there would be no long term concerns and rehab may not even be necessary if the puppy is using the leg well.

[Guest scleach]

Thanks so much! I hadn't even thought about growth plates etc. I will definitely get a recommendation from my vet for a specialist if it's going to affect her growth.

[RoxxysDad]

I have a 15 month old whippet female Roxxy and she broke her right front radius and ulna. $3200 surgery. I couldn't go in to pick her because of covid so they just bring her out and hand her to me and she had no cast on. The instructions were to be very careful with her leg. They said she could jump up onto a couch or whatever but not to let her jump down but overall to keep her crated or in a small room if I could not crate or be with her. Well day two she starts wanting to use her leg but she was limp and sometimes just hopping on the good leg. We are in the house and she started to run and I grabbed to stop her but she had pushed off with the bad leg and let out a cry. And the foot since surgery and especially now seems like it's bent to the outside and crooked. They used pins and a plate (size 22 I think he said) Because of her smaller bones they couldn't put a bigger plate in like he would have preferred he said. I had an Italian greyhound who only got pins but he had a cast for almost 8 weeks and his leg healed beautifully with no complications whatsoever. I feel like this vet had set us up for failure. I was astonished when they brought her out with no cast or splint on but I was so worried about her post surgery recovery I just scooped took her from them and went home with the meds and instructions and was mostly keeping her in her crate because they said to keep her immobilized and gave me meds to sedate her is she got anxious or rowdy. But the paper work also said that some time over the next two weeks that your dog would start to use their leg again. They didn't say do not walk her, or make her use puppy pads, or absolutely don't let her try to run or walk. The information was contradictory and I thought I would let her kind of test the waters and decide what hurt or didn't hurt I absolutely didn't expect her to try and run yet but I saw her getting ready to run after a roommates dog and cried and picked her leg up similar to when they first break it but it doesn't look floppy but it doesn't look like it's straight either but it never did even after surgery but it was less noticeable because there was SOOOOO much swelling. I feel like the surgery was not done properly and they are going to try and tell me it will be another $3,000 and I don't have the money to may for that again. I haven't even gotten the insurance claim filed for the first surgery. Its only been six days and I've been more worried about watching over her than getting money back and not thinking I may have to do it all over again. I'd like to know if anyone knows what recourse I have if they try and milk me for more money and if there are any rescues or charities I could contact that may help pay for another surgery if that's the direction this goes. If they tell me that its okay and just bruised or something I am demanding they put a cast on her for at least a month. I am so so so SAD

[ramonaghan]

9 hours ago, RoxxysDad said:

I have a 15 month old whippet female Roxxy and she broke her right front radius and ulna. $3200 surgery. I couldn't go in to pick her because of covid so they just bring her out and hand her to me and she had no cast on. The instructions were to be very careful with her leg. They said she could jump up onto a couch or whatever but not to let her jump down but overall to keep her crated or in a small room if I could not crate or be with her. Well day two she starts wanting to use her leg but she was limp and sometimes just hopping on the good leg. We are in the house and she started to run and I grabbed to stop her but she had pushed off with the bad leg and let out a cry. And the foot since surgery and especially now seems like it's bent to the outside and crooked. They used pins and a plate (size 22 I think he said) Because of her smaller bones they couldn't put a bigger plate in like he would have preferred he said. I had an Italian greyhound who only got pins but he had a cast for almost 8 weeks and his leg healed beautifully with no complications whatsoever. I feel like this vet had set us up for failure. I was astonished when they brought her out with no cast or splint on but I was so worried about her post surgery recovery I just scooped took her from them and went home with the meds and instructions and was mostly keeping her in her crate because they said to keep her immobilized and gave me meds to sedate her is she got anxious or rowdy. But the paper work also said that some time over the next two weeks that your dog would start to use their leg again. They didn't say do not walk her, or make her use puppy pads, or absolutely don't let her try to run or walk. The information was contradictory and I thought I would let her kind of test the waters and decide what hurt or didn't hurt I absolutely didn't expect her to try and run yet but I saw her getting ready to run after a roommates dog and cried and picked her leg up similar to when they first break it but it doesn't look floppy but it doesn't look like it's straight either but it never did even after surgery but it was less noticeable because there was SOOOOO much swelling. I feel like the surgery was not done properly and they are going to try and tell me it will be another $3,000 and I don't have the money to may for that again. I haven't even gotten the insurance claim filed for the first surgery. Its only been six days and I've been more worried about watching over her than getting money back and not thinking I may have to do it all over again. I'd like to know if anyone knows what recourse I have if they try and milk me for more money and if there are any rescues or charities I could contact that may help pay for another surgery if that's the direction this goes. If they tell me that its okay and just bruised or something I am demanding they put a cast on her for at least a month. I am so so so SAD

Hi there. Just wanted to offer my own recent experience. Sweep broke her back right leg on March 9 and had surgery to repair it on March 11. Here is the post about it. She has a plate and 9 screws. Her surgeon is a board-certified orthopedic surgeon and she was treated at a specialty clinic/e-vet, and they did not use a cast or splint either. This surprised me too, but she has recovered beautifully. Your post-op instructions might be a little different than ours because Roxxy is a young whippet and Sweep is a senior greyhound, but we were told leashed potty breaks only for 8 weeks. Out and back in straight away; no walks longer than 5 minutes. Definitely no jumping or running allowed. The bruising and swelling were extreme, but I was assured that was totally normal for the breed. She was putting weight on the leg within a few days. At this point all the bruising and swelling has resolved and other than a long scar and a funny haircut, you wouldn't know anything had happened. Please take a deep breath and give it a little more time. As long as there is no oozing, excessive bleeding, or bad smells from her incision and you are keeping it dry, Roxxy should be just fine given another couple of weeks. Young and smaller dogs usually heal much faster than seniors, about 4-5 weeks compared to 8-10 weeks. She might be holding her foot a little oddly because it feels funny. When are you scheduled for follow-up x-rays?

Edited April 18, 2021 by ramonaghan

[marion]

On 1/13/2013 at 7:13 AM, Guest scleach said:

I am in the process of adopting another hound she is only 4 months old and broke her leg not to long ago while in her foster home. She just had the cast taken off a couple days ago and I was wondering if anyone had ever gone through the rehabilitation that goes with a broken leg. She had a plate and a few pins put in to set the break. I would just like to know how it's gone for other people. Any help would be great! When I get her I plan to take her to my vet to have him tell me what rehab to do with her but I've never dealt with anything like this before and just want to know how successful other people have been. Thanks!

I've gone through a broken leg with my Grey.  It was a 'clean' break, so it was not necessary to get the leg operated.The hound got a castlike bandage, called over here 'Robert Jones' and wore it for three weeks. After this

time he got a smaller more elastic bandage, which he wore for another three weeks. During this time we did careful walks. When the second bandage was taken off, we started

normal walking and teh dog recovered 100%. After some time he could run full speed like before the break. We were lucky. I wish you good luck!