It's A Fracture

[GreyhoundGirl]

Molly fractured a bone in her foot. She's going to be in a splint for a minimum of 6 weeks. She will need to be leash walked (so glad I just moved into a house with a nice, big yard) and minimum activity. I'm certain I'm more upset than her.

[Guest sireltonsmom]

Sorry to hear Molly fractured a bone in her foot. Many of us have greys with hock or other injuries and, with good vet splint and your loving care, she'll be good as new in a few weeks. The hard part is them recognizing they have to do minimum activity I think. Kisses to Molly and comfort to you!

 

[greysmom]

Hope your girl heals up quickly.

 

Be very careful and watchful with the splint. The pressure sores can appear in hours, it seems, and are often worse than the original injury. The bandaging needs to be changed every two or three days, if not sooner.

[MP_the4pack]

Hope your girl heals up quickly.

 

Be very careful and watchful with the splint. The pressure sores can appear in hours, it seems, and are often worse than the original injury. The bandaging needs to be changed every two or three days, if not sooner.

 

My Opal had her leg is a splint last year and actually did very well for 3 weeks (she had surgery to fuse the bones in her foot after blowing a tendon). They wanted to go to a soft cast but she had pressure sores and even that bothered her. So....she went without andy cast. Those sores came on fast and took long to heal.

 

Also, be very careful about getting the cast wet. Even dew on the grass is too much. But don't keep plast bags on full time either because they cause the foot to sweat, which is the same thing.

Edited August 19, 2013 by MP_the4pack

[schultzlc]

Poor Molly (and poor you). I hope she is up and around in no time!

[Time4ANap]

Sorry to hear the Molly is in a cast. She will need extra cookies to help it heal!

[Remolacha]

so sorry, poor Molly I agree about watching the splint like a hawk for pressure sores.

[Guest MnMDogs]

Aww poor pup. Yes, if it's a hard splint, check for sores. Mork was splinted back in December, and he developed an awful sore that took months to heal. It still opens up . And this was with regular splint changes.

[Beachbum1]

Gentle hugs from me and her brother taylor

[kudzu]

Sorry there's a break but honestly I'd rather have a broken bone than a bad sprain or damaged tendons/ligaments. Bones were designed to heal. I had one hound fracture an outside toe on a rear foot. Actually the bone was shattered into multiple pieces. We opted not to splint but I had to strictly enforce rest. So she was either on leash, attached to me or she was in an xpen. It healed without issue & has not given her any more problems. In contrast, earlier this year my male hound had a clean break in a weight bearing toe on a front foot. Considering the location of the break & the particular dog in question we decided splinting was the best option. The splint ended just below the elbow.

 

As others have cautioned, be very careful with the splint. The vet applied the splint & said to come back in two weeks for a recheck & bandage change. I said, "Nope." He was surprised when I said I wanted at least twice weekly bandage changes. He quickly agreed. All was fine at first but at a follow up appt the vet found the splint had broken & an ulcer was already starting. Was very glad then we'd not waited the full two weeks. They treated, rewrapped with extra caution & at the next change that spot was almost healed. All was fine for the next few changes until I had to postpone an appt by a couple days. That resulted in another ulcer. As before they treated carefully & rewrapped cautiously. Then we had a human emergency. I completely missed an appt so the bandage change was six days after that last. That resulted in a real sore & we debated whether to simply leave the splint off completely. Knowing this dog though we decided to continue the splint but set next appt just two days out. Wound was healing so we proceeded for another week & then left it unsplinted.

 

When people say sores can develop in just a couple days please believe them. My boy did well despite the sores but if we'd not caught that quickly & the vet had not been so cautious in bandaging, including a drying, antibiotic powder & padding between toes, it could have been awful. And I'm not discounting the possibility we just got lucky, also.

 

There are many ways to wrap a bandage to keep it dry & clean. The best & easiest I've found is a Medipaw boot. http://www.medivetproducts.com/medipaw-products.php#medipaw

I have the standard Medipaw not the X. The medium fit well over my boy's splint on the front foot. Think I ordered mine off Amazon for about $30-ish but cannot remember with certainty. It seemed expensive but has proven to be money well spent.

 

Good luck. Hope all heals well & quickly.

[GreyhoundGirl]

We have a follow up appointment in a week or sooner if I think there's an issue. She's fairly heavily medicated right now to manage pain.

[KF_in_Georgia]

If you can, perhaps you should change your next appointment to this Friday (or Saturday, if your vet is open then). I'd hate to see you guys get safely through the weekdays, then have trouble develop over the weekend. Letting your vet take a peek before the weekend might save you a lot of grief.

 

See Jen Bachelor's blog post here about how to do bandage changes. And see here for when the vet gets it wrong. You aren't bandaging it yourself right now, which is fine, but you'll want to read her advice so you'll know when it's being done right.

[GreyhoundGirl]

Thanks. I will call now and change it. Plus, next Monday is the first day of school so I wasn't crazy about doing it then anyway.

[galgrey]

I hope she heals quickly and completely.

[Guest DeniseL]

Poor baby!! My princess Thyme is going on 4 weeks with a broken hock. We d splint changes every 5 days or so. She is not as depressed as when it first happened, but she is certainly not happy about not being able to run and jump and play. So far her skin is holding up well and we are hoping for a good set of xrays next week. Its frustrating and hard to see them like that but, it could always be worse is what I like to think....

[Beachbum1]

How is your girl doing today?