Guest onebigunicorn Posted November 30, 2014 Share Posted November 30, 2014 (edited) Hello, My dog broke his front right leg , both radius and ulna right above his wrist. He end up with a plate and screws in radius and ulna was just put together....it was messy. He is now 1.5week in the cast and feeling better. Every two weeks we go redo the bandage. Today they did first X-ray. The radius is healing + bottom part of ulna was absorbed by body and top part is just hanging in there. See photo -> 1. How long it took your dog to recover from fracture? 2. Is it normal that ulna just gets absorbed by body and doesn't join/grow together? How much it will affect his mobility? (vet said it's ok, that they are using it only to side movements...but we are worried, seems something is a bit off?) Thanks for the answers. Edited November 30, 2014 by onebigunicorn Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest onebigunicorn Posted November 30, 2014 Share Posted November 30, 2014 hmm the picture didn't work.. here is the link: http://imgur.com/jrWlH1D thank you Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tbhounds Posted November 30, 2014 Share Posted November 30, 2014 Did the surgeon happen to biopsy that area?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LBass Posted November 30, 2014 Share Posted November 30, 2014 My girl MoMo had a similar break. It was plated and pinned as well. She was casted for about 6 weeks and healed well. I hope your girl will so so too. Quote Lucy with Greyhound Nate and OSH Tinker. With loving memories of MoMo (FTH Chyna Moon), Spirit, Miles the slinky kitty (OSH), Piper "The Perfect" (Oneco Chaplin), Winston, Yoda, Hector, and Claire. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest onebigunicorn Posted November 30, 2014 Share Posted November 30, 2014 no it's not a cancer, he just had an accident that's all. Did the surgeon happen to biopsy that area?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest onebigunicorn Posted November 30, 2014 Share Posted November 30, 2014 (edited) Thank you LBass, my question though is if it's okay that his ulna did not fuse. Because since the bone is so thin, the vet wasn't really able to do anything else than just leave those 2 broken parts touching each other and basically they anticipated that the ulna would fuse. But it did not, and the whole part that's coming from the wrist just disappeared - you can see it on the picture, the bottom part of ulna is completely missing now... So I'm worried what's going to happen now, with that free ulna dangling there and everything =( Did MoMo also lose part of her ulna? My girl MoMo had a similar break. It was plated and pinned as well. She was casted for about 6 weeks and healed well. I hope your girl will so so too. Edited November 30, 2014 by onebigunicorn Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Batmom Posted November 30, 2014 Share Posted November 30, 2014 Well, that's curious. Hope one of the more knowledgeable folks will weigh in. And, hope your pup does well. Quote Star aka Starz Ovation (Ronco x Oneco Maggie*, litter #48538), Coco aka Low Key (Kiowa Mon Manny x Party Hardy, litter # 59881), and mom in IllinoisWe miss Reko Batman (Trouper Zeke x Marque Louisiana), 11/15/95-6/29/06, Rocco the thistledown whippet, 04/29/93-10/14/08, Reko Zema (Mo Kick x Reko Princess), 8/16/98-4/18/10, the most beautiful girl in the whole USA, my good egg Joseph aka Won by a Nose (Oneco Cufflink x Buy Back), 09/22/2003-03/01/2013, and our gentle sweet Gidget (Digitizer, Dodgem by Design x Sobe Mulberry), 1/29/2006-11/22/2014, gone much too soon. Never forgetting CJC's Buckshot, 1/2/07-10/25/10. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest BiancasMom Posted November 30, 2014 Share Posted November 30, 2014 (edited) Do you have any pre surgical X-rays? The only reason I have seen bone "disappear" is from cancer. Edited November 30, 2014 by BiancasMom Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tbhounds Posted December 1, 2014 Share Posted December 1, 2014 Do you have any pre surgical X-rays? The only reason I have seen bone "disappear" is from cancer. My thought too but, apparently the op doesn't want to pursue.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GeorgeofNE Posted December 1, 2014 Share Posted December 1, 2014 If it were my dog, I'd ask Dr. Couto to review the films. Something like 40% of osteo cases are only found when a dog breaks a leg. Quote Susan, Hamish, Mister Bigglesworth and Nikita Stanislav. Missing Ming, George, and Buck Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest onebigunicorn Posted December 5, 2014 Share Posted December 5, 2014 okay thanks guys, but not a everything you see is cancer. the vet said this happens sometimes if the bone is too damaged after the break. he said we should not worry about him not being able to move normally - using his leg normally. I just wanted to hear other people experiences with this kind of breakage, but since no one really had this it seems, that's okay Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NeylasMom Posted December 5, 2014 Share Posted December 5, 2014 Is this your regular vet or a specialist? If the former, I would at the very least seek out a second opinion, either from an orthopedist or Dr. Couto. What happened to cause the break, out of curiosity? Quote Jen, CPDT-KA with Zuri, lab in a greyhound suit, Violet, formerly known as Faith, Skye, the permanent puppy, Cisco, resident cat, and my baby girl Neyla, forever in my heart "The great thing about science is that you're free to disagree with it, but you'll be wrong." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GeorgeofNE Posted December 5, 2014 Share Posted December 5, 2014 Not meaning to insult you or anything--but the vet who is considered by most as the foremost Greyhound expert in the country (if not the world) regular gives speeches, and when I heard him, he said he assumes that any Greyhound who breaks a bone doing relatively routine things has osteo until he proves otherwise. Oh, it's Guillermo Couto, the vet several people mentioned, above. Your vet is probably (I hope) aware of the very high incidence of bone cancer in NGA Greyhounds, and frankly it is rather shocking to me and probably a lot of us that you seem determined not to even consider the possibility, and that your vet is just brushing off the whole "disappearing bone" thing. It's a fairly classic sign of osteo. Quote Susan, Hamish, Mister Bigglesworth and Nikita Stanislav. Missing Ming, George, and Buck Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
3DogNite Posted December 8, 2014 Share Posted December 8, 2014 My first greyhound broke her back leg at a lure coursing event. It was a complex break, and it healed badly. She limped on it the rest of her life - she did not have Osteo. She was 4 at the time. she did however die from a hemangio-sarcoma at the tender age of 8. I was also told to double and triple check for signs of bone cancer by all my friends and I was really concerned about that - turns out, just a yucky, awful, life changing, bone break. But I did several rounds of X-rays and worried about cancer for at least a year after the event. good luck with the healing! Quote lorinda, mom to the ever revolving door of Foster greyhounds Always in my heart: Teala (LC Sweet Dream) , Pepton, Darbee-Do (Hey Barb) , Rascal (Abitta Rascal), Power (Beyond the Power), and the miracle boy LAZER (2/21/14), Spirit (Bitter Almonds) 8/14 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest LazyBlaze Posted December 9, 2014 Share Posted December 9, 2014 Hope your boy is healing well. Blaze fractured his radius right into the joint (but ulna was intact) at the end of August. Like your boy he has it plated and pinned, but the bone has healed well. 6 weeks post surgery he got an infection that he's still on antibiotics for, and the metal plate ultimately may need to come out because of that, so that will be something for you to look out for in the coming weeks. Infections can really set back the healing process, particularly if they set in before the bone has fused together (not Blaze's situation thankfully, although he still has a long way to go with his recovery). Blaze's infection seemed to happen very quickly; over the course of just a couple of days he became quite lame, and there was heat and swelling at his injury site, so watch out for those signs. As others have said, osteosarcoma is always a concern when a bone breaks, so a bone biopsy should confirm if it's present or not (our vet did this when he did the surgery). Blaze still hasn't been off lead since the break, but he's walking for an hour twice a day again and managing fine. We see the surgeon again on Thursday and depending how he feels about the infection I'm hoping that we can start some off-lead exercise (just over 3 months post surgery). I'll be really apprehensive about letting him run flat out again though I must say. It's a long way off in any case. Sometimes Blaze has a bit of a limp, am not sure if that might be permanent for him (as with your boy it was a bit of a tricky break, not entirely straightforward to fix). Sorry that I can't be more help with your ulna question. Let us know how your guy gets on, and give him a hug from me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Greyt_dog_lover Posted December 9, 2014 Share Posted December 9, 2014 My most recent adopted girl Abyss has something close to your situation. She broke her front right leg at the track during turn-out. She was climbing the fence and fell with her leg in the chain-link fence. Snapped her leg like a twig. They tried to plate and pin but they couldn't get the skin to grow over the hardware. They had to remove the hardware and allow the bone to fuse together. She has no mobility in her elbow and only about 20% in her wrist. Her shoulder is fine. While she cannot bend the front leg, she still runs like a nutball. She has trouble when we hike in the woods trying to walk over obstacles, but otherwise she is fine and you really don't notice the weird gate she has. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest onebigunicorn Posted February 8, 2015 Share Posted February 8, 2015 Thank you both for sharing your experience. I hope Blaze is doing well =) That's interesting that the skin would not grow over the plate! I'm glad she's okay Our pooch is doing very well, his bone healed so nicely that vet actually took out the plate two weeks ago. Now he just needs to start to use the leg again slowly =D Hope your boy is healing well. Blaze fractured his radius right into the joint (but ulna was intact) at the end of August. Like your boy he has it plated and pinned, but the bone has healed well. 6 weeks post surgery he got an infection that he's still on antibiotics for, and the metal plate ultimately may need to come out because of that, so that will be something for you to look out for in the coming weeks. Infections can really set back the healing process, particularly if they set in before the bone has fused together (not Blaze's situation thankfully, although he still has a long way to go with his recovery). Blaze's infection seemed to happen very quickly; over the course of just a couple of days he became quite lame, and there was heat and swelling at his injury site, so watch out for those signs. As others have said, osteosarcoma is always a concern when a bone breaks, so a bone biopsy should confirm if it's present or not (our vet did this when he did the surgery). Blaze still hasn't been off lead since the break, but he's walking for an hour twice a day again and managing fine. We see the surgeon again on Thursday and depending how he feels about the infection I'm hoping that we can start some off-lead exercise (just over 3 months post surgery). I'll be really apprehensive about letting him run flat out again though I must say. It's a long way off in any case. Sometimes Blaze has a bit of a limp, am not sure if that might be permanent for him (as with your boy it was a bit of a tricky break, not entirely straightforward to fix). Sorry that I can't be more help with your ulna question. Let us know how your guy gets on, and give him a hug from me. My most recent adopted girl Abyss has something close to your situation. She broke her front right leg at the track during turn-out. She was climbing the fence and fell with her leg in the chain-link fence. Snapped her leg like a twig. They tried to plate and pin but they couldn't get the skin to grow over the hardware. They had to remove the hardware and allow the bone to fuse together. She has no mobility in her elbow and only about 20% in her wrist. Her shoulder is fine. While she cannot bend the front leg, she still runs like a nutball. She has trouble when we hike in the woods trying to walk over obstacles, but otherwise she is fine and you really don't notice the weird gate she has. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest LazyBlaze Posted February 8, 2015 Share Posted February 8, 2015 That's great news . Thanks for the update. Blaze is doing well, thanks for your good wishes; he's getting some off-lead time again now and gets stronger and fitter every day. I'm so glad your boy's on the road to recovery too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tbhounds Posted February 8, 2015 Share Posted February 8, 2015 Greyt news! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Greyt_dog_lover Posted February 10, 2015 Share Posted February 10, 2015 I have fostered many hounds post broken legs. If they are repaired by a reputable orthopedic surgeon, then they nearly always are back to 100% within a year. Our local expert says post surgery you wait 1 year before allowing 100% running. I have adopted 2 of his repaired hounds and one was clocked at 43mph 1.5 years after surgery. He does excellent work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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