Guest newyorkgrey Posted February 8, 2016 Share Posted February 8, 2016 Hi, I'm new here. I have two Italian Greyhounds. One broke her leg on Thanksgiving 2015, and the surgeon did not do a good job. It healed with a screw sticking out of the skin. This screw was removed and now they can't get the skin to close up over the plate. They have been paying for everything, but I'm reaching the end of what seems possible here. They are advocating either a skin graft over the plate or removing the plate. Either way seems like a gamble. Any one have experience with fracture plate removal after two months? I'm concerned it will rebreak and we will start all over again. Could they put in a smaller plate? Titanium? Also worried that after too many surgeries the skin will not grow back. Any help at all with nourishing the skin to get it to grow over the plate would be much appreciated. Thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cleptogrey Posted February 8, 2016 Share Posted February 8, 2016 i see you posted newyorkgrey,i presume that you are a nyc person. dr. hart at the animal medical center on the FDR drive and sixty something street is remarkable. he has done more repairs on badly damaged GH legs than you can imagine. if you are in the city, maybe his experience and expertise might be your answer. good luck, tissue paper skin is not easy to deal with. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest newyorkgrey Posted February 8, 2016 Share Posted February 8, 2016 Thanks for the quick response. I will try him tomorrow! Which means I am in NYC. You could say I'm 2nd generation greyhound lover. My family has a history of owning, showing and rescuing greyhounds, but they live on the West Coast. I only just found this forum yesterday, and as a devotee of the breed plan on being an active member. Did I mention how much I love greyhounds? I saw a couple of other threads here and one in which someone else had to have the plate removed. If anyone has experience with that please let me know. The X-rays from a month ago showed good growth and she gets around quite well. But I'm worried about a rebreak... Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carronstar Posted February 9, 2016 Share Posted February 9, 2016 i see you posted newyorkgrey,i presume that you are a nyc person. dr. hart at the animal medical center on the FDR drive and sixty something street is remarkable. he has done more repairs on badly damaged GH legs than you can imagine. if you are in the city, maybe his experience and expertise might be your answer. good luck, tissue paper skin is not easy to deal with. I am going to second Animal Medical Center. They are amazing. If they can't get you in fast enough, Blue Pearl (midtown) is also amazing. I honestly can't say enough good things about them. There is a difference in the intake costs, though not the overall costs. AMC has a lower intake and BP hits you with the whole thing before starting anything. They are not just an ER, they do specialized care and surgery as well. I hope everything works out well and swiftly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest newyorkgrey Posted February 10, 2016 Share Posted February 10, 2016 Thanks. I went to Blue Pearl in the first place. Right now I'm doing more research than anyone in that loop to try to find a solution. Her fracture is healing well, it's that the plate was either oversized, the alloy too stiff, the plate offset, the surgical incision misplaced or all or some of the aforementioned. They've essentially acknowledged malpractice and are treating her at no cost to me, but the cost to my dog's well-being is very stressful, as I'm sure all animal lovers know. If at the very least my eventual solution gets posted here and is helpful to others who find it looking for advice right after a fracture, that may be the best I can hope for. Meanwhile my little girl is a real trooper. So stoic. (By the way, I can't figure out how to change my photo...Would like to put up an image of my girls). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest AmberGusDad Posted February 10, 2016 Share Posted February 10, 2016 Hoping for a successful resolution. Nothing worse than seeing one of our greys in distress. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest newyorkgrey Posted February 11, 2016 Share Posted February 11, 2016 The vet sees no option but to remove the plate and place her in a splint for 6-8 weeks. I am looking into possibly 3D printing an orthotic for her for recovery and perhaps for good if she is lame. I will post updates because I'm sure somewhere out there someone will search the internet looking for information when this happens to their dog. Taking a cue from my always positive greyhounds, we are simply going to take it in stride and find a way to enjoy our lives. No more fracture plates for us. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cleptogrey Posted February 11, 2016 Share Posted February 11, 2016 i would contact greyhound rescue and rehab in cross river, ny. the group's speciality is rehabbing broken legged hounds. there have been quite a few very difficult cases and the president is very well versed on plates and what ever else goes on with the healing and rehab process. best of luck, she's the one who has tons and tons of broken legged wisdom and experience. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest newyorkgrey Posted February 13, 2016 Share Posted February 13, 2016 Thanks, Cleptogrey. I will. She will get X-rays next Friday and likely have the plate removed then. The bone has been healing well thus far, and I've put the dogs on a higher calcium diet. I already made the decision she will be a crated dog while I'm not home for good. She loves her den and nothing would be more cruel than putting her through this again. We now have floors with gym pads covering their main runs. It's easy enough for me to design something for a 3D printer, but I am clueless on what kind of prosthetic would be helpful during the healing or the long run. I am hopeful the community can give me some advice. Thanks again to this forum. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SanTanSnuggles Posted February 16, 2016 Share Posted February 16, 2016 I got my San Tan Snuggles, after she broke her leg racing. She had a pin in her leg and her cast came off just days before I adopted her. I put ramps on my deck for her and rails on the side of the ramps, so she could not jump when she went outside to play. I noticed that it would sometimes get bumped regardless what I did to the floors. What really worked good for her is- I would cut the bottom foot part off of the sock and keep the area where it was broken covered with the top part of the sock. Cotton only of course, so her skin could breathe. I gently put on the top of the sock tube, a stretchy tape to hold it on and a small piece of tape on the other end to keep it safe. Eventually, the thin skin in that area developed a sturdy scab, and than a hearty scar and some hair began to grow back. It took many months for the process, but it was worth every bit of the time it took. Eventually, I was able to remove the sock. She always had a little bit of a gimp on that leg, but who cared. I let her run and play as she wanted and her walks were a little shorter than her partners, but she always let me know when she was done. She had broken her leg in May 2014 and I adopted her on 9/7/14. By the spring 2015, it was looking pretty good. She did have some antibiotics during some of that time to keep infections at bay. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest newyorkgrey Posted February 19, 2016 Share Posted February 19, 2016 Thanks for your story. It's so heart warming to hear about. I certainly don't care if my dog has a gimp. Our new lifestyle isn't exactly what I'd imagined when I got her as a playmate for my older dog. She broke her leg while they were roughhousing and she bolted, so now I have to referee during play time. Anyhow, tomorrow we update X-rays and maybe take out the plate. I bought some DermaGel, which has rave reviews on Amazon, and may be able to try it on her scars at some point. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SanTanSnuggles Posted February 19, 2016 Share Posted February 19, 2016 One of the products that I used on San Tan Snuggles while she was healing also came from Amazon. It is called Medline Skintegrity Wound Cleaner. It is also good for people. When I would change her tube sock, I would use this also to clean the area, Wrap it lightly with the white stretchy gauze and put on her footless tube sock described above. But wanting for this to scab over, I did not put on any thing like a petroleum product or Neosporin. I would watch the area and change the dressing only when necessary. If it were sticking a little, I would spray a little of the skintegrity on the gauze before removing it, so not to disturb the slowly growing scab. I was so pleased that between that, the sock and the antibiotic, that it healed nicely. Looking forward to hearing if they took out the plate yet and how she is doing. Prayers for you and your grey baby. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest newyorkgrey Posted February 21, 2016 Share Posted February 21, 2016 The plate is out. The X-rays showed that it was lifting away from the bone, as I thought it was, so it was doing more harm than good. She is now in a splint. I saw on someone else's website that they had to pull the plate and they gave their greyhound another 3 months of rest and rehab for the screw holes to fill in. So, we are in it for the long haul. Lots of crate and snuggling time. Tomorrow we change the bandage to clean the sutured wound and she goes back into the splint. I won't be able to try any derma gel for awhile. It's an alcohol, glycol mixture. Basically sugar, which I've read has been used for ages for healing. I think it is good for people too. Thanks for the words of support! These dogs mean everything to me. I loved the breed from the moment I first got close to them about 30 years ago. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SanTanSnuggles Posted February 24, 2016 Share Posted February 24, 2016 Sounds like a great plan. She is a very fortunate greyhound to have you and your family. Please keep us all up to date on her progress. Very interesting about the sugar. I agree with you about the greyhound. There is nothing better than being owned by them. I hope to convince my husband to adopt another one soon. He is still having a hard time over loosing our last girl. Our boy surprise who turned seven yesterday could use a friend again. We are like you, in the fact that we have been owned by greyhounds since 1989. Two boys and three girls over the years. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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