Roxie recently broke her leg.
Roxie is 3.2 lbs, 7 1/2 moths old and broke her front left leg August 1 (15 days ago).
She wiggled out of 12 year old Nicole's arms just 12 inches before being set down on a carpeted floor. The force of the wiggle, the angle of lag contact and the non-slip traction of the carpet cause both bones in her forearm to snap with a loud sickly sound. Touch her arm or paw would cause Roxie to squeal - a good thing (the vet told us later) as this suggests the nerves were not damaged).
Aug 1 was a holiday here in Ontario; we raced to the Emergency Vet Clinic with Nicole holding Roxie; her paw clearly bent around towards her elbow. Roxie was quiet and content to try to sleep. After three hours the Vet got to us, spoke to us, gave us a quote, and made excuses as to when Roxie would begin to receive treatment due to possibly more urgent cases that would preempt Roxie’s treatment.
A sedative was administered in hour 4 to ease the pain during X-ray.
X-Ray taken that confirmed 2 bones, one break each, away from the joints and growth plate - great chance for normal healing.
Roxie would be treated within the next two hours pending completion of a current surgery in progress.
At hour 6 we were told another case was put ahead of Roxie.
At hour 9 Roxie had finally received treatment, however...
The larger bone was to be aligned by external manipulation, splinted then X-rayed from two angles to confirm 90 % or better alignment. The smaller bone would normally align itself (sufficiently) and "knit" with a bone scare.
The proof X-ray from two attempts showed the larger bone could not be externally aligned. Orthopedic surgery was required.
Roxie was returned to us with a splint and a bill of $839.
We were able to schedule Roxie for surgery 36 hours later at 8:00AM on August 3rd with an Orthopedic Surgeon who was recommended to us by Roxie's breeder (who was all to familiar with broken-leg horror stories).
We brought in all the X-rays and records from the emergency clinic the night before surgery. The Surgeon was confident the 100% recovery and 100% motion would be regained.
Following surgery the Surgeon called (noonish) to confirm a perfect operation and that Roxie was already up and about. Roxie could be picked up around 6 PM following continued observation.
Upon arrival, we could hear Roxie's familiar plea on the other side of the clinic "let me out of this crate".
The Surgeon explained to us that the "knitting" of both bones had already begun before he started his work; underlies the importance of setting the bones right away. He further explained what he did to access and to repair the bones for re-alignment, and how the plate and six screws were installed to hold the bones for the healing process. The plate and screws do not normally need to be removed ever.
When we finally saw Roxie, she was perky, very alert and clearly happy to see all of us.
We left with a happy YT, an appointment to return in 14 days to remove the splint and stitches and a bill of $1,181.
Roxie had adapted well to the splint. She was at reduced speed 3-legged running in the second post-surgery day and full speed 4-legged running at the end of the first week. Note Roxie is walked on a leash, has freedom to roam a completely enclosed rear yard (supervised always!), gets out to malls and stores and road trips (she sleeps anywhere she likes and at night in a crate in Nicole's room.
On the 14th day we woke up to Roxie having chewed of her splint and 2 of 5 stitches.
We took her to see the Surgeon who in turn snipped the remaining stitches and confirmed the alignment was still perfect.
The final words from the Surgeon:
- do not encourage risky play or movement for 4-6 weeks,
- get Roxie some hydrotherapy (make her swim in the bathtub) to exercise motion without stress from her body weight
- 12 weeks the bones should be fully healed.
Final word from Nicole's Dad:
In Canada,
www.petplan.com said they would have covered the entire expense.