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holls123 · 09-11-2013, 05:19 PM

Hi everyone! My name is Hollie and I am new to Yorkie Talk. I have used this site as a reference, but never have posted before. Anyways, I have 2 dogs-our girl Trixie is a 4.5 year old morkie and our boy Jager (prounced Yay-ger) is a 1.5 year old pure yorkie. About 3 months ago, our dog Jager broke his leg-the ulna and radius. I am not exactly sure how he did it, but we think he jumped off of the porch and just landed wrong. I had let the dogs out to go potty and ran inside real quick. We took him to our regular vet and she confirmed that the leg was broken and we were told that it was a spoon fracture and she had seen many of these before and he would have to have a soft splint for 8 weeks. We were told to keep the splint clean and dry and to keep him calm for the next 8 weeks. We took him in for a check-up at 2 weeks and were told everything looked good, clean, and dry (they just visually checked it). Then, he went in for his routine vaccinations 2 weeks after that and they visually checked the splint and said once again, that it looked good, clean, and dry. At 5 weeks, I noticed Jager had started to lick a spot that was getting raw. So, we took him in and the vet decided to take the splint off and do x-rays. Apparently, when she took off the splint, she said that the material was completely soaked and was not holding his leg in place so his leg had not healed at all. We were dumbfounded because Jager had never gotten the splint wet and he never acted like the leg bothered him. So, the vet gave us the option of seeing a specialist 2.5 hours away and warned us that the cost could range anywhere from $3000-$5000 and since it had already been 5 weeks without healing, it might not even be successful. Our other option, was amputation. She seemed to push the idea of amputation, even stating that is what she would do if it were her dog. To me and my fiance, amputation was not even an option. I just couldn't imagine cutting the leg off of a 1 year old dog due to a clean break. So off to the specialist we went.

We were both extremely nervous about what the specialist would say, given the fact our vet said the surgery may not even be possible. The surgeon answered all of our questions and acted like surgery would be no problem. They were able to get him in the next day. We picked up Jager a day later and headed home. The first 2 weeks, he wasn't putting any weight on the leg and it was swollen, but we thought this was normal. We took him in for his 2 week check up and the Dr. was concerned. He took an x-ray and everything was normal, although there was quite a bit of swelling and Jager's temp was slightly high so he figured he had a bit of an infection. So, they gave us some antibiotics. 3 days later, Jager was not keeping the antibiotic down. He kept getting sick after I would give it to him so I called the Dr. and he decided to put him on an IV antibiotic. He had to get 1 shot that day and then one more in 2 weeks so he was on the antibiotics for a total of a month. Jager seemed to be improving and was finally putting some weight on his leg.

However, it now seems like he is not getting better. He has just been at a standstill for a few weeks. He uses the leg about 50% of the time and the leg seems to be hyperextended a bit when he does put weight on it. I called the Dr. to see if we should come in earlier for a check up, but he assured me that it could be a few things, but it wasn't an emergency and we could keep our appointment for next week. Jager is not whining, he lets us touch the leg and bend it, and he does use it, just not all the time. He had a plate and pins put in the leg and I am just worried something could be wrong with the hardware. Anyone else have experience with this?

I know his healing is delayed due to the fact that he was in a splint for 5 weeks with no healing and because he had an infection. But, I am just worried since he doesn't seem to be improving much and we still have another week until his next check up and x-rays.

Any words of advice or comfort would be appreciated!

09-11-2013, 05:19 PM	#1
holls123 YorkieTalk Newbie! Join Date: Jul 2009 Location: Michigan Posts: 3	Broken Wrist-Sugery Hi everyone! My name is Hollie and I am new to Yorkie Talk. I have used this site as a reference, but never have posted before. Anyways, I have 2 dogs-our girl Trixie is a 4.5 year old morkie and our boy Jager (prounced Yay-ger) is a 1.5 year old pure yorkie. About 3 months ago, our dog Jager broke his leg-the ulna and radius. I am not exactly sure how he did it, but we think he jumped off of the porch and just landed wrong. I had let the dogs out to go potty and ran inside real quick. We took him to our regular vet and she confirmed that the leg was broken and we were told that it was a spoon fracture and she had seen many of these before and he would have to have a soft splint for 8 weeks. We were told to keep the splint clean and dry and to keep him calm for the next 8 weeks. We took him in for a check-up at 2 weeks and were told everything looked good, clean, and dry (they just visually checked it). Then, he went in for his routine vaccinations 2 weeks after that and they visually checked the splint and said once again, that it looked good, clean, and dry. At 5 weeks, I noticed Jager had started to lick a spot that was getting raw. So, we took him in and the vet decided to take the splint off and do x-rays. Apparently, when she took off the splint, she said that the material was completely soaked and was not holding his leg in place so his leg had not healed at all. We were dumbfounded because Jager had never gotten the splint wet and he never acted like the leg bothered him. So, the vet gave us the option of seeing a specialist 2.5 hours away and warned us that the cost could range anywhere from $3000-$5000 and since it had already been 5 weeks without healing, it might not even be successful. Our other option, was amputation. She seemed to push the idea of amputation, even stating that is what she would do if it were her dog. To me and my fiance, amputation was not even an option. I just couldn't imagine cutting the leg off of a 1 year old dog due to a clean break. So off to the specialist we went. We were both extremely nervous about what the specialist would say, given the fact our vet said the surgery may not even be possible. The surgeon answered all of our questions and acted like surgery would be no problem. They were able to get him in the next day. We picked up Jager a day later and headed home. The first 2 weeks, he wasn't putting any weight on the leg and it was swollen, but we thought this was normal. We took him in for his 2 week check up and the Dr. was concerned. He took an x-ray and everything was normal, although there was quite a bit of swelling and Jager's temp was slightly high so he figured he had a bit of an infection. So, they gave us some antibiotics. 3 days later, Jager was not keeping the antibiotic down. He kept getting sick after I would give it to him so I called the Dr. and he decided to put him on an IV antibiotic. He had to get 1 shot that day and then one more in 2 weeks so he was on the antibiotics for a total of a month. Jager seemed to be improving and was finally putting some weight on his leg. However, it now seems like he is not getting better. He has just been at a standstill for a few weeks. He uses the leg about 50% of the time and the leg seems to be hyperextended a bit when he does put weight on it. I called the Dr. to see if we should come in earlier for a check up, but he assured me that it could be a few things, but it wasn't an emergency and we could keep our appointment for next week. Jager is not whining, he lets us touch the leg and bend it, and he does use it, just not all the time. He had a plate and pins put in the leg and I am just worried something could be wrong with the hardware. Anyone else have experience with this? I know his healing is delayed due to the fact that he was in a splint for 5 weeks with no healing and because he had an infection. But, I am just worried since he doesn't seem to be improving much and we still have another week until his next check up and x-rays. Any words of advice or comfort would be appreciated!