New Yorkie :(
 

I picked up my beautiful baby Yorkie yesterday, he is 4 months old and a real beauty. We brought him home and he seemed happy and content, all was well. Reese is his name <3

Just before bed time, he was sitting on the sofa with me, I turned round to pick something up and 2 seconds later I heard a yelp. Turned to see he had fallen off. 4 hours I had my baby at this point!

Brought him to Out of hours emergency vet who gave him pain relief and stabalised it then brought him to our normal vets this morning.

Just got a call from the vet and he has broken it in 2 places on either side of the wrist joint. I am beside myself with guilt.
The vet wants to splint it and not operate as he feels Reese is too young and the bones would not do well in the metal rods. He believes there is a good chance of it completely healing if put in a splint and he rests most of the time for 4-6 weeks. He also say we must keep it completely dry.

My question is, does this sound like the right course of action for a 4 month old pup?

How do I keep it dry if he has to be kept in his crate and he is not yet toilet trained?

I feel so terribly guilty and want to do everything I can to make him better!

Help me :(

Welcome to YT. I am so sorry for poor little Reese. I hope someone can give you the info you need. Please keep us posted.

very sorry this happened to you and reese.. i know that the bones do have a better chance being so young if set properly. hoping others will chime in with first hand experience...wishing reese a fast recovery and be careful as you found out the hard way although lil they are fearless. you may want to invest in ramps or stairs and teach him asap to use them properly. maybe you can put a plastic bag and tape it up around his leg snug to avoid it getting wet and maybe get an ecollar if you see hes trying to chew at it....just a thought. best wishes.

Accidents happen. It is ok..

I would see a Boarded surgeon immediately to get a second opinion. Breaking over the growth plate can cause peranent problems. I'd make sure it is ok to wait.

Oh my gosh, poor Reece! Puppies are so quick and have no fear. :( Don't beat yourself up as it happens. I don't know anything about bad breaks but if you are concerned, you might want to get a second opinion. It never hurts to see what another vet thinks! I pray that he heals quickly!

Totally agree. An orthopedic specialist can give you your answer on if it's the way to go.

Hey, we ALL have had our moments. Shoot, I was keeping my niece's baby chihuahua when she was in the hospital and I dropped the poor guy on his head on a ceramic tile floor. Scared the crapola out of me! Even parents to human children have things happen. You know why? Because we are human. We would like to have total control and keep accidents from ever happening, but alas..we cannot. *sigh*

Don't beat yourself up. You are obviously a loving mommy to Reese. You did the exactly right thing to do and got him to the ER vet asap. Way to go!! Remember this...all you can do is what you can do. And you did that.

Now, consult with a specialist and you will have peace of mind on whether or not you need to get him surgery or not.

Also, it is going to be really hard to keep a 4 month old yorkie "still" on a broken leg. There is a member that just had to do this for quite a while and she could help with tips if you need her to, I am sure. I will PM her the link to this thread so she will see it :)

Sorry to hear this has happened. My puppies are 6 mnths and one is a lot braver than the other and I worry about this all the time. I hope your puppie has a speedy recovery!

Thank you all for your answers, so much appreciated from a newbie.

The vet was very very nice when we picked him up and explained his reasoning to us. We have agreed to see how he is tonight and make a decision tomorrow on how we think he is feeling. He is holding the leg out to the side a little which my husband believes is for ease as he can't bend it obviously. He doesn't seem to be in obvious pain but trying to do any training with him seems impossible. I don't want him to develop separation anxiety so don't want to rush to him every little cry but now I am so worried is he crying in pain or because he wants attention. My poor little boy, I hope this doesn't have a lasting emotional effect on him.

I am so sorry. Wishing little Reese a speedy recovery. :getwellso

Poor little guy....I just can't imagine what you and him are going though! :( Emotionally he will be fine. Just show him how much you love him. The hard part will be trying to keep him quiet and content until his leg heals!

I know how you feel when I first got Honey she jumped out of my arms and hit the floor wood floor. I just knew she was gone but my baby was ok. my friend dog just had a boke leg and the vet told her when she want to take the dog a bath but bags over the leg and wash with a wash cloth instead of putting him all the way in the water. Also you can still pottly train with no problem he will be fine since its now hot outside. I would just show him a lot of love.

He has an anaesthetic today but is still crying in his bed a little. More settled than earlier but he is still super sleepy. Don't know what we will do when the energy kicks in.

:(

Praying he's not in much pain and has this time now to get to know his new family :)

I agree that you need to take this dog to a board certified surgeon for an opinion. Best wishes.

Well unfort. I have become an expert on this..My yorkie was new to me and the exact same thing happened within weeks. so dont beat yourself up. We have mirror experiences.
My dog broke both bones as well. I let the vet cast it and told us to check back in 5 weeks. Little did I know bones in little yorkies have very little chance of healing in a cast. After 5 weeks (they dont stay still, it is virtually impossible) the cast came off and there was no one bit of healing...the bones were no where near each other. She also had sores from the adhesive. The offered to let me take her as is (?) amputate or see a surgeon. After i almost passed out from guilt and fear I opted for the surgeon. (mine was not yet a year old) I sent the xrays to another vet while waiting for my surgeon appiontment. She was appalled they put a cast on the break. She said 10 years would not of healed it. So off to the surgeon who said she now needed bone grafts and surgery with complete plate and screws (just pins are tough for yorkies as they tend to break easy as they are so small) so tommorow is 8 weeks of crate restricition after surgery. She gets out tommorow (she does race around a bit but the surgeon told me she could be let free in a small room) we had to tranquilze her every day to settle her. The good news is "both bones are healing" the surgeon was astounded the ulna healed. He said what have you been doing? I said "everything but float her on a cloud for 6 weeks"
(I had to go 8 weeks because of the wait time(it would be much faster if you did it now than wait because the bone calcifys then its grafting....please take her xrays to a surgeon. Feel free to email me the pics of her xrays and I can send you mine. maybe the surgeon will concur with your vet, maybe your breaks are different than mind but my vet totally dropped the ball . They are no longer my vets. It was much more expensive because of the grafts. Im not trying to scare you but just save you from three months of your new dog living in a crate as mine has done..Im here to help you any way I can.
Jess is walking on hers totally normal. The surgeon did say "her jumping days are over" I said "no kidding" I wish you all the best....