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....

What she said:thumbup:

Your puppy absolutely needs to be seen by a board certified surgeon. There is about a 5 percent (which means a 95 percent failure rate); chance that a splint will work in this area. Most vets are very aware of this...yet they still do it to help people cut cost. In the end many of the pups end up needing bone grafting after these splints do not work and the bone does not heal. The pups suffer in the meantime.
Please get a second opinion from a boarded surgeon ..

my story exactly...luckily my ending seems that the bone is healing ( isaw it) but Im sure the grafts made the difference and a great surgeon....an I barely let her move for 7 weeks

Praying all heals well for Reese. Don't feel bad Mommy, accidents happen.
My heart is breaking for you though, hard being a mommy and your baby gets hurt...:(

I am so sorry to hear about your baby's accident. I too would recommend a board certified Orthopedist. You really want this to heal correctly so as to lessen the amount pain now, dogs will hide the pain, and the pain of arthritis in the leg in later years.
Best wishes and prayers for baby Reese and hugs for you accidents happen.

I got a 4 month old long hair Chihuahua out of the shelter a few years ago with a broken foot as well. The Vet. was very good at putting that foot in a splint and it healed perfectly. Guess it depends on how good the Vet. is. Anyway I wrapped the splint with saran wrap and taped it so she could go outside to potty and not get it wet from the damp grass or dirty. Never a problem.

I'm so sorry to hear about your Reese. I am also a newbie here. I have only had my Jasper for a week and a half. I know I would be feeling the same guilt as you. But, as others have said accidents happen. You are doing all of the right things for your baby now. Praying he gets relief soon.

Steph & Jasper :animal-pa

Thanks everyone for the advice. I have checked up on the vet who seen him and he specialises in orthopedic surgery in paticular fracture and lameness treatments so its seems he should know what he is doing, I am going to take him for a second opinion this evening though as I am so worried this will have lasting damage.

He slept so well last night, the whole night with only 1 teeny cry at 4am and that was it.

He does not seem to like outside. He shakes when I bring him to the door and every more so when we go outside.

A question for those with pups with breaks before, I have seen it is best to keep him as still as possible but others say still but with room to walk around. I have set up a make shift play pen for him, so he has hit crate which opens into the pen which is also the size of his crate. Does this sound like too much room for him when I need to leave him alone for any length of time? My family have told me just the crate is too small and is cruel but I don't want him getting more hurt?

So sorry for all the questions! I must sound so silly.

Hi,
Mine is just finishing up her crate restriction. I have to tell you she was in a small crate most of the time. I was told as little to no movement as possible.
No pen. She was in a crate at night that was big enough for a bed pee pad. I hung a water bottle on the side. When she was trying to be active I put her in a smaller crate so she could only get up turn around and sit down.
When we were home we let her sit on our lap on the floor. If she got feisty, in the crate she went. I would suggest some tranquilzers to take the edge off.
Cruel? it will feel that way, trust me. Just make sure she gets plenty of lap time. Its the best thing for her. My dog did a pen with a cast and it didnt work at all. The vet never told me to totally restrict her (not that the cast would have worked anyway in my case but it was worse after 5 weeks)
My surgeon said no walking around..zero..except if shes outdoor potty trained (she isnt) and even then just small circles. She stood alot and turned around. I had to pad her crate bottom because yorkies like to jump/stand. I also had to lower the top roof (my husband designed a makeshift roof. It was really hard but today she has graduated out of the crate with 1 block walks a couple times a day and can now be in a small room (I have a 4 ft by 10 foot screened area she walks around in, but that just started yesterday) Her leg is totally functional and the surgeon was amazed even her ulna healed which he did not expect, but wont be able to run/play for another 3 months...ugh Im almost there..I remember thinking OMG I cant do this but it passes faster than you think...

Oh and mine shook going outside alot at the beginning but that wears off over time...just take him out a little at a time..in your arms

I can only pray that your second opinion is with a board certified surgeon. I have never heard of "rods" put in the wrist joint of a pup (the repair is different than that from what I know)....and I have had three vets give me the stats that I gave you...so that 5 percent figure did not come from just one. I have a lot of experience with fractures in yorkies and am very worried for your puppy and will pray it all works out for him. Of course 5 percent is not zero...but that number would scare me.

If you need to find a boarded surgeon, you can search here:

American College of Veterinary Surgeons

Best wishes to you and your puppy. Keep us posted please.

wishing him a speedy recovery as well, poor baby

Hi all. Quick update.

Reese has now seen another vet who told us he has extremely soft bones. (Same story) He would be very confident his bones would not hold the equipment that would be needed and he did not feel it was his best option. There was a vetinary nurse there thaa had taken the same treatment plan on her puppy a few years ago and it had all worked out great.

The vet looked at the break and checked the healing and has said he is doing incredibly well so it looks like he may be all okay. We will have to be so careful of him his whole life because of his soft bones but he is THE most well behaved little boy ever. He loves to play but is so calm about it and is just so lovely. He is fine not running about and much prefers hugs and snuggles. He is also totally fine about being alone if we have to run errands etc. He sleeps all night and goes on his pads perfectly. We were also trying to learn sit while sitting on the soft bedding yesterday and even though it was only for about 3 minutes he was getting it so well. He will be such a clever boy!

He is back to this vet on Wednesday to check it and will be going twice a week to have it looked at to make sure all is okay but he is totally confident all will heal great, he just won't be able to jump or run much ever.

Thank you all so much for your help and advice. I actually live in the UK and so don't have the board certified thing exactly but went to our sort of equivalent. You all helped me soo much! I will continue to update!

Can we clone him?? He sounds amazing! Mine thinks running is the only option...
Im so glad you dont have to go through the whole surgery thing, its truly hard. I didnt realize there is 10 weeks of rehab AFTER 8 weeks of crate restriction. Keep us updated!! :smile:

oh poor Reese, I am sure you will get lots of advise.