Don’t read if you have a sensitive stomach…
There once was a pomeranian (now known as Peg-Legged Lily) so hyper and red, she loved to bark shrilly and chew toys in her bed…
She also had quite the love for Yoda the Pug, so much so that she leaped out of my arms and broke her leg at 10:50P on March 8th.
After a not so cheap trip to the emergency pet hospital she was back to us with a splinted leg and follow-up instructions with our normal vet. She still remained her old hyper, happy, and loving self.
During follow-up our vet explained that small dogs don’t have great blood circulation in their legs due to their size. He said what we have going for her is that she’s young and her bones are soft so they will heal good, but that is a double edged sword as they are soft and are prone to breaking easier (hence this accident).
He recommended that instead of just splinting the leg and hoping that it heals strong and straight that we insert an external and internal fixator. This included putting a rod inside her bone, where the bone marrow would normally be, and a threaded pin above and below the break, then connecting those with an external rod. Then they would splint around that. It would insure that her leg does indeed heal straight and that it will be strong enough for her to be able to play again. After surgery it ended up looking like this:
After a few follow-up visits, she was able to have her splint removed and the external fixator is all that remains until her leg is strong enough to support it’s own weight. We’re not quite there yet, but at that time she will go back into surgery and all of the metal will be removed and her leg should be good as new again.
I can’t wait to have our regular Lily back.
Leave a Reply