hi , i posted on here on thursday asking about the typical treatment for a broken toe. since then Belle had an x-ray, broken toe confirmed and she had a splint & bandage put on. we have been trying our best to keep her rested however this evening she got up quickly to greet my sister and her bandage and splint just fell off. i called the vet because i was told to do so if it happened to come off, the vet on call said i would have to pay onother £75 call out fee. the vet also wasnt sure if she'd be able to bandage her foot very well 'because it's the nurses who always deal with the dressings'. the vet said her second option would be to bring her up and they would keep her at the surgery in a crate until the nurses come into work in the morning. i suggested that i could keep her at home in her own crate and i'd take her into the surgery in the morning to have the splint and bandage put back on. they were quite happy for me to do this.
belle has only managed to keep the splint & bandage on for 1 day so far, the nurse said she needed to keep it on for up to 4 weeks but said they expect her to pull it off occasionally 'as that type of bandage comes off easily'.
has anyone had a similar expierience? do you think the nurses would show me how to reapply the splint& bandage,  just i think the vets will be quite happy for me to be there with belle every day having the bandage reapplied and paying them even more money each time. (obviously i dont mind paying for necessary treatment)
i would appriciate any advice, thanks.

I think I'd have a word with vet about how necessary this splint really is.  if it drops off after one day then can't see how it would do much useful and constant rebandaging will drive her and you mad :(
if they really think its necessary I would be quite blunt with them and say you cannot afford to have it professionally rebandaged on a daily basis and you will need to be shown how to do it for yourself.  that is not unreasonable!

edit-tell them can't afford not 'i will pay everytime' as generally bills get far more reasonable when its pointed out you don't have bottomless pit of cash

In my experience, broken toes in pups don't need a splint.
Rest, and Rimadyl usually does the trick.
Can't see how you'd get a splint to stay on a puppy toe anyway.

As I said on my previous post, my dog broke her toe badly (she was 2 - so not a puppy). My vet bandaged the complete leg so the bandage stayed on. The bandage was changed completely. The toe took 6 weeks to heal. After 4 weeks my vet wasn't available, so his partner rebandaged the leg and, I believe, put the bandage on too tightly. He also said to leave the bandage on for two weeks - not one. After ten days, my dog got into the stream and when the bandage was removed (as the vet said that the toe must be healed by then) the foot was rotting (sorry, can't remember the correct term) as well as parts of the leg. The outcome was that she lost the toe as well as the large pad on the paw and other damage. The whole thng took years to heal properly and although (nearly 6 years later) part of the pad has regrown and she is able to walk/run on grass normally, she still has problems walking on hard surfaces :(

I would be very cautious about using heavy bandaging on a leg, even more so on a puppy :(

Daisy

Same experience as Daisy, although my girl broke her leg at 13 weeks. The bandage never stayed on and at one point we had three bandage changes in 4 days. The bandage also (mostly) covered the foot and her foot started to 'rot'. Her foot is still (at 8 1/2  years of age) misshapen compared to her others. I would challenge the reason for her foot being bandaged. Must just add that my girl was only bandaged for 2 weeks and had about 5 bandage changes in that time and I still ended up with the problems with the foot.
Also, I was NEVER charged that sort of price for a bandage change. Can't remember how much now but probably something like £5 - £10 if that.

Oops - what I meant to say on my post was that the bandage was changed completely every week, but never came off as was right up to the top of the leg. A bandage change wasn't more than about £15 I think. I was insured, so the cost was important. My vet didn't charge a penny tho' once the loss of the toe etc was discovered .................... :( She now walks on the back of the paw and the remaining toes point upwards.

Daisy

hi, thanks to everyone for your advice and comments. we finally saw a vet today who thought it was not necessary to have her foot and leg bandaged  (her leg had been bandaged right to the top), she said that belles  other toes are acting like a splint and as long as we keep exercise to a minimum it should heal without any problem. she still has painkillers and has to be checked on thursday. i'm relieved that belle has the bandage off, i'm sure she is too. some of your dogs have had some terrible expieriences with their bandages, i'm so pleased you've pointed these problems out to me, i'll be more cautious and ask more questions at the vets in future. oh just to add the vet didn't charge for her check today!

really pleased you have better solution now.
other thing you may wish to raise with vet on thursday is on pain killer use, when my old girl had major surgery she had pain meds for a few days but vet advised as soon as worst of pain past it was better to stop useing them unless she became very tragic -then if very sad give her minimum dose for minimum time. his reasoning on this was she was supposed to on very light exersise-if it was utterly painless to go raving mad then she would do, if still a little sore that would make her careful with her injured bits and less inclined to do more damage. note i say little sore not hurting terribly! idea is not to torture poor dog but just let them feel enough to be bit sensible while it heals. 
may be an idea to raise this with the vet when you go back.
good luck