Following on from my positive vibes needed post, Dolly has been diagnosed with a fractured femur. She's a 7 year old Rottie and has HD in both hips and TPLO on both logs, but she is in good condition, not overweight (41 kgs), and respectable muscle tone. The vets always comment how nice it is to see one that isn't fat. However they are completely stumped as to what could have caused this, as there was no trauma - she was on lead, on flat ground so there wasn't a fast twist / turn, no sign of a tumour, and the bone density on the fractured leg looks comparable to the other leg. They'll be phoning the specialists to get her in first thing in the morning.

Has anyone ever encountered anything similar? I had looked away just before she started screaming, but she was having a pee, and she would sometimes mark / kick up dirt with her back legs after peeing, so I thought she'd done this and torn a nail. But I still can't see how this action could have caused the fracture - but then I'm not a vet.

I'd be grateful to hear any similar experiences, I want to be as prepared as I can

My eldest girl (Dolly), is currently at the vets, being sedated for x-rays. She did something to her right rear leg on our walk this morning ( the screaming was awful), and she can't weigh bear on it.

We had only just got to the park, she was on lead and had just had a pee, I looked away to see if my other girl was toileting when the screaming started. I initially thought she'd been stung, but the screaming lasted too long, I checked her nails to see if she'd ripped one when doing her usual marking action - but no obvious signs.

She has HD and has had TPLO on both legs, the vet at first though it was a dislocated hip, but as she was on lead at the time, now thinks that's unlikely. She did also mention it could be a tumour, because of the breed (Rottie), but she hasn't been limping, or showing any signs of being unwell / distressed. So now it's just a wait and see what the X-ray shows, could also be something gone awry with the TPLO. Either way she was in terrible pain, and I just want her to get better.

How awful for you. A couple of virtual hugs coming your way.
Do hope it's not as serious as it seems and that your girl will be home with you soon as right as rain.

Fingers and paws crossed for your girl and you get a quick diognosis.

Sheila

Everything crossed here as well. x

Good luck...I hope it's something simple to fix. What a worry for you.

She has a fractured femur. I've seen the X-ray and it's split diagonally fom about an inch above the knee joint to about half an inch below the hip. The good news is, there's no obvious sign of tumour, and the comparison X-ray to the other leg didn't show any obvious bone degradation. However the vet is stumped as to the cause, and they can't do the surgery needed, so they'll be phoning around in the morning to try and get her booked in somewhere. She's back home with us overnight.

The vet also said that in her opinion it's not related to either the TPLO or the HD, so hopefully our insurance will cover it.

Thanks for the positive vibes everyone. But I just don't know how this could happen she was on lead, so no running / twisting suddenly.

Not with a dog but with my husband. He was closing the curtains when he slightly twisted and went down like a sack of spuds. Two bad fractures and had to be fixed with a titanium rod inserted down his leg.

The orthopaedic surgeon was baffled as he showed no signs of having anything wrong at all with bone density or weakness.

Hope they get her sorted soon poor girl x

Thanks for replying. Sounds similar, albeit I didn't see her twist, that's not to say she didn't.

You just feel so helpless, she's had some morphine, and we have Tramadol, which they've said could make her drowsy - under the circumstances, that's not a bad thing, she's out for the count at the moment.

That is what we did with my OH as well as they couldnt operate straight away so he was away with the fairies for a the days !

Best to keep her calm and pain free until they know how the can treat her.

She's certainly more rested than we are. We're going to alternate who's on the sofa next to her!

The specialist has viewed the xrays, but is concerned around the apparent lack of cause, so wants to do a load of blood tests first to see if her calcium levels are low, and that her thyroid and liver(?) functions are normal. She's booked in for the op on wednesday, we had to take her back to the vets this afternoon for them to take the blood, results should be back tomorrow, and we should then know if they can procede.

As she has HD and TPLO on both legs, her good leg wouldn't be able to support all her weight so if they can't pin the break amputation is not an option. All our fingers, toes and paws are crossed here that the blood results come back OK.

Sorry nothing positive to offer just wanted to say sorry. And to wish you her well poor girl, not having seen this sooner. Fingers crossed results are okay to proceed.
Karen

Thanks Karen.

Blood tests came back normal, and the specialist is happy to proceed. We're to take her to the vets tomorrow morning, to discuss things with him, with a view to doing the surgery straight away.

Ironically she's a lot brighter today has been cleaning Daisy's face and ears, just in time to go back in.

Sending positive vibes for her operation.  We are all rooting for you.  What a relief that it isn't a tumour.

That is positive news hope all now continues to go well and lovely to hear she seems perkier x

Good luck! What  very good news that its not the big C, here's hoping for a good recovery for the break.

Well she's there. The consultant is still very concerned about the bone density, but is going to have a go at it. He won't plate and screw, as he doesn't want to drill into an already thin bone, so he's going to put a pin in, and then wrap wires around the pin and bones to bring it all together. He won't know until he tightens the wires and puts pressure on the bones whether it will take it, or crumble.

Obviously we're hoping the bones will hold up, but we'll know around 2'ish today.

Fingers crossed all goes well for you.

Sending positive vibes your way and hoping for good news. Can I make a suggestion that you put a harness on her to help take the weight off her legs when she is needing a toilet break etc, it will help you lift her and then walk with her. Good luck

> put a harness on her to help take the weight off her legs when she is needing a toilet break etc, it will help you lift her and then walk with her. Good luck

Good idea. I have a special harness for my Lad with HD. Without it it would be impossible to get him in and out of the van. I have the full harness so I can lift at both his shoulder and his hips.

Thanks, we've made a makeshift harness / sling using a towel. Luckily I have a strong husband, who's able to carry her in and out. I used the towel method, and managed to get her into the garden - she didn't want a wee though, she just wanted to lay on the grass!

The other thing instead of a towel is a scarf (the knitted variety not the head scarf!!) I find that it is easier to hold as there isn't quite so much of it to grip in your hand. How is she doing.?

They've just phoned. The bone did crumble slightly, but the bone is now back where it should be, held in with a big pin, and 4 good wires. I've got to go and pick her up at 7, and then take her to the out of hours vet for overnight monitoring. I don't like the idea of moving her, but she will need morphine, which can only be administered by a vet.

I think he still has reservations around the bone density, he mentioned she's a big girl, so needs to be kept really still (another reason for the out of hours vet), but I'm sure I'll find out more when I go and get her.

THanks for everyones good wishes, the next few days / weeks are going to be key.

Great news and hope her recovery goes well. The advantage with pinning is the extra strength and my OH was able with crutches to be back at work after two weeks where as if the had put him in a cast it would have been months .

> where as if the had put him in a cast it would have been months

They don't put fractured femurs in casts do they (humans) ?? I wouldn't have spent three months in traction if they did (no pinning back in 1968) :) When the femur breaks it usually does quite a bit of damage as the thigh muscles are very strong and so the bone displaces violently (with mine I had a compound fracture where the bone came out through the skin). I don't think it is the same with the neck of the femur which is what elderly people break.

Mike broke the Tib and Fib

Keeping everything crossed for you both

Well I'm still sat here with my fingers crossed for you.  I only have experience with a pin in the patella.  If good wishes help her along, you are getting bundles of them.  Good Luck.  :-)

I started my Orthopaedic training in 1972 and there were lots of fractured femurs strung up in splints on traction, mainly young lads involved in RTA's, they became very bored and mischevious as they were there for months, wasn't unusual to have a syringe of water squirted at you as you walked by.

Hip replacements were in their infancy.

Thanks everyone - she's home :-) 

Very swollen, so we have to gently massage, and encourage her to move about, not too much, and nothing too strenous. Mooching is acceptable!

Great news if she is anything like my husband was she will be on the sofa in charge of the remote control being given food and drink on demand ! :-P

She's got the food and drink on demand part down pat! The looks we're getting from her now are a picture, I swear she's saying "have you not seen the scar, why are you not carrying me".

It's difficult as she's obviously in pain, and every part of me wants to mollycoddle her, but she needs to get up and about to help the healing process. So we've agreed to leave her be today, but tomorrow, we will encouraging her to get up every hour or so.

Our house now looks like a patchwork quilt. We have laminate downstairs, so we've had to go out and buy runners and rugs, and tape them to the floor, so she has a sturdy('ish) path from kitchen to living room. I don't think that bit will be covered by the insurance - she's worth it though.

They are funny when they are poorly though! Puds my oldie sometimes  get a bit of a limp and come and stands by me and holds the legs that is causing the issue to show me !

Of course she is worth the expense of a few rugs and alot more besides that !

> Thanks everyone - she's home  

Good news :)

Great news, best place for her.

I'm so very pleased for you.  I was distraught without one of my girls when she was kept in a few weeks ago.  I think we all need them "at home."

I hope her convalescence is successful, and she runs you round in circles LOL   :-)
Seriously, I am sure you are glad to have her at home.

Hugs and strokes and general well wishes from here, so glad she is on the mend. A 'like' button would be very useful. But then probably she'd have had fewer cyber hugs and strokes.
Karen

I thought I'd post an update....

It's now 2 weeks since the surgery, and she is doing well. We had a follow up session with the Surgeon yesterday to get his opinion, and whilst he warned us that we're not out of the woods, he's quietly confident. In his experience, they will usually know within a week if it isn't working, and the way she's moving around on it, does seem to imply things are going to plan.

We're to keep going as we are (short 5 minute lead walks), and to stop her getting too "silly", back in 4 weeks for an xray to see how it's going.

Thanks for everybody's support and well wishes, they seem to have had the desired effect.
T

Great news and you must feel happier that she is doing so well .

Glad things are going well.

Karen

I spoke too soon, she was back into the emergency vet last night, as she was on 3 legs. We suspected the medication was not suited to her, as whilst the packaging said it was the same, the actual tablets looked different. Along with her not using the leg, she was also keen to be in the garden, and eat grass. Her stomach was grumbling, and she was salivating. She can't have Metacam as it causes similar reactions, although she does actually vomit when given the liquid, so whilst she wasn't sick, everything else was pointing to her feeling that way.

She's had another xray this morning, and we're waiting for the surgeon to go over and have a look at it. The "normal" vet said that whilst should couldn't see any obvious new fractures, it didn't look to be healing and seemed very loose. HAving said that OH has just remembered that the surgeon mentioned him that they don't do the xray until 6 weeks after surgery, as they wouldn't be able to see much if they did it earlier - so we're hoping that it was the drugs, and she's remembered the pain and is therefore unwilling to use it, as she had been.

I was going to say far too around to see if the bone is starting to fix but they can we if anything has moved in terms of he plate or screws coming away. Pain medication is so key to aid recovery.

The good news is the surgeon can't see anything obvious either. There doesn't appear to be any new fractures, and the pin doesn't appear to have moved, neither are there any obvious signs of infection. So they've increased her pain meds again (and we've insisted that she have the same brand as before), along with some precautionary antibiotics. Strict rest as well, so whereas we were taking her for 1 / 2 very short walks around the block a day (would take 1-2 mins max at a usual pace, but was somewhere near 5 mins with her as they were a "sniffathon"), she can only go into the garden to toilet.

Good hope you see her perk up abit now. I was trying to say too soon to see the bone mending in my last post ! Blumin predictive text !

How time flies. We're now 9 weeks post surgery, and she is in today having her pin removed.

The 6 week check up xrays showed the bone was healing as expected, but they think the pin had shifted by about 1cm, and was possibly rubbing on her nerve, which is why she'd stopped using the leg. At 8 weeks the bone should be 90% healed, so whilst in an ideal world the pin should be left in for longer, the surgeon decided it needs to come out, to encourage her to use the leg again.

Hydrotherapy (both in the pool and on the aqua treadmill) has had a really positive effect, and this morning she actually used her leg on the latter part of our mooch around the block. It's the first time I've seen her walk properly (albeit still with a limp), in 6 weeks. I'm sure she knew she was going in for more poking around, and was trying to show that she didn't need it.

So we're back to the fingers (and paws) crossed, and hoping that she comes through another GA without incident.