Hi all,

The beastie is currently in the vets with a suspected broken (back) leg. We've just had a weekend away, picked them all up from the kennels yesterday and Dave couldn't put weight on his leg. Took him straight down the vets, it was a late appointment so they weren't able to do the xrays etc yesterday, so they kept him overnight under mild sedation, we should know by 3 today what the problem is.

DAve's a 10 month old Rottie, and we have 2 other Rottie girls (2.5 and 14 months), and needless to say they play. Regardless of what the outcome is - even if it's just a really bad muscle tear/sprain we're going to have to keep him calm. So was thinking about a crate for when the girls are being walked, nightime etc. I've never used crates before, as mine all just have big plastic beds in the kitchen. So was looking for some quidance from anyone who's had to manage this sort of scenario.

All hints, tips, guidance welcome
T

I've never used a cage either and have had a dog with a broken leg, many dogs with pulled muscles and just recently a dog with a tendon repair that had to be kept calm and still for 4 weeks. I've managed all this perfectly fine without the need to buy a cage - just like we all did in the years before people decided to start putting dogs in cages like hamsters :-)

If he's used to being in the kitchen anyway, why not get a pet gate, or use the kitchen door and just keep him in there. Presumably they don't play chases in your kitchen, unless you have a very large kitchen? If they are going to run around in there he may have to be kept on his own, with the other two on the other side of the gate.

Fingers crossed he hasn't actually broken anything.

One ours needed this sort of confinement we put her in a small room we have where she could rest without having the room to move around too much but also somewhere where we could go and be with her so she could have company.  This seemed to work quite well.

Hiya,

I have a couple of large crates, one I had specially made for my male rott that would fit on the bench and be comfortable enough for him to lay down. The size of this is H 30" W 25" L 40  I also have a croft cage which is H 30" W 27" L 45" anything around this size would be ok for a 10mth male.  I wouldn't use these to keep my adult males in them long term (ok for a short spell to limit movement if someone was coming round or you needed to pop out) but I have used this size for my girls if they need to be crated after ops. For my boys I would restrict them to the kitchen on a comfy bed so they couldn't play with the others and jump on any furniture.

Thanks for the suggestions, just heard from the vet that it's Panosteitis, and his hips looked fine (our 2 girls both have HD so we asked for the hips to be checked whilst he was under). They think he's overdone it in the kennels (they have a couple of acres to run in several times a day), and the thigh muscle has spasmed hence the apparent severity.

It's still nasty for Dave, but it's a major relief for us, our middle girl was diagnosed with this on her front legs at around this age so we know they can come through the other side.

Once again thanks for the kind thoughts and suggestions.

my dog is now recovering from a luxating patella op and I used a much bigger crate for her than usual so she could stretch out her leg and have it in a variety of weird but comfortable for her posititions.  For a staffy I used a 42" crate but would usually use one much smaller.