Dog with broken pelvis

[Jaegermonster]

[QUOTE=spotnnotfarm;3965121]
Charlie is still resting all the time. We put him in the crate yesterday but my husband said when he got home Charlie had a hard time getting out of the crate. So we have reinforced the gate at the bathroom door and he spent some time in there yesterday. He appeared to be much more comfortable. This morninghe was putting a little more weight on the leg.

Fat Palomino-Thanks for the pictures! WOW what a recovery he has made. I hope Charlie makes one like that.

Jaegermonster-I to have had a vet recommend not giving pain meds for a horse. Charlie is a calm dog so I am giving him meds. However, if it was my VERY hyper coonhound/cattle dog cross I may have to do the same thing. HE NEVER rests![/QUOTE]

Exactly. Mine is very high drive, never stops. So we had to manage her carefully to keep her even somewhat quiet.
My own dr also did that with me a couple of years ago. He was very careful what he gave me and how much because if I feel too good I will overdue. He wanted me to be comfortable but not go at 100 mph like I usually do.
Every situation is different.

[Wanderluster]

I cannot offer words of advice about rehabbing because my dog was lucky in that he was a free roaming, feral dog when he was found in a park. A lovely woman realized that this poor animal was injured and took it upon herself to get him x rayed and kenneled until his pelvis healed. Bodie had two places broken undoubtedly in a car accident and walks with a swagger but he is amazingly athletic. He can follow us for miles trotting and cantering down trails and he leaps up on the dining room table with the grace of a feline.

[Sing_Mia_Song]

I got my Beagle when she came into the emergency clinic via Animal Control after being drilled by a Jeep. She had a fractured pelvis, a shattered femur, and various lacerations. Shockingly, she did not have heartworm, although she was positive for Lyme.

She got an external fixature for the femur, and we cage rested her for the pelvis. She held the leg up for about six months despite PT, and our surgeon despaired of her using it again. But once she got our of the cage and into “turn-out,” she realized she could be a whole lot faster if she put it down.

It’s been 8 years, and the remodeling of the pelvis on radiographs is amazing. It went from “exploded” to “healed, but way funky” to looking pretty near normal over that time.

[spotnnotfarm]

Thank you for all your replies. Charlie is still very painful. It is so hard to watch him. I am still giving him the Tramadol and have slightly decreased it. He is mostly laying around and sleeping. However yesterday I went to feed the horses and he hopped up and went to the door like he was going to go help. He also picked up a sent yesterday on a bathroom break and wanted to follow it. He seems to want to get back to his old life.

Keep your experiences coming. I get discouraged about his progress and your stories are keeping my spirits up.

Christina

[Jaegermonster]

I actually had to give my one doggie that had a broken pelvis a mild tranquilizer sometimes.
I would usually give it to her before I went out to feed or do something else she enjoyed, to keep her from hopping around.
My vet gave me diazepam for my other dog that is terrified of thunder, and I gave the hurt dog that. It worked great.
(for y’all that might freak out, yes I asked the vet first)

[SLW]

We just treated a broken pelvis on an Australian Shepard on Friday and sent him home yesterday. He had been hit by the family car. His discharge orders were: keep confined and quiet for 4 to 5 weeks. Keep him in abundent, soft bedding and warm- we’re in KS and this is a farm dog and the owner was thinking he could tie him to his outside dog house. Restrict his movement in order for the bones to heal. He was sent home with Rimadyl (once daily) and Tramadol (every 8-12 hours as needed) Plan on attending to his toileting needs a great deal in the first few weeks.

The normally very kind dog was in great pain and we had to use muzzle anytime we examined him. He has a decent chance of healing if they can keep him immobile for several weeks.

Good luck with your dog.

[spotnnotfarm]

MAD!

I am soo mad! I spoke with the vet that has not been treating Charlie today because he has not had a BM. She was not worried about it at this point since it had been one day since he has had one. However, she told me she spoke with the orthopedic dr. and he said the injury is beyond what he can do and as long as he is going to the bathroom he should heal(???). But we may need to do surgery on the femur to remove the head(HUH?) This was NEVER said to me before! I maight have had surgery on him if he may need it for the femur.

This is not is regular vet and I am waiting on a call from his reg vet. I am upset because I am woried he is not healing correctly.

[Jaegermonster]

It depends on when he last ate. There may not be enough in there for him to go.
That’s what happened with my dog. Between the meds and discomfort she was a little off her food, so it took a couple of days before things got going again.

[FatPalomino]

Removing the head of the femur requires muscles to develop to help support the limb. We did it months after our dog’s pelvic fracture. It’s a (relatively) cheap and easy orthopedic surgery.

[animaldoc]

As others have said, there are pelvic fractures that are surgical, and those that are best treated by cage rest. Depends which bones are broken.

A femoral head osteotomy can be done in some cases depending again on the problems that he has. Doesn’t need to be done immediately always…just depends. It’s actually a relatively “minor” orthopedic procedure and will allow him to form a false hip joint if the current hip joint is too damaged to fix and will have severe osteoarthritis.

In regards to the pain medication - keeping a dog quiet when it’s painful should be done with sedatives/tranquilizers/confinement and not with pain. The rationale that we can’t explain to them why they should be quiet could be applied to children as well if you think about it, and they certainly don’t withold pain medications from kids that need it.

This dog can probably have NSAIDs, tramadol, gabapentin etc. in combination with benzodiazepenes/acepromazine and crating to keep him quiet AND comfortable.

[Sing_Mia_Song]

What animaldoc said.

The FHO (removing the head of the femur) is sometimes necessary if the fracture of the pelvis changes the position so much that the head of the femur no longer fits neatly into the socket. That can cause grinding, arthritis, lots of pain. The FHO alleviates the pain and allows your dog to have better range of motion than he would if you left it intact. Like others have said, it’s a relatively minor orthopedic procedure.

[spotnnotfarm]

Well the x-rays are at his regular vet to give a second opinion. He did have a BM today so I am not so worried about that. He does seem perky and is trying to put weight on the leg at bathroom breaks.

I guess I was mad because the vet had not mentioned this to me before. I called about his BM and then am told he may need surgery. I was shocked. I spoke with them when I picked up the x-rays and was told to see how he healed. We could make that decide this summer depending on how he is doing. We have increased his Tramadol at night to 3 to help him sleep and during the day he gets 2.

animaldoc-what is the recovery like for the FHO? Is there a chance he may not need it? I wish I had the x-rays to email you. I need all the advice I can get becuase I want to do what is best for him.

About how much is the surgery?

[Sing_Mia_Song]

Cost of surgery varies wide depending on your location and who does the procedure. I’ve heard quotes anywhere from $700-$1600. The low end was performed by the regular vet and did not include hospitlization. The high end was by a board certified surgeon and included hospitalization with overnight monitoring by the critical care crew. I’m in the DC/ Baltimore area).

When I worked in surgery, we got them up immediately. The faster they start using it the better. They are VERY painful at first, but improve rapidly.

Yes, there’s a possibility he may not need it. It depends on the break and how he heals. Some surgeons like to be proactive and go for the FHO early so they can heal from it all at one time, especially if the x-rays and the amount of pain he’s currently suffering indicate it.

Sounds like your regular vet originally did not think he would need surgery, but that the ortho pointed out some things she might not have considered. So it might honestly not been in her thought process when the injury initially occurred.

[MintHillFarm]

YES! That is a good point…

[QUOTE=magnolia73;3961688]
My kitty broke her pelvis a month ago. They gave her pain killers and she was confined. Once she pooped and peed, she was out of the woods in terms of survival. Maybe ask you vet about a stool softener. I think it was very painful for her to poop.

FWIW, Heidi the cat is up and about now, and you can’t tell she broke her pelvis. The puncture wound took longer to heal.[/QUOTE]

On the bathroom issue…I had a very large dog, Simon who had his cruciate ligament repaired. With 60 staples and having to remain quiet, he did not go to the bathroom as quickly as the vet or I would have liked. I gave him some mineral oil (small amount) over a few days and that worked. It’s very important to keep his bowels moving. Good luck and keep us posted on your dog’s recovery!

[animaldoc]

Hmm…

I don’t know what the surgeons generally tell people as far as recovery for FHO, but they do have them up and around quickly. Probably still some cage rest, then restricted exercise, PT before normal activity.

Cost probably depends on where you are and if a boarded surgeon or “regular vet” does it. There are non-boarded people capable of doing that particular surgery for sure.

[Horsegal984]

Around here (NC) the cost is about $800-1000 if a regular vet does it and $1600-2000 if a boarded surgeon does it. There are a lot of surgeries where it really pays to have the specialist do it(cruciate tears, ruptured disks, etc) but honestly in my book an FHO isn’t one. Since the point isn’t to ‘repair’ the hip, but rather to remove the joint it’s a lot less precise of a surgery. However, with him being a big dog and depending on your vet and your combined comfort level(along with your pocketbooks!) the surgeon is always a great choice.

Generally FHO’s take 4-6 weeks to fully heal, but they want them up and moving the day after surgery. They have to use the leg in order to form the approiate scar tissue to support them. How quickly they are taken off exercise restrictions depends on the individual dog, and the doctor who did it.

If this was my dog I would; Wait a few months, see how he heals up from his current fractures and re-radiograph, which will pretty much confirm if he needs a surgery. With rads in hand I would go for a consult with the orthopedic surgeon, and see what he feels is best, if you have options other than the FHO. If yes, decide which option is best for your dog. If no(and short of a total hip replacement you probably won’t have any) then I would go back to my regular vet to have the FHO done. After surgery I would find a vet certified in canine rehabilitation and start him in rehab. Rehab will be great for helping him to heal properly and faster, as well as having pain decreaing benefits as well.

Katherine
Vet Tech

[Jaegermonster]

@animaldoc;3985473

In regards to the pain medication - keeping a dog quiet when it’s painful should be done with sedatives/tranquilizers/confinement and not with pain. The rationale that we can’t explain to them why they should be quiet could be applied to children as well if you think about it, and they certainly don’t withold pain medications from kids that need it.

Since I’m the one that initially mentioned the pain meds thing, I have to say that I don’t think anyone said “withhold pain meds”. I think I said regulate and carefully manage. And i further said it was done with consultation with and under direction of my vet. Every dog and every situation is different, and has to be treated as such.

[spotnnotfarm]

Update

My regular vet called last night after viewing the x-rays. He feels that Charlie needs surgery and shouldhave had it shortly after the accident. He does not want to do FHO since the femur is not damaged. Instead he wants an orto. surgeon to put a curved plate in the socket area to hold it together. He does not think it would heal on it’s own. I am waiting for an appoitment with the surgeon and was told Charlie would have to go so I am assuming he will not come home with me but have the surgery.

My vet thought the rest of the bones will heal fine. I am just frustrated because I feel the emergency vet did not fully explain or know how much damage was there. I know different vets have different ideas. I just want my dog comfortable and healing correctly. I will let ya’ll know what the surgeon says. Thanks for ALL your support and advice!

[Buffyblue]

Best wishes to you and Charlie on a successful surgery and a quick recovery.

[spotnnotfarm]

Update

Ok we just got back from the orthopedic dr. The news is confusing. Charlie has a broken done at the Scictic nerve area. Right now surgery cannot be done until that break is healed. The surgeon cannot fix that break because the healing has started and it is stable. We only hope he does not develop sciatica. We are looking at 6-10 more weeks of healing. The good news is he took new x-rays and everything looks like it is healing well. He is still in pain due to the sciatic break. Hopefully that will go away in 3 weeks or so. He goes back to the dr in two weeks.

Thanks for all your well wishes!