Need advice about the family dog!!!

hello everyone. I know these forums are for the cervid industry, but there are so many great people on here that I thought I could ask this question and maybe someone can help me. One of my dogs, who are VERY special to me had a severe injury to her foot 2 weeks ago. Took her to a specialist and they said that she had a severe carpal hyper-extension injury that would need Arthrodesis surgery. That is a fusion of the joint surgery that is not only very expensive, but painful and the recovery time will be approximately 4 months. For right now we have been splinting her foot, but she keeps biting it off. Sometimes we get the splint on where she is comfortable for a couple days, and then others she is miserable, as she is right now.



My question to you all is have any of you ever dealt with this and if so, what other options do I have. I want to do the right thing for her, but think surgery should be the last options. Any advise will be greatly appreciated.

Hi Shelly,

I saw that no one had responded to your post here, undoubtedly because no one here has any experience with this type of injury. I don't either, but just wanted to wish you well in whatever decisions you end up making for your beloved pet. I'm sorry that she is so miserable. It's hard to watch your pet be miserable and feel helpless.

As for whether or not to do surgery, that's up to your budget. Will it heal without the surgery? It sounds like the surgery will be just about as bad and miserable as not doing surgery. Is this something that can heal without the surgery? Perhaps go somewhere else for a 2nd opinion?

I know I"m no help. Just wanted you to know that someone's thinking about you and your dog and your situation. Keep me updated !

thanks for responding. I figured my post might go unanswered, but that is ok. We have scheduled the surgery for this coming Friday. After talking to the specialist and Dr. Shipley who has been wonderful, I do believe it is best. The cost is huge, but she is worth every penny. I love both my dogs and could not imagine life without either one of them. Again, thanks for your thoughts. Have a great evening. I will keep you updated on her recovery. It will be a long one!!

best of luck to you and your dog!!

It is important to remember that in a hyperextension injury, the small ligaments that interconnect the little bones of the carpus on its underside have been torn and damaged. These ligaments are extremely small and undertake massive stresses and strains during regular activity by your dog. There is no way to just stitch these back together or to make a prosthetic replacement that would be as strong and effective.



For this reason, medical management usually yields poor results. If the leg is placed in a splint or cast, the torn ligaments can only heal with scar tissue. This is unlikely to mature to something as strong as the regular ligament, so commonly, after removal of the splint, the leg rapidly reverts to its original collapsed state.



By fusing the bones across the site that has been damaged, the ligament becomes superfluous, at a cost of decreased or no range of motion at the carpus. If the radio-carpal joint, the largest joint, has been damaged, then a complete fusion across the carpus is indicated. This will leave the carpus with a fixed lower limb, held in normal extension of about 10 degrees.



If the radio-carpal joint is intact, and the hyperextension exists at one or both of the remaining lower joints, then a partial arthrodesis can be performed. This will allow for a reasonable amount of carpal flexion and extension, although this will be decreased from normal.



Both techniques will allow your dog to be much more functional than without surgery. In theory, dogs with a partial arthrodesis should have greater function. Some dogs may develop lameness after increased exercise and some may retain a low-grade lameness, though not as bad as before the surgery.



To allow bone fusion, the articular cartilage is removed from the affected joint and this area is then packed with bone graft, harvested from the humerus, or upper arm bone, usually on the affected front leg. This will mean that there is a small incision at the shoulder region. The bone graft will speed up the bridging across the old joint.



Often, metal plates are used to span across the joint, fixed in place using screws. Alternatively, metal pins can stabilize the bones across a joint. The plates or pins are supported by a splint or cast as well.



A splint or cast may need significant adjustment for the first few days after surgery, due to the amount of swelling at the toes, which can be very significant.



For this reason, a soft padded bandage may be used for the first few days until some of the early swelling subsides. A large amount of swelling is extremely common due to performing surgery so close to the toes.

thanks Scott. That is what they told me also. They will be doing bone graph and also using a metal splint. I just had her splint re-wrapped on Saturday morning and will do this again today. Even though I have to drive 70 miles one way to have this wrapped, it is worth it as our regular vet is not an expert in splints and ultimately did more damage than good. She felt terrible!!. The surgery is on Friday and I will leave her at the hospital till Monday morning. We are having a home filled with family and friends this weekend for Lake City Waterski Days. So I decided to pay the extra cost to have her stay where she will have less stress. After the surgery I will need to take her up to the specialist on a weekly basis for the first 4-6 weeks if not longer to have the wrap changed.

Best of luck to you and your dog.

HI shelley I have worked at vet clinics for years and years ago my parents had a dog that had the same injury unfortunatly he to chewed his foot and leg they tried everything they had the surgery done their dog was 2 years old when it happened and so handled the surgery very well.the dog had to have a cast that he chewed off and we put a new one on also we used a cone so that he could not get to it. I am going in today to speak with the vet and would like to ask her some questions about your dog she has done alot of surgeries like this she did my parents dog and might be of some help but need to have some info about her,what kind of dog is it,how old is she, ,what kind of splits have you tried, meds for pain and what kind,the more you can tell me about her the better and I will see what I can do to help you .I to would do anything for my dogs and understand what you are going through .My parents dog is now 9 and even though the surgery was hard on him and the after care it was worth it .spending extra time at the vet after surgery is also what my parents did and that way she can be monitored and have the best care needed.I am new to computers so bare with me,I am so glad I found this web site.

Jillene,



Unfortunately, Daisy is having the surgery as I write this. She is a 4 year old yellow lab/golden retriever. She was admitted to the hospital last night. She injured her right foot approx 4 weeks ago. Our regular vet put a plastic splint that had grooves in it for sizing the night it happened. Unfortunately, she jumped off our bed and injured her foot further when the splint broke. She was on a pain med for the first 4 days, and has not had anything since. When I took her to the specialist the put her in a hard plastic (spoon) type splint. She did very well with this until we had to have the bandages changed. Again, I took her to our regular vet and she did not wrap this well enough and got pressure sores. Our vet felt terrible but i do not blame her as she is not an expert in doing the wraps. Since that time I took her up to the specialist for every change, but the foot was only getting worse. As of yesterday, there was still quite abit of swelling, but they did not want to give her anti-inflammatories as they were afraid she would over do it and cause further damage. The hospital will call me when the surgery is over and tell me how it went. I am going to leave her up there till Monday as the town i live in has their annual festival and the foot traffic and car traffic is always huge. She would be miserable!! This way she will have several days to really take it easy and rest. The weekend will however be a long one for me. I miss her already and did not sleep well knowing she was in a strange place and probably wondering where her family is and why we just dropped her off On the flip side, our other dog who is 2 years older, will most likely enjoy this time as she does not understand why her sister is not happy and does not want to play

Agree best of luck with them.

Well we brought Daisy home last night and everything went very well!! The vet said it was the best fusion that he had ever done. I have not given her any pain meds, but of course I have not left her side.



Thanks for all the support.

Daisy looks so cute - hope everything goes very well for her.

thanks, she is doing well. The only problem now is her urine output. Talk to Dr. Shipley (again, what a wonderful guy!!) and he said to get on this ASAP. Got a call in to the specialist and will hopefully hear back soon

Daisy Update:

After a very long recovery and many dollars later, Daisy is doing very well. The surgery was a complete success. She does not even have a limp. I had to take her twice a week to the vet (72 miles one way) from the first of July till the end of August. She does have a sore on the front of her paw that is not healing as well as I would like, but the vet thinks this is either from the stitches (which can take up to 2 years to heal) or she is trying to bite the metal plate that is in her. Either way, I have been trying to heal this with very slow results. If she was 2 years past the surgery date, they would recommend the plate be removed, but until then I just have to keep on her to leave it alone. Thank you all for your support and understanding how special she is to our family. Many people told me that they would not have paid the expense as a bullet is much cheaper, but she is family and I could not imagine my life without her.

I am glad to hear that she is recovering........as for the cost........you are right she is family I'm sure and why souldn't she have the same chance as any of us!! Glad you got her fixed up!! Good LUCK!!

So my Daisy was doing well, but all of the sudden she started chewing on her foot. Same thing last year at this time. I took it as the cold weather was the issue. Now she has a huge sore on her "elbow" where she is biting that also. Here we go again with the "lamp shade" Any suggestions?

I did not read the hole thread here but we have a black lab that suffers from dry skin. It is an oil deficiency common in labs. After alot of money we found this out. One vet said it was fleas, the next allergic reaction, finally a specialist told us about this disorder. With all the chewing she lost all her hair from her front shoulders to the tip of her tail. We changed her diet to a lamb and rice formula and now use vitamin e supplements in the food during the winter ( chewing seems to pick up with cold weather) to help her produce the oil for her coat. Labs produce oil in there coats like a water proofing. she has most of her hair back now but there is still spots that may never grow back. This may help you i wish we would have known better sooner because she did suffer alot in the beginning by digging her self raw. Good luck and if you need any more info just let me know.

Matthew, this is great info to know. I know that labs, which is what I have are suscepible to the dryer skin and i have not found anything to help. I would like to here what you have to offer for this. IN talking with Dr. Shipley (again a life saver to me) he feels that possible steroid and a relaxant is due at this time. I totally agree. The big (vet) guy wants to see her at (225.00) about a possble invection, but I dont's see that as the issue. She runs around is very active, but now with her open wounds, not so much.

We did prednazone (sp) and steroid treatments as well to get her over the open soars. But we didn't see much results until we switched our feed to a lamb and rice premium brand dog food. If you read the back of your bag of dog food the main ingredient should be a meat! most are corn meal, and corn is hard for any animal to digest. So the majority of the dog food we buy is made with fillers. We pay about $30 per bag of dog food. On this good feed the absorb more nutrients and they don't go to the bathroom as much. Plus they seam to get the oil back into there coat.



We spent thousands of dollars in vet bills trying to figure this out as you know from my earlier post. She is now able to live comfortable. The vitamin e you can give in a pill form with some peanut butter or you can get the liquid to pour on the food. This can be picked up at any pet store.



Good luck and please feel free to contact me if you need anything else.

Well here we are again with Daisy. She is back to wearing the "lamp shade". She seems to be actually trying to chew the metal plate. Evidently she wants it out, but she needs to wait one more year!! I am now giving her 2 Benedril, three times a day, cortizone creme on the wound hoping this will help. I am going bonkers!! Any suggestions?