Dog Surgical Diseases – Bone Fracture

Bone fracture

Cause

All kinds of direct or inquisitive violence can cause fractures. Such as falling, running, jumping, twisting, crushing heavy objects, traction by muscles, and sudden strong contractions can cause fractures. In addition, puppies suffering from rickets and osteomalacia often have long bone fractures in their limbs even if the external force is not great.

Diagnosis points

The characteristic symptoms of fractures are: deformation, displacement of both ends of the fracture (such as angular displacement, longitudinal displacement, lateral displacement, rotational displacement, etc.), and abnormal postures such as shortening, bending, and lengthening of the affected limb . The second is abnormal activities, such as flexion, rotation and other abnormal activities when the affected limb is weight-bearing or passive movement (but the abnormal activities are not obvious for the fracture of ribs and vertebrae). The sound of bone friction can be heard at the broken end of the bone. In addition, symptoms such as bleeding, swelling, pain, and dysfunction may still occur.

Open fractures are often accompanied by major soft tissue trauma, bleeding, and bone fragments. At this time, the dog has obvious systemic symptoms, refusal to feed, pain and restlessness, and sometimes body temperature rises.

The diagnosis can be confirmed based on the history of trauma and local symptoms, and X-ray examination or photography should be performed if necessary.

Treatment

(1) Emergency rescue should be carried out at the location of the disease to prevent the displacement of the broken end or serious complications when the sick dog is moved. Emergency care includes: one is to stop bleeding, use bandages, cloth strips, ropes , etc. to stop bleeding over the wound. The affected area was rubbed with iodine and iodoform sulfonamide powder was sprinkled on the wound; second, after the fracture was temporarily bandaged and fixed, he was immediately sent to the veterinary clinic for treatment.

(2) If the fracture ends are damaged and displaced, manual reduction can be performed first to restore the alignment of the fracture ends, and they can be restored under local anesthesia. When the fractured part of the limb is displaced, the assistant can be traction along the distal end of the limb axis to straighten the fractured part so that the two broken ends can be correctly reset. At this time, pay attention to whether the limb axis is normal and whether the two limbs are the same length.

(3) Fixation After general treatment of the affected part of the non-open fracture, the wound is sprinkled with iodoform sulfonamide powder, and then fixed with plaster bandage or small splint. When fixing, it should be filled with cotton or cotton pad to prevent friction. Minimize movement after fixation. Appropriate exercise can take 3 to 4 weeks, and bandages and splints can generally be removed after 40 to 60 days.

(4) Systemic therapy. Bone medicine can be taken orally, plus animal growth hormone, calcium tablets and cod liver oil. For dogs with open fractures, antibiotics and tetanus antitoxin can be used to prevent infection.