Fractures & Exposed Bones
The only way to diagnose a fracture is with an x-ray. Fractures can vary in severity and complexity:
Is the bone in two pieces or shattered into many pieces?
Is bone protruding through the skin causing muscle, skin or nerve damage also?
Is the break near or including a joint?
Does the break go straight across a bone or spiral through it?
All of these factors influence the veterinarian's decisions on what the appropriate treatment is going to be for your pet. Some breaks are good candidates for casts or splints, while others require surgery.
To be a good candidate for a cast/splint, the joints above and below the broken bone must be kept immobilized; for this reason, breaks in the thigh bone (femur) and upper arm (humerus) are not good candidates for casts.
Is the bone in two pieces or shattered into many pieces?
Is bone protruding through the skin causing muscle, skin or nerve damage also?
Is the break near or including a joint?
Does the break go straight across a bone or spiral through it?
All of these factors influence the veterinarian's decisions on what the appropriate treatment is going to be for your pet. Some breaks are good candidates for casts or splints, while others require surgery.
To be a good candidate for a cast/splint, the joints above and below the broken bone must be kept immobilized; for this reason, breaks in the thigh bone (femur) and upper arm (humerus) are not good candidates for casts.
- Sudden lameness
- Pain
- Picking up or refusing to use a limb
- Major fall or blunt trauma
- Bone protruding from a wound
- Unusual suddenly deformed area of a limb with swelling
- Take precaution to prevent biting injury to the person providing first aid (see TRANSPORT for information on muzzling your pet).
- Open fractures can be covered with a wet clean dressing applied over the opening and the bone.
- If possible, immobilize the limb to prevent further injury. You can use newspaper rolled or folded to make a splint, then wrap the limb in a clean towel and cover it with tape to hold it in place.
- Any splint should extent past at least one joint above and one joint below the fracture site (for breaks to the upper leg and upper arm, try to keep the pet still or immobilize the limb to the body to prevent it from moving; attaching a splint that does not attach to the body wall will act as a painful pendulum pulling on the end of the fracture.
- Transport your pet to a veterinarian right away.
- If the splint is difficult to apply or the animal objects, do not attempt to apply the splint! Carefully transport your pet to a veterinarian!
- Never attempt to set a fracture or push a bone back into position!