Patient of the Month: "Ferris"

Ferris is a 5 months old male Maltese Poodle cross who came to us one afternoon unable to walk on his right back leg. The owner reported that just a few minutes ago Ferris had been so excited by some visitors coming to the house that he had jumped up and down on the spot. On landing he let out a loud yelp and was in considerable pain after and unable to walk on his right hind leg. Ferris was extremely painful in that leg and we were unable to determine the exact source of the pain without sedating him.

Under heavy sedation we were able to locate the pain to his right knee. We radiographed the leg and were able to determine that he had actually fractured off the top of his tibia (shin bone) where the patellar (knee cap) ligament attaches!!!

Quite an injury from just jumping on the spot.  You may think the left leg has a fracture too, but what you can see at the top of the tibia is the growth plate (see below).

This just shows how prone young pups can be to injury. At this age the bones are going through a period of rapid growth. New bone cells are laid down from an area in the bone called growth plates and these growth plates can be an area of weakness and can easily sustain injury.

Ferris was treated with strong pain relievers and underwent general anaesthesia and surgery the following day. A pin and wire were inserted into the bone to reattach the broken piece and the patellar ligament with it.

The surgery went very well and x-rays taken after the surgery showed good alignment of the fracture. The leg was placed in a bandage for a week to protect the wound and immobilize the knee.

Thankfully young pups’ bones heal very quickly, so the pin only needed to remain in place for 3 weeks. Ferris did need to be rested during this period which did prove a challenge. Sedatives were required for a short period.

The pin was removed under general anesthesia 3 weeks later and the leg has fully healed.

It certainly hasn’t slowed him down very much.