Patient of the Month: Mead

Mead is a 1 year old male Border Collie who came to us one evening unable to walk on his right back leg. The owner had noticed some washing had been torn off the line and presumes he must have jumped up to play with the laundry (He is a very mischievous puppy!)

Mead was extremely painful in his lower leg and the area soon started to swell.

Xrays showed a broken lower leg (tibia and fibula). 

Mead underwent general anaesthesia and surgery to repair the broken bone. A pin was inserted into the bone and 5 small wires were placed around the fracture site to help stabilize it. 

The surgery went very well and x-rays taken after the surgery showed good alignment of the fracture. 

The next challenge was going to be to get Mead (who was very playful) to take it easy for the next 6 weeks. This was easier said than done and he actually required sedation as we didn’t want to upset the healing process. 

After a few weeks he started putting weight on the leg but was still lame. This was expected as the end of the pin was very close to the knee joint, which was quite uncomfortable. 

After 7 weeks we took another x-ray of the leg and the fracture had completely healed. Mead underwent a second general anaesthetic and the pin and wires were removed. 

He is now jumping around again and back to his old mischievous ways!!