# Broken toe - opinions



## maplevizsla (Oct 26, 2012)

Hi fellow Vizsla owners,

In 14+yrs of dog ownership my dogs have managed to elude a few things, of them, broken bones and sprayed by skunk.

Unfortunately 4 weeks ago my then 16week old Vizsla puppy was running with another dog, when that dog (who was about 60 pounds) ran him over, colliding and Titan yelping and limping, took him to emerg vet. He had a hairline fracture. Vet said to give him pain meds for 5 days, ice the toe and no monkeying around for 4 weeks until he was re-xrayed.

Fast forward 4 weeks - re-xrayed and it is worse than we thought. The bones are now flat out separated with no calcification in-between the break. Our regular vet said it can be either splinted or pinned. She is going to get a second opinion from the lead vet at our clinic. She was dismayed, as usually broken/fractured bones in puppies heal completely (most times) in 4 weeks, and Titan's is not at all.

Has anyone experienced this sort of occurrence? What did you end up doing? Splint or Pins?

Thanks.


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## Lincolns Parents (Aug 6, 2011)

Oh my gosh....poor puppy! I unfortunately dont have any advice for you.... sorry. Just my condolences. :-\

Hope he gets better soon!


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## texasred (Jan 29, 2012)

I would ask your vet to send the xrays to a orthopedic surgeon for a second opinion.


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## hotmischief (Mar 11, 2012)

Sorry to hear about his toe. My last Gt Dane puppy broke a toe at 4 months. Not an easy injury to heal with a puppy as they are constantly on the move and a toe is weight bearing.

Watch he doesn't start to turn his leg inwards or outwards. This can happen because they start to put their weight on the inside or outside to avoid puting weight on the broken toe. If he does go get your vet to splint the leg to keep it as straight as possible. Angus, ended up with a slight outward turn to his foot. To be honest I don't think the splint really helped at all. 

We ended up by being referred to an orthopeadic specialist when after six weeks it still hadn't healed. In between going to the specialist we seeked some help from a physio who recommend magnetic therapy - this worked brilliantly. Two weeks later when we went to the specialist and he x-rayed the toe it was healing nicely. 

Have a look on the internet and see if you can find a magnetic boot for his paw, or someone you can rent a pulse magnetic machine which you could use twice a day.

Good luck, and keep us posted.


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## maplevizsla (Oct 26, 2012)

Thanks for your opinions and thoughts! - vet said the broken toe on x-rays looks worse than it really is and there can be more damage than good from splinting, at this point pins are not needed - phew! He said keep Titan's activities to a minimal and let it heal on its own (puppies generally heal well) and do a re-check x-ray in another 4 weeks. His recommendations were this because Titan is doing normal things like playing, galloping, zooming around (despite our best efforts to discourage this!!!) and he is not limping and walking and gaiting normally. If there were walking issues - then the vet would have looked into splinting or pinning. So that is good news for us!


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## Vida (Dec 26, 2011)

Our x- breed had a broken toe at about 12months old.
It healed naturally,she looks normal. It did take quite a while of just lead walking (a month ish?,maybe longer?) til she stopped being lame.
Good luck!


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## Ozkar (Jul 4, 2011)

When Ozkar was 3 months old my mother in law, ran over his paw with a loaded shopping trolley and broke his toe. Can't do much except let it heal. Hope your pup heals fast. FWIW, Ozkar took about 2 months to heal fully.


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