Anyone have experience of untreated/fused broken bones?

[samburns]

Our greyhound Katy came to us from a neglect situation where she had been confined in a shed all her life up to five years old and was not using a hind leg, which when xrayed showed the hock was fractured (in the tibia) - probably at a young age - was clearly left untreated and has fused

She has now been here nearly two years and within about six weeks she was using the injured leg normally....she would occasionally hop on that leg if she had had an unusually long walk but otherwise you wouldn't know she had a problem with it (except physically you can see that the hock is damaged and you can see higher in her leg that the muscle is not as developed as in her other back leg).

Within the last six months Katy has started to go off lead regularly, she loves to run and boy does she run!  When she stops though she is now starting to hold that leg up and hop on it for a bit as we walk home. 

So I'm worrying whether we should allow her to run....whether there is a risk of her damaging her leg   I'm guessing she needs to further build up the muscle in that leg and wondering if it may be cramping?  If that's the case is there something more specific we need to do to help her? 

[redpoppy]

My friends grey girl Bertie was raced on a broken leg which was then untreated and fused itself she's got more and more limpy and shaky in that leg as she's got older - they recently found a really good Mctimoney practitioner who has really helped Bertie start using her leg again so maybe that's a way forward ? I know that my poppy is getting more lame as she gets older due to a broken leg and the regular therapy sessions are also helping rebalance her
Good luck
Sally

[franjan]

Baloo came to us at 2 1/2 with an old wrist fracture which was left untreated.
It wasn't a problem initially, but when he had a hoon around in the garden, he would become lame and his limb would swell up like a baseball bat.
He was put on a daily anti inflamm, and we also started him on glucosamine (500mg a day), which settled things completely, allowing him to hoon around again offlead from time to time without any problems.
He's now been taken off the anti inflamm (since his cardiac problems last October) so he's only on glucosamine, which seems to still be doing the trick, though he doesn't go offlead on walks any more (more due to the recent cardac problems. He still has a hoon around at home,and his wrist has to date been ok
Fingers crossed you can find a way to make Katy more comfortable

[just jackie]

Olly, our little whippet lad that I brought home from a transport run (he never made it to his intended rescue ) had a very bad limp, and would hold his back leg up when moving at anything faster than a steady walk. Con x-rayed his leg and found an old untreated fracture that has fused. The options were for Con to re-break the leg and try to set it in a more comfortable position, but this was as likely to end up worse than the existing situation than it was to improve matters. Amputation was deemed unnecessary, and as Olly didn't seem to suffer any pain from it we decided to leave well alone and see how he got on. He will hold the leg up most of the time, but will put his foot to the floor when standing, and when walking on lead at a slowish pace. Racing round the house and garden, and up and down stairs doesn't pose any problems for him, but I will admit that he doesn't go off-lead, mainly because I fear he would clear off given the chance, as he has shown that he would be very keen.

Nothing known on his past history as he was discovered in a pound in the north originally, but I have a suspicion he was possibly worked rather than a treasured pet. He can be a little unpredictable with new people visiting the house, and has nipped the odd heel in the past, so is now muzzled until he gets to know people, but has calmed down, and is more at ease these days.

Not sure this really answers your query Samm, but I suspect that Katy finds running on her damaged leg a little uncomfortable after a while, and tends to rest it after running on it for a while.

[samburns]

Thanks for your replies   Jackie I remember well your dognapping of Olly although don't think I knew about his fracture bless him.

I let Katy off lead yesterday and she started hopping straight after her first little burst of running    I gave her leg a rub and her thigh muscle was really spasming   Got her back on lead straight away but she spent the rest of the day hopping.  She has been fine today, no off-leading. 

I'm going to speak to the vet about it.  I really don't want to stop her from having any off lead exercise at all as she has so much energy and it also seems to help with her anxieties but I think we'll have to cut back a little bit and build it up if she copes better.  I'll definitely look at getting her onto glucosamine, hopefully that will help her long term so thanks for that suggestion Jan   Unfortunately we don't seem to have any McTimoney practitioners within a reasonable travel time, the closest I found would probably be a 90 minute drive, but its certainly something that I'll keep in mind too