Peggy – Cross Pin Distal Femur - Treendale Vet Medical Centre

Peggy – Cross Pin Distal Femur

The Catastrophe

Young puppies just love to be loved. They just want to be with you every second of the day, for cuddles, for treats and for affection. This desire to be close to their new masters unfortunately can sometimes lead to unfortunate accidents when they get under your feet when you don’t notice their presence.

Crack, yelp…. and poor Peggy couldn’t walk on her leg. Her mum and dad were so worried. They rang Dr Rob after hours and he arranged to meet them at the hospital. Poor little Peggy couldn’t walk on her leg. There was a fracture so she needed xrays.

The Fracture

X-Rays showed that Peggy had snapped her distal femur through the growth plate (the bottom end of her thigh bone). Young bones grow from either end called a growth plate. Unfortunately this is a weak point in young growing bones. This needed to be repaired surgically as the leg was bent at a bad angle and the fracture was very unstable.

To have a normal leg and a normal life Peggy needed surgery.

The Repair

Dachshunds have very difficult bones to repair. They are curved and twisted and short. There was very little bone stock at the distal end of the fracture (ie not much bone at the bottom end) so a plate wasn’t possible.

Dr Rob was able to repair the fracture using cross pins after aligning and straightening the fracture. The surgery went very well and Peggy was returned to her loving owners the next day.