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Pet of the Year Finalist: Stitches and Splints save wounded paw

Toffee is a lovely 6 year old female Rhodesian ridgeback x Labrador who was brought into us as an emergency last month. She had been out on a walk with her owners when they suddenly heard a yelp and Toffee ran back over to them limping.

When an emergency comes into the practice you are never quite sure with exactly what you will be faced with and quick assessments are vital. Toffee came in in obvious distress and limping on her front right leg. It is thought that she had been hit by a car as she ran off from the owners.

In Toffee’s case the issue was immediately obvious, she had a very large deep wound to her right paw, with visible tendons and ligaments. What we didn’t know was whether there was anymore damage that we couldn’t see. On examination all of Toffee’s vital signs were normal but it was very difficult to examine the right leg further due to her discomfort.

She was admitted and placed under a general anesthetic to fully examine the paw and take x-rays to see if any further damage was present. Whilst all the larger bones of the limb were intact, Toffee had sustained a fracture to one of the bones in the paw. Thorough examination of the wound also revealed the extent of the damage, with bits of dirt and grit present and areas of bone exposed. So we had 2 problems, the wound and the fracture. Of the two, the wound needed addressing first. It was thoroughly cleaned and flushed out and we were able to close the skin back to an almost normal appearance.

Toffee would however require a long antibiotic course given the degree of wound contamination and continuing pain relief. The next issue was the fracture. Fractures of these bones can be fixed surgically by placing pins in them to realign the bone fragments however given the damaged skin present and the wound contamination, surgery was opted against. Instead, the other way of managing fractures in this area is by splinting the leg and allowing the body to heal the fracture itself. This is possible as the fractured bone sits next to other similar bones which themselves also provide support.

A splint was placed to keep the leg supported and honey was applied to any open smaller wounds present on the paw because of its anti-bacterial properties. The splint was bandaged in place and Toffee was able to go home the same day. She has done remarkably well and has been in to visit every 3-5 days for regular assessments and bandage changes. The paw swelled up dramatically (!) which is to be expected given the extent of the damage but the wound is looking great.

She will shortly be due in for  follow up x-rays to ensure the fracture is healing well, and I’m sure will be very relieved to finally get the splint and bandage off permanently.