JRT with broken pelvis
 

Hi there.

We have a 3 year old female JRT who tried to outrun a pick up truck last Monday. We drove her to the vet right away where she stayed 2 days.

It turns out that our little one broke her pelvis. Her left side in 4 places I believe, her right side in one place. She was looked at by 3 doctors who agreed to put her on cage rest, metacam, stool softener as well as sedatives for the night.

Now I would personally say that she is doing rather well. She eats, drinks, goes to the bathroom outside where she also takes a couple of steps every so often. She has also started to clean herself which unfortunately turns me into a nervous wreck. She seems fine doing it but I always see that x-ray in my head and I just get scared seeing her leg up in the air and her twisting and turning. She is quite careful but in my head there is only that x-ray. So yeah, she doesn't make a whole lot of noise. Most of it seems to be cries for attention. She is a little restless today tho which I don't like.

She isn't all too comfi going to the bathroom but who can blame her. Today she seems to be obsessed with her bum. She licks it and sniffs it and something seems to bother her. Or maybe she is just bored?! She also has quite smelly farts today but her last wet dog food had veggies in it so I dunno. Could it be the gas that's bothering her?

Has anyone had any experiences with broken pelvises? I'd love to hear about it. I've never dealt with animals and broken bones before and I have a tendency to worry over nothing. The fact that she is kinda restless and so busy with her bum bothers me for example but I don't wanna overreact cos otherwise she appears fine. Like I said, she eats and drinks (more eating than drinking it seems), walks, gets up by herself to walk on the pillows in her little pen.

I just get so worried and I'd really like to hear some opinions/ thoughts/ stories.

Thanks :)

I'm sorry you're going through this with your JRT.

A neighbor's lab took a nap under a truck and suffered a broken pelvis when the truck drove off. The lab's pelvis was broken in multiple places, too.

Did your vets think that the pelvis was going to stay in the proper orientation to heal right? Our neighbor's dog was initially put on cage rest by his regular vet, but the pelvis was twisted. Had the dog seen an orthopedic vet right away, the bones could have been surgically pinned and healed straighter, but by the time the owner finally was referred to the specialist, the pelvis had begun to knit with the bones misaligned.

Were any of the vets that attended her orthopedic vets? If not , you might want to get her to an orthopedic specialist and have him take a look.

As for the restlessness, she might just be hurting. If the metacam isn't working well for her, maybe your vets can suggest some other pain management protocol.

I hope your girl is better soon :goodvibes:

Just wanted to send some speedy healing :goodvibes: wishes for your little one.

Thank you growler. :)


[QUOTE=hazelrunpack;773331]

Did your vets think that the pelvis was going to stay in the proper orientation to heal right?

Were any of the vets that attended her orthopedic vets? If not , you might want to get her to an orthopedic specialist and have him take a look. [/quote]

I dunno about the orthopedic vet but they were trying to decide between surgery and natural healing for a while but after a few talks and looks at the x-ray they decided to put her on cage rest.
We've seen the x-ray and even tho the pelvis is fractured in several places the bones are still aligned. The vet also explained to us that her being young, small and muscular did and will help a lot with it growing back together.
She walks quite well too when we put her outside. She is quite quick and only when she goes to the bathroom, she gets a little wiggly. Not that I'm a big fan of that whole walking around, after all it's only been a week since it happened. But she seems to want it so it's mostly confusing to me.

She had a very good number 2 this morning. It hurt her and she complained and attacked it afterward but I'm glad that she functions properly in regards to this.

I definitely wanna get her to the vet again to have her checked out and see if it all heals properly but I'm reluctant to do it yet because of all the stress going there and back.
She's doing ok, it's mostly me driving myself insane because of lack of experience with dogs and broken bones.

[QUOTE=hazelrunpack;773331]As for the restlessness, she might just be hurting. If the metacam isn't working well for her, maybe your vets can suggest some other pain management protocol.
[/QUOTE]

I think metacam is alright. She seems to be able to handle the meds we got for her (only needed half a sedative last night!). I don't think that when she gets restless she is in pain. I think it's more being uncomfi and wanting to do stuff (she's a Jack, right) instead of sitting around. And as I've said she had quite the gas yesterday and whenever she let one go, she would turn around and be interested in her bum.

It just gets me all worked up cos orders for her are to be calm and quiet and then she sits in her pen all excited and what not. In my head I always think that she shouldn't wanna move or what have you but she does anyway and I just don't know what to make out of it.

I understand that it must be tough to keep a Jack from wanting to run and play. :)
Hopefully you are taking her outdoors on a short leash to help prevent her from running.

Whenever I've had pets recovering from surgeries, I've found that letting them have a very
low level of pain will keep them from jumping around too much. If they get a big dose of
pain killers and are totally pain free, they want to jump around and can re-injure themselves.
I don't believe in letting animals suffer with pain, watch your dog closely, she will let you know. Best wishes!

Have you tried feeding her meals in a treat ball? Or get her to bring you different toys by asking for them by name. Mental stimulation is also helpful for high energy dogs.

Good luck ....I hope she heals quickly. :fingerscr :goodvibes:

[QUOTE=Bina;773594]I understand that it must be tough to keep a Jack from wanting to run and play. :)
Hopefully you are taking her outdoors on a short leash to help prevent her from running.
[/QUOTE]

Not on a leash since she isn't running yet but I'm definitely her shadow the whole 5 to 10 minutes she spends outside every so often.


[QUOTE=rainbow;773606]Have you tried feeding her meals in a treat ball? Or get her to bring you different toys by asking for them by name. Mental stimulation is also helpful for high energy dogs.

Good luck ....I hope she heals quickly. :fingerscr :goodvibes:[/QUOTE]

Thanks.
We are not quite there yet with playing and stuff. It's quite the fracture and it's only been a week since the accident. I just don't feel too comfi getting her excited and playful, you know. I have thought about mental stimulation but then I fear she wants to come out of her pen and do stuff and holy cow, I can barely survive seeing her walk outside... yeah, I'm a scaredy-cat.
She is also on wet dog food right now cos it's hard work for her to go to the bathroom.

Pain killers can also cause constipation - so that might be why she was so interested in her rear end.

While I've never had a dog break a pelvis, I do know about trying to keep a dog inactive that thinks they should be able to do whatever they want - and how much you fret over letting them move so much as an inch.

I would second the suggestion to keep her on a leash while you have her outdoors. All it takes is for something to grab her attention - and JRT's are quick! In this regard, you are much better off being safe rather than sorry.

There are toys that you could use to keep her mind occupied, and there are games that you can play with her that would not require her to be running around. These puzzles for instance: [url]http://www.dogsinplay.com/c-7-toys-treats.aspx?gclid=CKrxzJCFkpoCFQMQswodEihYGw[/url]

Good luck and I hope she heals well!