My maltese puppy has a broken leg, can I take the cast off myself?

Question

On August 3 in the middle of the night my puppy tried to climb on the bed, didnt make it, and fell to the ground and landed wrong, and broke his back left leg. His howling and whimpering woke my husband and I. We were staying at my sister-in-laws for her graduation from college and had no choice but to lock him in the bedroom with us. We had to rush him to an after hours emergency vet where they x-rayed, splinted and prescribed him some pain meds. The whole ordeal cost us about 300 dollars that night. When we came home we took him to his regular vet, as reccomended by the emergency vet clinic, where there is a 30 dollar fee just to see the puppy. Plus, since he is so young, he is still in the phase of getting all of his shots. All in all, we have spent close to 1500 dollars on him since we've had him. He has an appointment to go to the vet this saturday, sept 6, and they said that they are going to take his splint off and that should be it for the cast. Money is tight this month and he has been chewing at his cast anyway, do you think it is ok to take the cast off ourselves? If you have any advice on maltese puppies/dogs or puppies with broken legs, i'd love to hear it.

Thank you!

Answer 1

Get pet insurance now before he developes any other issues. Petsbest.com has helped us a lot - about $22 a month -but when our dog swallowed her toy and needed emergency surgery they covered $1100 of it - paying for 6 years worth of premiums.

As far as the cast, I know money is tight but  you really need to have it taken off by the vet and have them do a final inspection. If something didn't heal right and you wait to go in, you may cause perm. damage to your dog and he might have problems for the rest of his life (and even if you got insurance since the injury occured before coverage he won't be covered). So it's better for $50 now then a $3000 surgery later on. Most vets have payment plans available along with special credit cards. You can inquire about those when you go in. Dogs are expensive - and always will be - don't forget that.  

Answer 2

do not take the cast of the dog yourself!

just let the vet do it because they know what they are doing.

Answer 3

I'd say that's probably inadvisable. The vet put it on, let him take it off. You wouldn't want to risk hurting your dog.

Answer 4

For heaven's sake take the poor little guy back to the vet!  I can sympathize with the amount that you've already spent, but dogs are like kids.  Nobody ever said it was going to be cheap or easy to raise one.

He needs to be seen again to make sure that he's healed properly.  Where it's his back leg, he could be at risk for blowing out a knee.  Now THERE'S a pricey surgery!

The good news is that usually removal of a cast or stitches is considered a follow-up and there isn't any additional charge.

Once he has the cast off, be careful about him running and jumping.  Keep him away from stairs and off furniture for the first few weeks.  You'll also need to keep an eye on him as far as chewing goes.  The cast he's chewing on now will be gone and he'll probably chew the foot instead.

Good luck to the three of you!

Answer 5

Short answer - No.

Long answer - No, you have no idea what you are doing. Let them do it as they can also make sure everything has healed properly.

Answer 6

No, please let a professional do it, they may decide it's not time and make you wait another week. If he is chewing at his leg he may need a head collar to prevent this.

Answer 7

No, it's not alright.  When the vet takes the cast they are also checking to see if the leg has healed correctly.  They will check for sore spots and any other problems that could have arisen from the fracture.  I realize that you have limited funds, but that's the cost you have to take on when you get a pet.  Pets are expensive and you need to factor that in when getting an animal that will depend on yuo for it's overall health and well being.

Answer 8

One of my dogs broke her leg and was in a splint for 8 weeks. I was taking her to the vet every week, to get her splint changed. Taking the splint off yourself is an INSANE idea. You don't even know if his leg has properly healed yet. Before they take the splint off of his leg, they will do an x-ray to make sure the leg is healed properly and totally and if it is, then they should be the ones to take it off, not you! Times are hard and money is short for everyone, but they still manage to get their dogs to the vet, when need be. If you take the splint off yourself, and his leg is not totally healed, you may cause even more damage, cause the dog unnecessary pain and have to start all over again! It's your responsibility as a dog owner to get your dog properly taken care of. Don't do anything stupid!

Answer 9

No, it is not OK to take the cast off yourself.  They likely will want to X-ray to make sure that is has healed properly and in position, and test his range of motion.  There will still be many activity restrictions on the puppy, the vet needs to evaluate his progress and tell you what he can and can not do and for how long.  There will likely be physical therapy/range of motion exercises the vet will show you that need to be done to help him get full use back in that leg.  Also, the splint should have been redone by the vet EACH time he chewed it- it compromises the ability of the splint to provide adequate support, plus the moisture from his mouth can sit in there against the skin and cause major bacterial and fungal infections.  If this is a growing puppy, I am very surprised the vet has not had you in every week or so to replace the splint and check that it's healing properly, as puppies are growing and it should need to be re-splinted for proper fit and comfort regularly.

Add: I know it's a lot of $ on a little puppy, but count your blessings!  Mine broke his leg in the middle of the night too (so emergency fee), then they didn't realize it was broken right away because it hadn't moved out of alignment and he wouldn't hold still for the X-ray, so we had another visit 2 days later when he hadn't gotten better where they had to anesthetise him for X-rays, then found out he had broken his leg in 3 places in the elbow joint, through the growth plate, needed surgery (actually two surgeries) done by a specialist (because of the location of the break and size of this tiny leg, no regular vet would touch him), and ended up with 2 pins and a s***w in his teeny tiny 12 week old Min Pin leg!  I am a young single person, had just bought a home, and ended up spending upwards of $3000 in the space of just a week or so on that whole mess, plus aftercare and all his regular vet stuff.  This could be much worse.  If this is a financial strain, consider looking at something like CareCredit, it will let you pay off the vet expenses interest-free over a period of time (varies from 3-12 months, usually, depending on amount and the specific vet's agreement with CareCredit).  That was the only way I could afford my Min Pin's massive vet bills after I had just bought a home, and then my Boston Terrier's knee surgeries this year!  It was a great help to me in getting them prompt, quality treatment that would otherwise have been a huge strain on my pocket book.

Answer 10

Tell your husband if he tries to because he's being such a cheapskate, not only could he cause another injury but if the bone isn't completely healed then the poor puppy will have to start from square one again with the casts, so it's his decision risk even a higher vet bill or be sure that the leg is completely healed, it's his choice and he had better make the right one.