November 2010
Mr W is quite a character. Whenever he pops into the surge
ry, he always has a joke with the girls on reception and manages to brighten up our day. His dog, Dinkie, is absolutely adored by himself and his wife. She is a little Fell Terrier, whose age (11) is only given away by a few white hairs around her muzzle….She trots happily around the surgery with one ear up and one ear down and has a cheerful disposition to match that of her “mum” and“dad”.
It was a quiet Thursday morning when we received a telephone from a panicked Mrs W. She was calling to let us know that Mr W and Dinkie were on the way straight down to see us: Dinkie had had an accident in the forest.
Dinkie had been bowled over by a bigger dog who wanted to play with her and unfortunately landed so awkwardly that she had completely broken her right hind tibia and fibula. The fracture was ‘uncomplicated’ in as much that it had not broken the skin but there were several fragments and severe bruising to the surrounding tissues.
We were all a little worried about how Dinkie would cope with a general anaesthetic and the complex procedure. She had to have a bridging metal plate to hold the large ends of the bone and cerclage wire to bring all the fragments together. Throughout the procedure, Dinkie’s heart, breathing, blood oxygen level and temperature were monitored. She slept soundly and her recovery from anaesthesia was smooth and steady.
Although Dinkie managed to shake off her protective bandage almost as soon as she got home; she healed beautifully. She was walking on all four legs within 3 days and is now having a course of hydrotherapy in our on-site pool to assist her rehabilitation.
