Dog–A Broken Leg an Emergency?
We’ve been taking our pets to the same vet for 16 years–since he started his practice, so he fondly thinks of us as his long-time regulars and goes beyond the call of duty when caring for our pets. For instance, we have a 10-year old diabetic dog who had to be admitted recently and the vet went in a couple of times during the night to check up on him without charging us extra. But he recently hired a receptionist that we dislike. She always balks when we need to get out pets in for something urgent–like today–and has a tendency to make a faux pas like the time she called to see if our cat, who’d been diagnosed with a terminal disease, was better.
Anyway, I called today, hoping to get our dog in, because we think he broke his leg. She gave me a hassle, said they were already double-booked and couldn’t see him today. She told me to bring him in tomorrow morning. I’m upset about this, because I feel that a broken leg is an emergency that should be treated immediately. He’s dragging his back leg and his foot is swollen up.
He has neuropathy from his diabetes and is semi-blind, and he’s not very steady on his legs anymore. When he was going out this morning, he fell on the last two steps, and has been dragging his back leg ever since. The bone is not coming through the skin, but he’s in pain.
We’ve put an ace wrap on him and gave him some Deramaxx that we had on hand.
But what do you think? Is a broken leg an emergency?
Thanks for all of your responses. It turns out that the leg wasn’t broken, but the foot was sprained. Our dog is on medication and is already doing better. I talked to the vet and found out that he had no idea that I’d called to get our dog in. He was upset about it. The next time an emergency comes up, I will take the pet out there directly or insist on speaking to the vet if they claim they can’t get the pet in. The receptionist’s response was ridiculous, but the vet is great and we trust him and intend to stay with him.
The question was answered by :
Savanah :
In short yes a broken leg should be seen by a vet as soon as possible. The leg must be stabilized (splint/sling/wrap) and pain medication needs to be administered. Plus your vet should check for signs of shock etc.
The actual surgery to fix the leg may be put off until the next day (say if the dog comes in at 2 am and I don’t have a tech there to help with surgery I’ll wait to fix the leg)…But the dog needs to be seen ASAP.
Also…please tell your vet about his/her receptionist. I had an awful receptionist and didn’t know it for about 3 months because she always put on her best efforts if I was around. I assure you your vet doesn’t know she’s behaving like this!