Xrays!

So we finally got the whole set of Kokomo's xrays Just thought I'd post some of them, if anyone's interested...

Healthy xray (Prior to his broken leg)



Broken leg in two places on the femur



Immediately post-surgery; pin and splint present



Approximately 6 weeks post-surgery, ready to get the splint off
(it had not formed quite as much bridging callous as they would have liked, but it was relatively stable and had not improved much from 2 weeks prior, and they thought the weight of the splint might be hindering the healing process... so it's off now and we'll see how it goes)

The poor little guy. Glad he's okay. Thanks for the x-ray pictures.

Oh by the way, not that a cat is like a chin, but when my cat broke her leg, it took some time to fully heal and I do mean lots of time, even had to take the pin out and put a cast on cuz the pin started to hit her nerves, but she ended up healing fine. Even her nerves healed. Thought for awhile she wouldn't be able to walk correctly. It was a tough road, but she made it. And So I hope your little guy does too!!

So best of luck to your little guy's healing process.

jean

wow, very interesting, I was under the impression that in most cases broken legs get amputated.

I hope he heals soon!

They have a great small animal orthopedic surgeon at Tufts, and with the nature of the breaks they expected a full recovery with the surgery, so we gave it a shot. We're very aware that there's still a chance it may not work... it still has to heal more completely and he has rehab to go through for the leg stiffness. We're hoping for the best, though!

Thank you for sharing the Xrays - they are very interesting.
If I'm really honest, though, I would have chosen amputation - that third Xray still looks pretty bad to me - there is not much callous at all, especially near the hip joint.

Claire D said:

Thank you for sharing the Xrays - they are very interesting.
If I'm really honest, though, I would have chosen amputation - that third Xray still looks pretty bad to me - there is not much callous at all, especially near the hip joint.

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I'm with Claire on this one. It also looks like it's "healing" at a strange angle. Our exotics vet says that it's his first instinct to try to save all limbs, but he realizes the best option for a chin is amputation.

i hope the recovery is successful!! those images are very interesting to see...it's so sweet how you can see the ears in the xray...the ears are my fav part of a chinny lol!!!

I appreciate your honesty. If we were to do this all over again, I would have chosen amputation as well. The hope is that without the splint, it will heal more strongly, and I at least trust that the surgeon felt it was stable enough to take the splint off. As far as it healing at a slightly odd angle, we were told that it's straight enough to be able to heal strongly and that any "sharp" edges would eventually be smoothed down by the surrounding muscle. I feel horrible now that he's going through all this without any guarantee that it will work... he has another checkup in a month, so we're keeping our fingers crossed that we won't have to end up amputating.

Thanks for sharing your x-ray. We'll be keeping our fingers crossed as well in hopes that his leg will heal well enough to not have to be amputated after all this.

wow thanks for that!!! Like Alli, I thought that most chins with broken legs just get them removed...how has it healed since then??? Good luck to the both of you and thanks again!!!

That is real interesting. Thanks for sharing. It doesn't look like it was lined up right to me near the hip? Maybe it is just me tho. Makes me wonder how well he will be able to use it and if so if he will face arthritis later on in life? Good luck and keep us posted

Poor widdle chubby, that was interesting. I guess that is his ears stretched back past his elbows. Do you have a real photo of him?

I hope he is in a small cage with no ledges or even a house that he can jump up and down on? Make sure to keep him moving as less as possible and check for weight loss daily. Things could break again and get infected easily, so just be prepared. Good luck, I hope he makes a quick and easy recovery.

No worries, his cage has been modified so that he has a single level, approximately 1x2x1, with the only "furniture" being his pellet and hay bowls and his water bottle. To be honest, I'm a little concerned about the angle of the leg as well, and unfortunately Scott was the one to make most of the vet runs, so I haven't really been able to talk to them or ask questions. The images from two weeks ago don't obscure the hip joint as much as that one, and it does appear to be fairly well lined up, so it may have just been the angle of that set of xrays. Also, if you look at the first "normal" xray, there is an area just below the hip where the bone naturally juts out a little, so that could also be part of why it looks odd now. We're keeping a very close eye on everything - food/water intake, weight, "mood", etc and hoping for the best for our little guy.

Btw, addictedtochins, there are some photos of him here from before his injury. We do have a few pics of post surgery... I may post those if I get a chance to resize and upload them tomorrow.

Thanks for the X-rays! Great pictures!

Here are some post surgery pics... poor little guy hasn't been able to be dusted in over a month now

This was shortly after he came home after surgery with the first version of his splint



His "new and improved" lighter splint, and his collar got promoted to a kilt!



And today (no splint)... we decided to give him his hay bin back, so what does he do? Sleeps in it! (don't worry, we've been giving him hay the whole time - we had just been putting in on the floor to minimize furniture)

oh he is sooo sweet!!! that pic of him in his splint is heartnreaking...i wish you guys the best and that he makes a full recovery!!! may i ask how he broke his leg in the first place? i am so paranoid about this...

Well, he's actually been through two bouts of suspected broken leg. The first time, he got his hock ("ankle") caught in one of the wire ramps that come with the Ferret Nation (which were promptly removed and replaced with wooden ledges). That's what the first xray was from - no broken bones that time, though I suspect it may have weakened it. When he actually broke his leg, he was being carried over to the play area and got a little too excited and decided he would try flying. So he ended up falling from chest height, and apparently didn't land well on that same leg.

So the morals of this story are make sure your cages are chin safe and be sure to secure them (by the base of the tail) while you're carrying them around.

Poor guy. He looks miserable.

That is so true, I'm glad you said that. When transporting your chins, do not just hold them by your chest, you need to securely hold the base of their tail to prevent them from trying to fly like this poor little guy did.

alli713 said:

Poor guy. He looks miserable.

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Looks can be deceiving Through all this, he has been sweeter than ever... he totally soaks up cuddles and scritches, and will often come up to the front of the cage and put his paws up on the mesh fence to say hi when we come by. While his splint was on, he was totally content to nap on our laps while we worked or watched TV... though now that he has more "freedom", he wants to explore like the naughty little boy he is