FINNI

Ever so often a ‘special’ dog or cat comes along that needs help and everybody falls in love with it. FINNI, a young female whippet was one such case. She was hit by a car on a night when Dr. Robert was on duty. The injuries were severe and potentially life-threatening. Both hind legs were scraped along the road and a lot of skin was lost leaving the rest hanging around the lower limbs. The right hind hock (ankle) was also dislocated and disrupted. After initial emergency surgery and treatment the legs were repeatedly cleaned and bandaged every 1-2 days. This process took 5 weeks and eventually we were left with two main problems (a) complete skin loss on the left hind leg and (b) the unstable right hock joint.

A skin graft was taken from the left rib area, the left hind was prepared and the new skin was meshed and put in place. After about 12 weeks it was obvious that the graft was going to take and rejection was a fading memory. Hair started to grow from the grafted area – very sparse and tufted in appearance initially and continues to thicken at the time of writing.

The right hock joint was more of a problem. As well as having the skin and ligaments shredded there was also some bone loss as well. Even after months of bandaging and support it was obvious that the joint was still unstable. A decision was made to fuse the joint and as the accompanying Xray shows a diagonal screw was placed through the joint after the joint surfaces were burned away and a bone graft was packed in place. The whole area was secured by an external fixator – a metal support frame. At present we think that this will be removed in 4 weeks and our work will be done. The whole process has taken 10 months and Finni’s owners have been enthusiastic and understanding throughout 
 

 
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The Veterinary Hospital
PO Box 11934,
Dubai, U.A.E.
Tel + 9714 338 7726  / Fax + 9714 338 5534
Emergency (Out of Hours) 050 657 7851
Website: www.vet-hosp.com