Old broken leg in kitten... what do i do??

[Grace]

I don't think they can pin the leg if it has multiple loose fragments inside. At work the only pinning I've seen done had no fragments that I recall. The legs were simply broke not smashed with splintered fragments. Just a thought.

Our Grady had a comminuted mid-diaphyseal spiral fracture of his left femur back in March 2005. Up at MSU Vet School they did a reduction and placement of an interlocking nail.

For the non-medical people, a comminuted fracture is defined as one in which the bone is broken, splintered or crushed into a number of pieces.

The other option offered to us, by our own Vet, was amputation.

Grady has a bunch of bone fragments in his leg, and many of them simply fused to each other during the healing process. He was only 2 when the fracture happened, and the young heal so much better.

[Catlady711]

Our Grady had a comminuted mid-diaphyseal spiral fracture of his left femur back in March 2005. Up at MSU Vet School they did a reduction and placement of an interlocking nail.

For the non-medical people, a comminuted fracture is defined as one in which the bone is broken, splintered or crushed into a number of pieces.

The other option offered to us, by our own Vet, was amputation.

Grady has a bunch of bone fragments in his leg, and many of them simply fused to each other during the healing process. He was only 2 when the fracture happened, and the young heal so much better.

Ok the vet school part explains it. They have access to the latest technology and techniques of anything available, and more heads to scratch in search of solutions than the average vet has at their disposal. Where I work we don't have any orthepedic (sp?) specialists so I'm guessing that's why they don't pin really splintered up legs then. We tend to refer out to specialists for really banged up stuff if the owner wants to pursue it further than we can provide.

[Grace]

Yes, our Vet said it was beyond their area of expertise. We could choose between the specialists in Southfield, or go up to Michigan State. We chose State. It was 49 miles, door-to-door, and was a wonderful experience - considering the severity of the injury. Grady was there for just 48 hours, and during that time they called us about 6 times with updates. Better communication than at a people hospital!!

The cost was just under $1300 - about half of what the specialists in Southfield would have charged. That's because MSU is taxpayer supported. They also had a pay plan for those who could not pay the total cost at one time.