Amy is one of the happiest dogs you could ever meet. She has been coming to us regularly since a puppy and especially over the last 18 months since we discovered she had a blood abnormality causing her to have a very low platelet count. Platelets are needed to make the blood clot. Amy never complains at all despite us having to do regular blood tests. She always remains her happy self.
Recently Amy's dad had to go away and so she stayed with family. She unfortunately took advantage of a brief opportunity to get out and go exploring and forgot her road rules. Amy got run over. She was taken to a nearby vet who treated her for shock and pain and then arranged for her to come to Adelaide Animal Hospital.
Amy after her ordealAmy had been badly injured and was lucky to survive. The vehicle had run right over her hind quarters. She was completely unable to walk on her back legs and x-rays showed that she had broken both sides of her pelvis.
The break on the right side involved her hip. Added to this was the fact that her platelet count was still low and put her at risk of severe internal bleeding.
Amy's condition was stabilized, high levels of pain killers commenced and treatment was given to increase her platelet count. The platelets are needed for her to have surgery and once we were happy that she was well enough we scheduled the operations.
Amy needed 2 operations 48 hours apart to repair the bone fractures on each side of her pelvis. A special curved plate was obtained to repair the hip joint on her right side and a straight plate was used on the left side. The surgery went well and once her bruising settled she needed to learn to walk again. This was done by supporting her back legs with a sling until the strength returned. All through this recovery period Amy remained a model patient.
We are happy to report that Amy made good progress and went home after a 9 day stay in hospital. Her improvement has continued so that she is now fully mobile again and we hope a little wiser when it comes to going out near the road.
X-ray taken before surgery - the shaded areas highlight the problem areas
Xray taken after the surgery - plate, pins and wires in place
