Page 154 - ShowSight - July 2019

On The Line
BY BARBARA J. ANDREWS
FRACTURED BONES
If you are a Toy dog breeder you may have been through the stress
of having one of your own dogs or an owner’s dog suffer a broken leg. That in itself is traumatic but the aftermath can be equally as stressful to you, the owner, and to the dog. We know there are ways to build and select for strong bones in Toy dogs but most breed- ers must not know that... So let us look at ways for
both breeders and owners to minimize the risk of broken bones and/or get through it with
less trauma.
First, if it should hap- pen a lot depends on the veterinarian and that often depends on other factors, i.e. how long have you or the owner been a client? Does he own his own practice or is he an employee who must maximize profit? How old is he or she?
Tip: in my personal experience, best of all is a large animal vet who, due to age or injury, had to “downsize” to a small ani- mal practice. Why? Because more often than not, it means he or she is of an era where the animal came first, not as a slogan or sales pitch but from a time when veterinarians either grew up in a veterinary family or one that operated a dairy or raised animals NOT for slaughter. Believe it or not, people still breed sheep, goats, horses, etc. because they “fancy” them.
So what happens if your dog suffers a broken leg? Prevailing practice is that a veterinarian anesthetizes and admits him to apply a splint,
“Prevailing practice is
that a veterinarian anesthetizes and admits him to apply a splint,
THUS EXPOSING YOUR PET TO NEEDLESS STRESS AND YOU TO MORE EXPENSE.”
148 • ShowSight Magazine, July 2019