Cooks Hill Veterinary Clinic : December Hero of the Month

Meet Winston

Winston is a three-and-a-half-month-old Pomeranian cross, who has had a challenging start to life.

He presented to us at the end of November with a possible broken leg, after falling off the bed.

Due to unfortunate circumstances, his owners were not able to keep him, so he was surrendered to the Clinic.

After an examination and radiographs, it was diagnosed that Winston had a Salter Harris fracture of the distal femoral physis (aka a fracture through the growth plate on the tip of the femur, the high long bone in the back leg). Dr Darren came to the rescue and repaired his leg pro Bono. The corrective surgery involved Dr Darren carefully placing two bone pins in a cross pattern to correct and secure the fracture.

What follows the surgery is a long, six-week recovery period, which involves strict cage rest and some rehabilitation exercises.

Although Winston may have some issues long term because the fracture will cause the long bone to not grow as long as the normal leg and possibly could grow crooked, we expect he will live a relatively normal life, just with one leg shorter than the other!

Winston is recovering well and is set to live happily ever after at his new home with Nurse Amelia.