Oakengates and Shawbirch Vets Fix Phillipa’s Broken Paw

Her owners noticed her paw was swollen and painful to walk on, so they made the correct decision to bring her in to Medivet Shawbirch to get her checked out by a vet.

After examination, it was recommended that Phillipa have an X-Ray to assess the damage. She was transferred to Medivet Oakengates where Branch Partner Duncan Senior, a veterinary surgeon with experience in orthopaedics and trauma work, performed the X-Ray and assessed her paw.

As correctly suspected by Medivet Shawbirch’s vet, Phillipa had broken multiple bones in her paw, making it unstable.

In many cases, a pet may only break one of their bones in the paw, and in that situation, the other bones can often be allowed to act as an internal splint, meaning surgery wouldn’t be necessary. However, in Phillipa’s case, multiple bones were broken making the whole foot unstable, so surgery was the best option.

A support dressing was applied overnight to keep the swelling to a minimum and to keep her comfortable, ready for surgery the next day. During the surgery, Duncan was able to stabilise the broken bones with internal pins to allow the bones of the paw to heal in their normal positions.

Phillipa is already making good progress since her surgery and has started using her leg again. It will take 6-8 weeks to fully heal but she is very much back to her usual cantankerous self and we couldn’t be more pleased for her.