My Little Pirate - aka Brando

[renaultf1]

I'm starting a new thread as to not hijack the National thread. Brando broke his leg last Saturday…

@Quercus:

Oh shoot!! I hope your dad is doing okay, and what the heck happened to Brando?

Thanks Andrea…
Regarding Brando...we don't know what happened. I was outside walking Aaliyah - Ruby and Brando didn't want to go - they had already been out. They don't always want to go because Liyah is in and out a lot more because she is a pup and well, the adults want their rest:D:D. Anyway, I was gone not long - half hour maybe and I got home and asked my brother to go get Ruby and Brando. When he brought them out he said he thought Brando was hurt - he had a scratch on his head. I looked at it and it was no big deal. Anyway, when Brando came down the steps to see me, he was limping (right front leg). I looked and he was bleeding (small puncture wound) and the further I looked there was something hanging out of the wound.

I told my brother to go in call the emergency vet (of course it happened after noon when my normal vet would have still been open)...tell them I was on my way, etc. The vet was fantastic. They wanted to put him out to clean the wound, and cut a little further to see whether it was tendon or tissue hanging out. Basically, I told them to do what they needed to do - I asked for full blood ($190 vs. $75 at my regular vet :rolleyes:). Whatever, it is only money.

4 hours later and $1,100 - they did 2 sets of xrays (lucky because on the first set there wasn't anything wrong - the side view showed the smaller bone (ulna) had a break - the wound was a compound fracture. It was tissue hanging out, so that was lucky that it wasn't a tendon. But the break was really clean - they gave me the xrays to take to my regular vet and to bring to a ortho surgeon. He and Michael Jackson have something in common - he was given Propofol for anethesia :o.

Took him to my regular vet on Monday - they looked at the xrays and sent it it to the surgeon - no additional surgery. They said of course something could always go wrong during the healing, but at this point everything is really good. They also said that because it was a compound fracture, they wouldn't want to do another surgery anyway until the wound had healed because there is a huge chance of infection during surgery.

So twice a week he goes to the vet to get his splint changed. 6 - 8 weeks to heal. He's allowed to walk on it - and went to work with me this week (attends meetings and everything) and has been ok'd to come next week as well. He's the office mascot - he's so popular.

So what happened...well only Ruby knows and she isn't telling:rolleyes:. There was a table that was 10ft out of its normal place - so either he jumped off and landed wrong or ran into it full speed in a B500. And Ruby and he are not getting along at all right now (I'm keeping them separated - running 2 packs) - so maybe there was a tiff of some sort, IDK.

Things are a little hectic right now - understatement.

Suffice it to say, when I'm out of the house from now on - my b-kids will be crated.

Here he is on Saturday after surgery and with his first splint. Poor little guy. Pegleg Brando.

[nobarkus]

Poor Brando! A real trooper to go into the office! He may have jumped off that table and did that. Please keep us updated on how he's doing.

[moetmum]

Poor Brando, I hope he makes a speedy recovery.

[Kananga]

Poor guy. Hopefully everything heals up without trouble.

[Janneke]

Poor pup I hope he will soon be doing his B500's again

[tanza]

Hey, now you can call him "peg leg". When Maggii broke her leg, she started using the splint as a "weapon" on OJ…ggg... she got really good at direct hits with it!!!!

You know, no matter how you try, accidents will happen. I was home when Maggii broke her leg (both bones in the front leg as a 5 month old puppy and we will not go into how much that cost all those years ago).... But anyway, I was giving OJ a bath for a puppy match we were supposed to go to the next day, Maggii was down stairs behind the gate (which was pretty high) and decided she wanted to be where we were, climbed over it and somehow fell just right to snap both the bones... so while we try and keep them safe.. accidents just sometimes happen... First Surgery was to put a plate in her leg and the second was to reopen her growth plate.... but she never had a lame day in her life either in the show ring or on the lure field....

[renaultf1]

@tanza:

Hey, now you can call him "peg leg". When Maggii broke her leg, she started using the splint as a "weapon" on OJ…ggg... she got really good at direct hits with it!!!!

You know, no matter how you try, accidents will happen. I was home when Maggii broke her leg (both bones in the front leg as a 5 month old puppy and we will not go into how much that cost all those years ago).... But anyway, I was giving OJ a bath for a puppy match we were supposed to go to the next day, Maggii was down stairs behind the gate (which was pretty high) and decided she wanted to be where we were, climbed over it and somehow fell just right to snap both the bones... so while we try and keep them safe.. accidents just sometimes happen... First Surgery was to put a plate in her leg and the second was to reopen her growth plate.... but she never had a lame day in her life either in the show ring or on the lure field....

Pat thanks for posting this!

As you can imagine, I've gone over it a million times in my head…I should have just taken them all out whether they wanted to or not, I should have crated them, etc...as well as the much scarier thought of what if I'd been gone all day.

I realize Brando was lucky. In this case, they tell me it was the best sort of break possible because they said the radius basically acts as a splint to the broken ulna - and the break was really clean. The only bad part was it was compound.

I wish Brando would smack Ruby with the splint in play :D:D:D - however right now they are separated because there was a lot of growling and bad glances between them both the first 2 days after it happened. I'm sure he smells like the vet to her (or meds), and like I said, I'm not sure if there was some sort of tiff to cause the whole thing in first place. I have been walking them together briefly in the morning (Brando won't poop in his own yard and the vet said it was ok) and there is some tension but it has been ok. I don't trust them together right now. Aaliyah is oblivious to it all - she just wants to play with her buddy Brando - but he isn't feeling very playful at the moment.

I will say, he has been so good - hasn't tried to chew the splint (we're on the 3rd change as of today) and has let the vet redress the wound and change the splint without any sort of muzzle. I have decided to give him a sedative instead of the metacam they gave me as when he was on metacam he was too active. The vet thought it might be good if he felt a little pain so he'd slow down.

[renaultf1]

Thanks everyone…he's doing well considering.

[agilebasenji]

Poor baby! Zest says she'd like to sign his cast. :rolleyes:

[snorky998]

Thanks for the rest of the story. So sorry that you're going through so many things at the same time.

I must say the pic you posted is adorable. I can just hear him saying…"look how cute I am and by the way I'm injured and you need to wait on me hand and foot.... when I limp I need sympathy, and I'll keep limping well beyond feeling better until you catch on....tell the other 4-leggers I'm the center of attention for the time being….don't try to figure it out daddy, s#!t happens sometimes", after all, we are Basenji's".

[Nemo]

Poor little guy, all he needs is an eye patch and a little parrot on his shoulder. Is his foot inside the splint too?

[renaultf1]

@Nemo:

Poor little guy, all he needs is an eye patch and a little parrot on his shoulder. Is his foot inside the splint too?

Ha, ha, ha…I just need BDawg to make the props.
yes, the splint covers his foot (on that original pic it was almost completely covered). The last 2 splints actually have his toes out a little more. When he walks on the floor though, it sounds like he is wearing a tap shoe! lol

[renaultf1]

@snorky998:

Thanks for the rest of the story. So sorry that you're going through so many things at the same time.

I must say the pic you posted is adorable. I can just hear him saying…"look how cute I am and by the way I'm injured and you need to wait on me hand and foot.... when I limp I need sympathy, and I'll keep limping well beyond feeling better until you catch on....tell the other 4-leggers I'm the center of attention for the time being….don't try to figure it out daddy, s#!t happens sometimes", after all, we are Basenji's".

This is the standing joke with my kids breeder - he'll be looking for the splint and putting it on long after he is healed - he'll be so spoiled. LOL

[lvoss]

Nicky plays up the poor pitiful me until he realizes that he is missing out on all the good walks then he is ready to be all better, right now!

[Basenjimamma]

I can not believe it, poor little guy. He looks like a trooper though, sitting there so cool with his cast.

[kiroja]

Aww, poor Brando! So sorry about his mishap, but glad it is going well. Don't worry, you did everything fine. We can't baby them 100% and put them in a little bubble. Sometimes life just throws them a little curveball and you have to roll with the punches. They can certainly get hurt in their crate too, so you never know.

In the meantime, I'm sure he will be spoiled rotten!

[snorky998]

Just wondering how Brando is doing. Hope all is well.

[nala121498]

He looks so adorable! I'm sorry for the mishap…Keep us posted on his progress...

[Quercus]

@snorky998:

Just wondering how Brando is doing. Hope all is well.

I was wondering about him too….let us know

[renaultf1]

Thanks Snorky & Andrea for asking about Brando. My time on the forum is fleeting these days as my hands are full - as you can imagine.

Anyway, Brando is doing really well. He's now into his 3rd week of recovery. He got a really good report on his last visit to the vet (last Wednesday) - his wound where the bone went thru the skin is completely healed and he has finished his full course of antibiotics so infection worries are significantly less. Because the wound has healed, he now only has to have his splint changed once per week, yay - also great because it was $50 each time - every little bit helps.

I'm still giving him a sedative to keep him quiet, but not quite as often. He did manage to unstuff his splint yesterday, so I restuffed it, retaped it and then put tea tree oil on it - he wouldn't look at me the rest of the day. :rolleyes:

He has another vet appointment tomorrow and then the following week has follow-up xrays. He's been coming to work with me since he broke his leg (my boss approved it) - he is the hit of the office and of downtown Portland. Lots of visitors to my office and while he is out on the street - he is quite the little love bug, so he is soaking up all the attention. :D:D

Here's his latest pic (sleeping in my office):