Traumatic Dog Fracture & Bone Repair in Wilmington, DE

From around $1,800. The figure includes pre-anesthetic blood screening, anesthesia with continuous monitoring, the reduction and fixation, the implants themselves, immediate post-operative radiographs, and medications. What drives it higher is complexity: comminuted fractures with multiple fragments, fractures involving a joint surface, open fractures requiring an external fixator, and cases needing serial recheck radiographs over a longer healing period.

No. Stable, non-displaced fractures (particularly in young dogs with strong healing potential) can heal in external coaptation such as a Robert Jones bandage or a cast, with strict rest. Surgery becomes necessary when the fracture is displaced, when it is comminuted into multiple fragments, when it involves a joint surface, or when the bone will not stay aligned in a cast. Radiographs make that decision, not guesswork.

It depends on the bone and the fracture pattern. Dynamic compression plating (DCP or LC-DCP) gives rigid stability and is well suited to long-bone fractures under load. An intramedullary pin runs down the marrow cavity and resists bending but not rotation, so it is often combined with K-wires or a cerclage. External fixation places pins through the skin into the bone connected to an external frame, which is valuable for open or heavily contaminated fractures where implanting hardware at the site carries infection risk.

Typically six to twelve weeks. Young dogs heal at the fast end, older dogs at the slow end. Healing progresses through inflammation, soft callus, hard callus formation, and finally remodelling. We confirm progress with orthogonal recheck radiographs rather than by how well your dog appears to be walking, because dogs will happily bear weight on a bone that is nowhere near healed.

Most traumatic fractures that are repaired promptly and rested properly heal to full function. The two biggest predictors of a poor result are delay in getting the bone stabilised and activity too early during healing. Fractures involving a joint surface carry a higher risk of later arthritis in that joint, and we will tell you if your dog's fracture falls into that category.

Strict confinement, and considerably more of it than most owners expect. Crate or small-room rest, lead-only toilet breaks, no stairs, no jumping onto furniture, and no off-lead running until we clear it on radiographs. Non-union, a fracture that fails to knit, is most often caused by movement at the fracture site, which is exactly what activity restriction prevents.

No. Our orthopedic scope is strictly traumatic bone fracture repair. We do not perform elective orthopedic procedures such as TPLO, extracapsular cruciate repair, or patellar luxation correction. If that is what your dog needs, we will tell you plainly and point you toward a surgeon who does that work regularly.

Go to your nearest emergency veterinary hospital immediately. A dog that has been hit by a car needs assessment for chest and abdominal injury, internal bleeding, and shock before anyone thinks about the leg. Fractures are visible and alarming, but they are rarely the thing that kills a dog in the first hours. Once your dog is stable, contact us about the repair.