Fractured leg - Beagle 9 Months

JacoStanley

Hi all

Buddy, our 9 month old Beagle fractured his back left leg in 2 places on Easter Sunday and is under strict instructions to be crate-bound for the next month. He gets fairly distressed cause he's a livewire normally. Any recommendations on how to stimulate his mind throughout the day? It's limited as to what I can leave him with as he eats anything that can physically be eaten. I've posted a pic to get your hearts on board with this one.

Cheers
Gary

Meteoric

I think a Kong with something suitable inside it works well to distract a Dog, My Lab who has chewed all sorts of things to death still has his and he spends ages trying to get the food out, just a suggestion though

Sachrin

The same thing happened to our Belgian Shepherd pup a year ago.

He was very hard work keeping crated all the time and would go mad trying to get out if I left the room. When he was taken outside on lead for the toilet he would be trying to leap all over the place.

After a few weeks our vet took him off the metacam to see if he was less lively if he felt his leg but it made no difference. We were very worried that he would damage it again.

We found that the best way of tiring him out was letting him see everything that was going on. We would put his crate in the car so that he could see out of the window and take him for drive. He went to puppy classes and taken round town etc. All the normal things he would have done as a puppy. The only difference was he was carried everywhere. Lots of chews and toys also helped and of course as much time out the crate as possible having cuddles sat on our knees.

My boy is now 14 months old and totally recovered. He does agility training and charges round with his friends. All things that when he broke his leg I thought he may never do.

Best of luck to you and Buddy. Sure he will be back to normal really soon :)

tk123

Ah the poor baby!! My guy had an operation last year and was on crate rest for 5 and half weeks. The first week was tough but once we got into a routine it was much easier.

We fed him his meals in kongs. I started with one XL kong and ended up with 4 lol - 2 on the go and 2 in the dishwasher at all times! He had some kong paste rubbed into his nylabones and would chomp away on them. Make sure you have towels under him in the crate - if he's eating kongs it can get messy so much easier to have a to have a towel under him and when you're taking him out to the loo you can take out the bedding if needed.

Try and get him into a routine and he'll be more relaxed and settled - so loo breaks, meals treats around the same time everyday.

I had done obedience classes and we'd done clicker training so we were able to use that to pass the time and keep him thinking/entertained.
- leave it/take it
- which hand -hold out your 2 closed hands with a piece of food in one and get him to guess which hand it's in
- look
- stay - obviously he's in a crate so he's not going anywhere lol but you can build up the time you're away from the crate and lots of praise when you come back and a treat. So eg start with a few steps away and build up until you're out of sight etc
- touch
-give the paw
All just simple little things to keep him settled in the crate and to keep him lying down and not up trying to stand on the leg.

In the evening I'd let him lie down on the floor and sit beside him petting/brushing him and he loved it too. I had 2 crates set up for him - one in the kitchen and one in the sitting room so he'd be with us all the time and he'd usually snooze. Once there was somebody in the room with him he'd generally settle down and snooze.

You have to be TOUGH OP - it's hard at first because you think he's crying to go out to the loo etc but he's just chancing it to get out - the sooner you get him into a routine the quicker the time will go. I found the first week the hardest but after that the time went by quickly. It'll all be worth it in the end - the day you let him off the lead and see him running again will make you so happy lol

JacoStanley

Thanks for the advice.

Sachrin; thank you for your story. I'm very glad to hear your fella is back to normal. I'm worried something like this might happen again but he's nearly fully grown so I'm hoping that'll strenghten him up. I'll take your advice Sachrin, thanks again.

G

Green Dog

Stuffed Kongs sound like the best idea. But if he is very distressed maybe talk to the vet about a mild sedative, even just for a few days to allow him settle into confinement. Hope he gets well soon.

JacoStanley

All brilliant advice. It's amazing how he still reacts to his training even in the state he's in. We're developing a routine now after such a long weekend. He'll be on his own for most of the day tomorrow. We've had to stop freezing his Kongs as he doesn't have the use of his paws to help him out. The cone is another thing which seems to get him down. He is hilarious when he gets out of the crate briefly and goes scavaging around on 3 legs.

tk123

Yeah I stopped freezing the kongs because he cries lol!! My kong recipe is soak his dried food, whizz up with hand blender to make a paste, pack in the paste and put in some dry nuts as you go to layer it then a couple of treats at the top and leave in the fridge - it sets but he's able to get it out much easier than if it was frozen. I played it safe with the kongs and didn't make them too fancy - I didn't want to risk him getting an upset tummy while he was on crate rest.

My vet gave me Zylkene to try to see if it settled him and it made no difference!! He calmed down once we relaxed ourselves! I had probs getting him to settle the first few days - I took the throw off my bed and put in the crate and he was out for the count lol
Also for the cone you can get inflatable ones (comfy collar) - my guy didn't need a cone but he loved the inflatable collar for snoozing in :pac: I got it from zooplus but they don't seem to have them anymore.

ppink

I saw this collar and thought it may be better than those cones. They sell them in the US so if you have someone there who could send you one.

Boobooloon its called...look it up, they are on facebook.

I just saw they are using it on Patrick the pitbull (from The Partick Miracle)