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Bone Plating Surgery In A Dog

Accidents do happen... and bones do break!  Bone fracture repair in dogs and cats is a skill that greatly enhances the health of our pets when the unexpected trauma of a fractured bone occurs.  There are various methods of repairing fractures from simple confinement and rest with no intervention to internal mechanical fixation with bone grafts.  One common method, displayed on this page, is the use of stainless steel bone plating devices to hold the fracture segments together while the slow healing process takes place.

Bone plating in dogs and cats has the distinct advantage of being secure, stable, strong and requires no external splinting or fixation hardware that would encumber normal mobility and comfort.  The patient that underwent internal fixation surgery  (an example of external fixation would be a simple splint or cast) in this presentation walked comfortably out the door the day after surgery and had almost no swelling or discomfort.  X-rays of the healed bone six weeks later (below, right) reveal good union and new bone formation.

The patient is again anesthetized, the leg is opened and the plate, screws and wire are removed.  Healing after plate removal is rapid and this patient made a speedy and uneventful recovery. 

Click on the images to see a full detail photo...

Pre-operative x-ray side (lateral) view	Post-operative x-ray Front-to-back view	Healed fracture, 6 weeks later Front-to-back view

The Fracture Repair Surgery
The surgical site  is prepared for the procedure	The skin is incised and subcutaneous tissues separated	The tibia is exposed  and the fracture  examined	A stainless steel wire encircles the fragments
The plate is bent to conform to the bone surface	Holes are drilled to  accept the bones screws	The area is examined for stability and placement of fracture segments	The tissues are closed  and skin secured with sutures

There are many other surgeries displayed in ThePetCenter.com.
For a full index of dog and cat surgery procedures, look here.