Meet Peanut, a very cute 9 month old male Beagle mix. Peanut was seen here last Friday after a neighbor saw Peanut hit by a car in the street. Peanut instantly came up limping on his back right leg, along with having some skin road burns and mild difficulty breathing. With any traumatic injury such as a hit by car, fight, or falling off of furniture, it is always important to make sure that there are no internal injuries before evaluating any orthopedic injuries that are apparent. Fortunately for Peanut, blood work and radiographs of the chest and abdomen did not reveal any injuries from the trauma except for some pulmonary contusions (lung bruises). However, Peanut did have a fractured leg through the growth plate of his back right leg. Fractures through the growth plate, also known as a Salter-Harris type fracture, occur in young growing dogs before the growth plate has closed.

On Monday, Dr. Murray and the staff at Heartwood Animal Hospital performed cross pin procedure to repair his broken leg. The surgery was a success, and we are wishing the best for Peanut for a speedy recovery.

Peanut’s case is a great example for why any pet should always receive immediate veterinary care with any traumatic injury, as the first 24 hours is critical to stabilizing and controlling pain.