snow broke her leg

gnj4eva_2009 · 07-12-2011, 08:40 AM

snow broke her leg last night.i rang the emergency vets as didnt know what to do.shes doing abit better today but ive still got a bad feeling there going to want to amputate it.vets appointment is tommorow evening so keep your fingers crossed for her

(snows our winter white russian hamster,originally bought from pah as a pair.had to seperate due to a big fight,she ended up with an eye injury a near her private injury and a foot injury.her eye stayed shut for ages,her privates never healed properly and her foot has always been 3 times the size since then.she got put on antibiotics etc but vets did say that she probably wouldnt recover properly.shes been a fighter since then as we thought we were going to lose her)

snows usually the type to sit in her cage and wait to see what your doing in there and wait for you to pick her up etc.last night she decided to jump out the cage while i had bent down to get a treat for her.picked her up and her leg had completely twisted and broken.

rang the vets straight away and he said to bathe it with cooled down salt water and keep an eye on it etc.shes alot better today but because its the foot that was 3 times the size so probably quite heavy for a dwarf ive booked an appointment for tommorow(earliest they could do)

shes walking on 3 legs at the minute and doesnt seem to be in too much pain or distress so fingers crossed for tommorow

if anyone has any other advice that would be great

mongo · 07-12-2011, 09:22 AM

Oh my goodness poor Snow, she sounds like my hamster with adventurous spririt! Hopefully it's just a sprain or small fracture. My Dwarf Russian hamster broken her leg right through but there was no swelling, or hardly any anyway. The vet decided to amputate pretty quickly, we didn't even wait to see if it would heal on it's own (which I do regret a bit). But in any case I think you really have to keep an eye on it, if there's any sign of infection then you have to act quickly otherwise it might be too late even for an operation.

gnj4eva_2009 · 07-12-2011, 09:49 AM

shes never been adventurous since she had her fight which was over a year and a half ago.i definately think its broken as it was twisting all the way round when she was walking.its not today though.the vet said to clean it with cooled down salt water and if she hadnt improved to bring her in first thing and hel personally check her over.as shed improved i still wanted to get a vets appointment because of the weight the leg was already bearing due to the foot.the vet said its usually they let it heal on its own and set naturally or they usually amputate it.main concern is the weight of her foot already if it would heal or if the weight would stop it from healing

racinghamster · 07-12-2011, 10:53 AM

If she`s dragging her leg and the vet can feel a clean break, they will probably amputate it. Might be worth x-raying though to be sure? So sorry to hear about this you must be feeling rotten about it. That`s why I keep the perspex lid on my Chinese hamsters cage and interact with her through the large open top where the grill would normally be! I know she can`t climb up the side and topple out!

Hope Snow is okay even if her leg does have to be removed due to infection or because your vet feels it`s the best course of action. Good luck. x

SnickersTheFirst · 07-12-2011, 11:17 AM

I'd definately ask for an x-ray, they was going to send me home with Bailey but it turns out he had a broken and misaligned leg which needed to be amputated asap. It's hard to fix legs on such small animals so amputation is common for brakes. I hope it's only a sprain!

Just in case check out my thread:
Went to P@H today...
It's long but has a lot of info about amputation etc.

gnj4eva_2009 · 07-12-2011, 04:44 PM

shes not dragging it atall dont know whether or not thats a good sign or not.she either walks on 3 legs or walks on it which to me looks preety straight.
yeah vet suggested healing naturally or amputation.will let you know how it goes tommorow

gnj4eva_2009 · 07-14-2011, 08:55 AM

just thought id update.vets app went quite well.the vet couldnt feel a break in her leg and it looked clean and not infected etc.she thinks shes sprained it.she told me to keep cleaning twice a day with cooled down salt water and if it starts to look infected she has give me some baytril and told me dosages etc.she said it can take a while for sprains to heal and it all depends on how the animal reacts to it as to how much she recovers.

SnickersTheFirst · 07-14-2011, 08:58 AM

Didn't she recommend an x-ray? My vet couldn't feel anything wrong with Bailey's leg and was shocked when he saw the x-ray results.

gnj4eva_2009 · 07-15-2011, 05:34 AM

she said that to do an x ray shed have to be put under anaesthetic which with the age of the hamster is not advisable as the risks outway the positives.shes 2 years 2 months and 3 days old approx

RachK · 07-15-2011, 05:46 AM

Oh dear.

I'll share my experience. My WW Huxley broke his wrist a few months ago. It wasn't a compound fracture so it was left to heal naturally. He was prescribed Metacam for pain relief which I gave him once a day.
Within 10 days he was walking on it again & by 3 weeks he was fine. So amputation isn't always done.
He has just been left with a wonky foot that permanently bends outwards.

He has no problems walking or running at all.
If it is just a sprain or a small break like Huxley's she should be perfectly fine.