Broken hip

[ileso]

My Beagle was run over almost three weeks ago. The vet said to leave him be, that he needed rest and time to heal... but Im worried we wont ever walk properly again. So I asked for the x-rays... I got them today and now I am really worried.. should the vet have gotten the pelvis back to its original position or will it go back naturally?

 

[Selous]

Were these the only X-rays taken? There should be a lateral view of the pelvis as well to determine how bad the injuries are? I am concerned about the sacrum more than the pelvis. How is your dog functioning, can it walk and toilet normally.

 

[ileso]

It stumbles around pretty much on its right leg only, the left leg is lifted off the ground. but toilets normally now.

These are the only bone injuries it has, the pelvis shattered on one side and the whole pelvis (sorry I dont know the correct terms) broken off the spine and pushed forward as shown in the first image. (I may be referring to the sacrum)

I believe there were lateral xrays but cant say for sure.

 

[Selous]

Well the good news is that the hip joints appear intact which is always good but the weight bearing axis between hip joint and spine is disrupted at both sacroiliac joints. This appears to be associated with sacral fractures. There is a comminuted fracture of the right filial wing but I cannot fully evaluate this from one xray. With pelvic injuries there are often concurrent neurological injuries that can be of greater significance than the bony injuries and these cannot be evaluated on xrays. In particular I would be concerned about there being nerve injury or entrapment that may be contributing to the lameness you describe. I typically advise surgery to realign and stabilise the weight bearing section of the pelvis in cases such as this as the recovery is faster and generally more complete. Conservative management can produce satisfactory outcomes in some dogs but is less predictable. After three weeks you are pretty much committed to conservative management as moving the bone fragments would be incredibly difficult and traumatic at this time.
I would suggest that you get your dog checked again and in particular ask if there are neurological deficits relating to the sciatic (most likely) or femoral nerves. Often specific painkillers such as gabapentin in addition to non steroidal anti inflammatory drugs can be useful if nerve pain is present. Nerve injuries will either resolve or not so be patient and seek help from a physiotherapist if you can. Hope this helps

 

[ileso]

Thanks for your reply. You basically cemented what I thought about the bones, that it should have been moved into place at the time and that now its a bit late.
I will see how he holds up for the next week, He does not seem to be in any pain though, hes a tough little bugger. And has increasingly regained his appetite over the last two weeks and his pee has been decreasing in colour as well. I take that as a very good sign.

Unfortunately I dont think he will ever hunt again. Is there any chance these injuries could hamper his ability to breed? If he is never to hunt again I would want to try for a hound of his lineage as he was a hound like no other that I know of. I am already looking for a female puppy in the hopes of maintaining his blood line some time in the future, Ive read that it can be done artificially but I would much rather he would be able to do it himself in a couple of years from now or so...