Puppy Broken Leg Question?
ByI recently just got a mini apricot poodle with my boyfriend this summer. The problem begins when we have to leave on a trip for 5 days and are not able to take the 4 month old puppy with us. My boyfriend’s father offered to take care of the pup while we were away and it seemed like the best option: he has a house, yard, wife, step daughters and he has owned dogs before. It seemed like the responsible decision.
When we returned from our trip, our puppy had a limp. He told us he accidentally stepped on the puppy’s paw in the morning, but he had a doctor look at it, and it was fine, just sore. He told us that it would be fine in a few days and there was no reason to go to the vet because he didn’t step on him that hard.
After a couple days, my puppy continued to limp- even after rest and a little bit of walking. Then we ran into my boyfriend’s father again, who convinced us that maybe it was sprained and there was still no reason to go to the vet because we would be wasting our money.
My boyfriend and I believed him until it got to be a week and my puppy had not improved. I trusted his father to tell me the truth about the seriousness of accident and whether or not he did get it checked out because he was seemingly a mature responsible adult.
We went to the vet after 8 days (at least that’s assuming he was injured when he told us) and we had X-rays completed. The X-rays showed a serious fracture in the dog’s right front ulna and radius and gave us a recommendations for an orthopedic surgeon.
After visiting with the surgeon, we discussed a few options we could do- either nothing (which would most likely result in chronic lameness), wait for a week to get another X-ray to see if the growth plates have been affected and then accordingly use surgery to remove a part of the bone (which would still potentially result in lameness but prevent bow-legged), or the third option which would be to still wait a week and then re-break the bone, stabilize it with a pin, cast, etc etc which would cost about $3000.
I believe that my boyfriend’s father should be held financially accountable for our puppy’s injury, even if it may cost $3000. My boyfriend’s father was with us in the surgeon’s office and seemed to prefer the cheaper options because ‘the dog’s quality of life wouldn’t be decreased from having a potential lameness’. I feel that our puppy’s quality of life may be negatively effected due to his injury, especially as he ages. I feel that my boyfriend’s father should do what ever means necessary to make the dog as healthy as he was before we left him in their care.
In addition to the financial question, I have an ‘in your opinion’ question. For me, I don’t understand how it’s possible to confuse a force required to make a dog’s foot sore as opposed to breaking a dog’s foot in two places.
I feel so awful for not taking my puppy to the vet sooner and trusting another person when it comes to my dog. I’ve been wondering if we would have taken our puppy to the vet earlier, if we could have different positive outcomes for his leg. As disappointed as I am in the irresponsibility of my boyfriend’s father, his violation of our trust and the guilt I now feel- it doesn’t compare to the anger I have knowing that my poor dog is the only one who really pays for it.
My final question a broad one- what should I do next?
4 Comments
January 21st, 2010 at 3:04 am
First, what does your bf think? I would be very angry about this, and your bf should too. He is the one that needs to go to his father and confront him. It would help if the vet could give you his findings and he could present it to his father. You are caught between a rock and a hard place here. But his father lied to you, obviously knowing what caused this and he didn’t want you to find out about it. I would get your bf to take it from here.
January 21st, 2010 at 3:26 am
One yes the father is FULLY responsible and I doubt he did have the animal examined, more than likely he called the vet and talked to them or did nothing at all.
Two form now on find a qualified pet sitter or take the animal with you.
Three You and your boyfriend alone decide with your vet what is the best course of action for the puppy and then present his father with the bill and give him two options he pays/reimburses you two for the bill or mall claims court.
January 21st, 2010 at 3:46 am
first off, i personally would do the surgery requiring the pins. my dog had a broken leg in the same fashion at about six months old. my vet did the surgery about a week after the break. she is now almost three and you would never know she had a broken leg. no limp, no tenderness, no nothing. as for your boyfriends dad, i wouldn’t count on him paying anything. i would have your boyfriend suggest it to his father to at least help out with the bill. you might also want to check into carecredit.com. do not do a cheap fixer up on the dog, you will regret it. my husbands grandmother has a chihuahua that walks with a crooked leg because of the cheap job that was done on its leg. next time, i suggest leaving your dog with the vet if they do board/care for animals, mine does. whenever we have to leave town for a while, our dogs stay at the vet board and care. it only costs us about $8 bucks a day per dog. as for what to do next, get your dogs leg fixed so that it won’t walk around with a limp, tell your boyfriend to have a discussion with his dad about either paying in full or at least some of it, he was responsible for the dog at the time, and check with carecredit.com about financing the surgery. good luck.
January 21st, 2010 at 4:25 am
I am so sorry for you puppy’s pain. And I know from your writing that you are very upset. This is now the past and you have to look to the future. The father should have taken the dog to the vet for xrays. Call the vet that he took the dog to and see if he actually did take the dog in and ask the vet why he did not xray the leg to see if it was broken.
The vet could have looked at the xrays the day of the injury and see if the growth plate was possibly damaged by the location of the break.
And yes your BF father should pay to have the dog treated. It was in his care and he injured it and apparently got it no treatment.
You have to make up your mind, how important your relationship with your BF’s father really is. This situation can set the tone for the rest of your life. Your little guy should not be punished because of this man’s actions.
I’ll bet you don’t see a dime from him.