The Yorkshire Vet: A close contest for the cutest patient of the week...

We don’t have a prize for the cutest patient of the week. Maybe we should. If we did, this week’s prize would have been a close contest. Rose, the six-month old miniature wire-haired Dachshund, would have been in pole position. The poor pup had been attacked by another dog and had a horribly fractured back leg. The bottom of the femur, the thigh bone, had been snapped by the jaws of the attacker.
By Julian Norton
Published 3rd Mar 2024, 11:45 BST

Rose, every bit as charismatic as her namesake from the film Titanic, was clearly sore and our sympathy for her predicament was made greater by those doleful eyes. For tugging on the heartstrings, there’s not much worse than a sad puppy, especially one that looks like Rose. On an unusually busy Saturday, we prepared the X-ray machine. As the image appeared, moments later, the sorry position of the lower part of the bone was clear and we discussed options for a repair. Immediate repositioning and pinning the two bits back together offered the best solution. The more time allowed to elapse before repair, the harder it would be, as the strong hamstring muscles would displace the fracture further out of position, pulling the fractured end backwards. It was just Anne and me again in theatre that afternoon, but it was good to be able to help little Rose so quickly.

Afterwards, the X-rays showed the bone was nicely aligned and the metal crossed pins were pretty much spot on.

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“That looks decent to me,” I said, cocking my head to one side to get a better assessment of the depth of the pins. I was pleased- this was as good as I could have hoped.

The Yorkshire Vet, Julian Norton.The Yorkshire Vet, Julian Norton.
The Yorkshire Vet, Julian Norton.

“Definitely?” asked Anne, wanting confirmation before switching off the anaesthetic gas.

Rose recovered well and went home later in the evening. We would need to fight for which of us got the chance to do the follow up check three days later; this is often the best bit!

On Thursday, another contender for the cutest canine ever the enter a veterinary practice appeared. Standing quietly and unassuming, with a head scarf on, all eyes were drawn to this bohemian Bedlington with a babushka. Grace’s head was swaddled in a scarf and she was rocking the look.

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“She’s got sore patches on the edges of her ears and this is the best way to stop her flapping them,” explained her owner. I commented on the fluffy hair and the Quant-esque style.

“She’s very fluffy,” I said, rather obviously.

“Well, yes. She’s actually a Bedlington crossed with a poodle,” replied her very proud owner. This explained things. Under the scarf, her ear tips were definitely on the mend with a combination of the medication and the headscarf. I dispensed a longer course and added in another ear treatment, to be used sparingly so as not to make the scarf all greasy.

“You can probably take the scarf off before too long,” I suggested, now the ear tips were past their worst. But I had a feeling that, even when the headwear was not required, Grace the oh-so-fluffy Bedlington cross would continue the habit, if only for the sake of fashion.

Later that week, Rose was back for a follow up. Anne was the lucky one to get to see her and she reported back the exciting news of a very happy, very waggy and very pain-free puppy. The wound was healing and, importantly she was already using her injured leg well, with hardly a limp. The smile in her eyes told us everything we needed to know about her progress. Rose had been the unluckiest pup to have been attacked, but the luckiest to be doing so well. But was she the cutest? That bit doesn’t really matter.

Related topics:Dachshund

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