I've got a roo with a broken leg. My DH found him after work, lying on his side in the run about 10 days ago. It was raining that day and cold. He was shivering, and the gals had pecked him bald on the back of his head/neck, and his comb had been pecked quite a bit, too. Poor boy. (I HATE that we both work full time!!)
I separated him to my confinement area, an old horse trough. He couldn't stand, and may have been in shock or just extremely cold. I put a heat lamp on him, and watched him closely, and within an hour he was dried off and talking. But, still could not stand. I had NO idea what was wrong, but I propped him up against the side with some bricks, and offered food...he ate a lot, drank a lot, and went to sleep.
The next day, he attempted several times to stand but could not. I started feeling around, and felt what I THOUGHT was a dislocated leg. Got a vet appt. 2 days later (which was the soonest I could get him in), and the vet said his leg was broken. I have absolutely NO idea how it happened; both DH and I are completely perplexed. Anyhow, he had feeling all the way down his leg, until she got to his foot, and nothing there. She said that he could have sustained nerve damage, and we needed to splint the foot in a flat position. She did that. The break is ABOVE the joint, and she said there's no way to splint that. She said to try to put him in a sling, and I came to BYC to find what others have done . We tried a few things, and his good leg began to get cold, so I knew we had it too tight arond the leg but no matter what we did, we couldn't get it to work. He refuses to use the good leg; just totally hangs there. DH even put in a bar across the top of the trough, lengthwise, with a round wheel/trolley thing so he could walk along the length of the trough, but again, that did not seem to work. Vet said it was already beginning to fuse.
So, I've been propping him up against the side for 10 days now. I move him 3 times a day to a different spot in the trough, clean his back end up as best I can, and give him fresh food/water. He's eating and drinking well. About 4 days ago, I began doing physical therapy on his good leg...no way do I want to grab the broken one & begin doing any manipulations on it yet, but I don't know how long I should wait, and I don't know if I should be doing more with him.
I take him out of the trough & sort of steady him twice a day to monitor his progress, and he'll stand up for me and try to balance for maybe 30 seconds, then just sits right down. It's so frustrating! He won't try to walk, just sits down. It does not appear that he's in pain, although I'm sure he MUST be, having a broken leg.
Is there anything else I can do for him at this point?
Am I causing any issues by just propping him against the side of the trough?
Thanks for your feedback.
I separated him to my confinement area, an old horse trough. He couldn't stand, and may have been in shock or just extremely cold. I put a heat lamp on him, and watched him closely, and within an hour he was dried off and talking. But, still could not stand. I had NO idea what was wrong, but I propped him up against the side with some bricks, and offered food...he ate a lot, drank a lot, and went to sleep.
The next day, he attempted several times to stand but could not. I started feeling around, and felt what I THOUGHT was a dislocated leg. Got a vet appt. 2 days later (which was the soonest I could get him in), and the vet said his leg was broken. I have absolutely NO idea how it happened; both DH and I are completely perplexed. Anyhow, he had feeling all the way down his leg, until she got to his foot, and nothing there. She said that he could have sustained nerve damage, and we needed to splint the foot in a flat position. She did that. The break is ABOVE the joint, and she said there's no way to splint that. She said to try to put him in a sling, and I came to BYC to find what others have done . We tried a few things, and his good leg began to get cold, so I knew we had it too tight arond the leg but no matter what we did, we couldn't get it to work. He refuses to use the good leg; just totally hangs there. DH even put in a bar across the top of the trough, lengthwise, with a round wheel/trolley thing so he could walk along the length of the trough, but again, that did not seem to work. Vet said it was already beginning to fuse.
So, I've been propping him up against the side for 10 days now. I move him 3 times a day to a different spot in the trough, clean his back end up as best I can, and give him fresh food/water. He's eating and drinking well. About 4 days ago, I began doing physical therapy on his good leg...no way do I want to grab the broken one & begin doing any manipulations on it yet, but I don't know how long I should wait, and I don't know if I should be doing more with him.
I take him out of the trough & sort of steady him twice a day to monitor his progress, and he'll stand up for me and try to balance for maybe 30 seconds, then just sits right down. It's so frustrating! He won't try to walk, just sits down. It does not appear that he's in pain, although I'm sure he MUST be, having a broken leg.
Is there anything else I can do for him at this point?
Am I causing any issues by just propping him against the side of the trough?
Thanks for your feedback.
