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Maisie, a four-year-old kerry blue terrier came to BEVS after having her left front paw run over by a car.  The emergency team assessed her condition and determined she was stable. She was sedated and her wounds were flushed and bandaged. She had a severe degloving injury (the skin was missing) and two fractured metacarpal bones.  She was treated with antibiotics and pain medications.

Monday morning she was transferred to the surgical team for further care.  The initial assessment of the condition of Maisie’s paw was grim.  The skin that should have been covering the foot was infected and necrotic.  Tissue that should have been pink was turning gray and black in areas and sloughing off.  There was concern that she may lose the entire limb.

Maisie was sedated daily for flushing of her wounds bandage changes, her wounds were too painful to work on while she was awake.  At the end of the week Maisie was taken into surgery and a skin graft surgery was performed.  She was scheduled to come back in 5 days for a bandage change.

Unfortunately, due to inclement weather the bandage material got very wet, causing the graft to not fully take, and there was a severe bacterial infection.  A sample of the infected tissue was sent to a pathology lab so they could identify the bacteria and the appropriate antibiotics needed for treatment.  Maisie began a new and rigorous course of antibiotics.

After discussion of the options we decided to try and heal wounds without another surgery. For the next 7 weeks Maisie came in every 2-3 days for bandage changes.  During the last few weeks she came every 5-7 days.  Her owner did large amounts of excellent nursing care at home, keeping bandages dry, medicating her, and keeping an exuberant terrier on strict rest.

All of our combined efforts paid off!  Recheck radiographs were taken eight weeks after the accident, her fractures were healed!  We replaced her splint with a lighter one for a week.  The following week we placed a soft bandage.  Last week we removed the bandage completely!

 Maisie is a wonderful dog.  She has wagged her tail throughout her ordeal and wiggled her way into our hearts.  She had become a regular visitor and will be missed by the surgery team now that she has the go ahead to resume normal life.  Go Maisie, go!

 

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