An Edinburgh dog owner has thanked the hero vets who were able to save his Border Collie's shattered leg after a horror accident.
Gordon Aitchison rushed his beloved pooch, Wyn, for emergency treatment after he crashed into a garden gate. The two-year-old pup, who regularly takes part in agility performances, was left with blood pouring from has shattered leg and Gordon feared his competition days could be over.
But thankfully, East Neuk Vets in Fife successfully rebuild the young canine's limb using plates and screws during a major surgery. Miraculously, Wyn is now fully recovered and even claimed the top spot at his first agility trials since the accident, Edinburgh Live reports.
Gordon, from Balerno, is now hoping to continue his talented hound's winning streak and eventually take him all the way to Crufts.
He said: “I’ve got six other dogs and Wyn was running flat out and looking back at them when he smacked into a half-open gate in the field. When I put my hands under to try and lift him back onto his feet, his leg was just hanging, and there was blood coming from where the bone had punctured his thigh.
“I knew right away how serious it was. It was just devastating to see, and I didn’t know if he was maybe going to lose the leg.”
Gordon immediately took Wyn for emergency vet treatment due to the severity of the fracture and was sent to East Neuk Vets in St Monans in Fife.
“Wyn had a severe fracture of the femur and the bone had pierced the skin,” said Padraig Egan from East Neuk Vets. “The soft tissue damage to muscle, nerves and blood vessels in open fractures can cause permanent disability, and if bacteria get in, infection can be devastating.
“We flushed the site with sterile fluid and removed all the contaminated tissue. We then had to make a large incision to bring all the broken bone pieces into alignment and repair the fracture with a bone plate and screws.
“The recovery was just beginning after Wyn left the theatre as he then needed intensive physiotherapy to avoid fibrosis occurring.”
After fearing his dog may lose his leg, Gordon felt a wave of relief when he was told that the procedure had went well and meticulously followed a strict rehabilitation regime to get Wyn back to full health.
“The vet nurses at East Neuk showed me how to manipulate his leg to retain as full a range of movement as possible,” said Gordon. “It was a real learning curve, and I had to do it three or four times a day for months as well as taking him to physiotherapy.
“Wyn was the model patient, never yelping or complaining once.”
Gordon was eventually able to get Wyn back into his agility training, with the pooch claiming first prize at his first competition on April, following it up with more successes in May. He has already moved up to Grade 3, and Gordon is looking to Wyn having a bright future in the agility world.
“It was amazing to see him win just nine months after he was basically a goner,” said Gordon.
“He has great potential and if I can keep up with the skill levels, I hope we can go to achieve Grade 7 and qualify to compete at Crufts. I can’t thank the team at East Neuk enough for all they did.”
With another puppy from the same litter already having competed at Crufts, Gordon is hoping his talented hound could also now be a future star at the world’s most famous dog show.
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