Maggie suffered serious wrist joint injuries but is back on all paws thanks to VSS.
Young Dog Back On All Paws After Horrific Freak Accident
4 months ago 
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An energetic Border Collie who broke both wrist joints after falling from height is walking again thanks to complex surgery at a leading Scottish Veterinary Hospital.
One-year-old Maggie was on a family walk when she saw a bird and jumped over a wall, which had a 20 ft drop on the other side onto a normally busy road – fortunately, no cars were going past at the time.
She suffered damage to the small bones and ligaments in both wrists, which had become unstable. When there are severe injuries to both wrist joints the stakes are high, and Maggie was rushed to Linnaeus-owned Veterinary Specialists Scotland (VSS) in Livingston for urgent treatment.
Brigite Dantas, clinician in small animal surgery at VSS, was in charge of Maggie’s demanding operations together with John Mosley, a Recognised Specialist in Small Animal Surgery (Orthopaedics), and her care also called on the skills of the specialist anaesthesia team.
Brigite said: “It’s always a huge concern when there are two limbs affected.
“Maggie was a high-risk patient as both of her wrist joints had to be fused. Complications with this type of surgery can be very serious and if they were to occur, she would have been in trouble.
“The surgery to fuse the wrist joints is called pancarpal arthrodesis and each surgery is long and demanding from a technical point of view.
“The operation was a success but the recovery was long – about eight weeks of rest at home. The good news is that we have seen Maggie since, and she has made a great recovery and her x-rays show a great pace of bone fusion.”
When initially learning of Maggie’s diagnosis, owner Julie McPhater from Glasgow, was devastated.
Julie said: “We were really concerned then we went to see Brigite and she put our minds at ease.
“VSS were great throughout the whole process and anything we needed they were always there to help.
“Brigite went out of her way to allay our fears and she made us feel like Maggie was her own dog, plus she kept us regularly updated with phone calls.
“I’m happy to say that Maggie once again has a great quality of life and our thanks go to VSS.”
VSS is a specialist-led multidisciplinary referral hospital offering leading services in cardiology, dermatology, emergency and critical care, internal medicine (feline and canine), neurology, orthopaedics, and soft tissue surgery, supported by specialists in diagnostic imaging and anaesthesia and analgesia.
For more information about VSS and the services it offers, visit www.vetscotland.co.uk or search for Veterinary Specialists Scotland on social media.
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