I have been told you about my daughter's saluki who has broken one toe. And I must ask you because I think this is madness:woohoo:

The wet says to her that he not have to walk on the paw he should be staying in a cage.
He is now 5 month and have been in a cage sice 12 february, only get out for pee and poo.
Now he has no bandage but he still have to be in a cage. Is this really necessary I wonder, because now he is not walking correctly at the paw, he did do it before. And he has lost much muscles in the hole body, and the backbone is not straight in the lower part (I don't know the name for it) but from the joint and down to the paw.

I am not a vet. but to me it looks like madness to loose so much of the other functions in his body because of that toe, what can happend with a broken toe, is it a good life for at little puppy to be a month in a cage? Am I wrong? I haven't done like this but my daughter is so afraid that it should be like it been with her other dog who brake a leg when she was 8 weeks, and did not be good at all. But now we can see the history repeat it looks almost the same when he walks as it do when she walks. I am so sorry for my daugther and I can not give her any advises because I have not the knowledge only my feeling.

I am sure that some of you must have had a dog with a broken toe, what did you do?

Madness indeed!. 5 months is a critical age for puppies, they need to run and play and learn how to use thier bodies so they don't get injured later on in life. With broken toes we have always strapped them, (you need to do this in a certain way so the broken toe is strapped to the toe next to it) and then let them play as normal. We have never had a problem with the toe healing and the dogs get to live a normal life. I have no idea how badly the toe on the Saluki is broken or which toe it is, can you tell me more?.
All the best..Joan.

Thanks exactly my oppinion, I will talk to my daughter and I hope it is not to late for him. Now the toe is heal, but they still want him to be in cage it is mad.
It was an outside toe in a front paw, it was not a complicated brake. Poor little hound.

I am so sorry for you and your daughter. I wish I knew something to tell you Mareijke, I just don't have enough knowledge. My instinct is as yours, it sounds terribly wrong to keep this puppy so confined.
When I searched on Google & found this link it sounds as though in most cases that you could use vet wrap and keep the dog on a leash. There isn't one incident in this list of the dog being confined.
Is the toe that is broken a weight bearing toe?
I think it might be time to see another vet and get a second opinion.

vetmedicine.about.com/b/2...-broken-toe.htm

Apart from the physical damage this is doing to this poor Pup, what about the mental damage?

I am not a vet, but when we break a toe, there isn't alot they can do apart from strapping it. Surely dogs can't be that much different. I can understand a vet saying keep him on a lead, but to cage him is awful. Surely this should have all cleared up by now and he should have been well on the raod to recovery. If he were mine, I would have strapped the toe, kept him on a lead for a few weeks and let it heal itself.

Change vets! and good luck with the pup

She have met three different vets, two the first day, one of them was orthopaedist, then she see the vet here were we live. But he is so busy and when she get Morris yesterday he was alredy doing an operation and she just meet the nurse. And I am afraid that the wet only saw him asleep not walking. Madde (my daughter) hpone him today but he was busy all the time.

No it is not an weight bearing toe.

I phoned Madde for just an our ago and I say to her that if it was my hound I have not let him lay in the cage no more, but she have to do what she think is right. She is in the same mood as I but she is so afraid of him being like the other dog, but I think she will let him walk around inside the house, the also have a very small house, it is not much room to running around in, and when she get out he is in a lead. He is pulling very much she said in the lead and not walk properly on the paw. I told her to make him to not pull and walk correct, maybee a slow walk in the snow is good?

I didn't say to her, but I have never let my dogs be in a cage for several weeks, I think it is not ok. As you say Lurch what damage will this do to a little pup?

Hi Keijke

So sorry to hear from the poor puppy,
Clyde has had a luxated ( I don`t know the correct English word, it was not broken, I hope you know what I mean???) toe as he was 12 weeks old. The vet fixed the toe with bandages and told me that I shouldn`t let him play to much. That was all. After two weeks we removed the bandage and it was ok.
Hope the best for your daughter and her puppy, I have the same opinion as you, for my feeling a puppy in a cage is terrible.
Best regards to Norbert Neddy
Conny+Clyde

Hi all!
My daughter beg me to give her regards to everyone and thanks for the good advices, we feel sorry that we didn't ask you earlier. Hope it is not to late. She now have taken him out of the cage and he is rather calm.

Tanks to you all.

I had a Deerhound break a toe out coursing at Lochindorb, when he was about two years old. It was an outside toe on a front paw as well. My vet just strapped it up for a couple of weeks, suggested limiting exercise for a while and we had him healed and ready to run at Dava six weeks after the original injury. There was no lasting damage from this regimen. Your daughter will have to build up exercise gradually with her puppy but if it was a simple break, and at that age, it should be pretty well healed by now and definitely time to get the pup out of the cage.

Daisy broke her toe at the exact same age. We just didn't let her out for mad runs outside in the garden with Mack and took her on small lead walks after a while and just tried to keep her calm. The vet never said keep her a cage

I think that it is very bad for a young puppy to be shut in a cage for any length of time, let a alone weeks.

A friend of mine had a DH puppy that broke it's toe at about 8 weeks, the vet bandaged it up and had her keep it in a cage for about 5 or 6 weks, with disasterious results. The foot was permenently flat, and the dog ended up very cow hocked, which it was not at all before the accident, also after weeks in a crate it a mental wreck.

So if this happened to one of my dogs I would do my best to try and find an alternative way to deal with it.

it is just this I am afraid of is going to happened with Morris to. Poor Madde she is so sorry for listening to the vets, but I think it is disgraceful that you not could listening to the vet who could you trust then.

Do you think it could help him if he swims? Or is it something else they can do to make him be ok again.

If he not being well again I hope she summons the vets who all said that he should be in a cage. That will not make any differens for Morris but maybee the vets can leard about it and not give this stupid advices to someone else.

Maybee I visit them later today and I will see him by myself, how he walks and I can tell you more, of course he is not any longer in the cage but it is maybee to late. I think he is in good mental health, always something.

I hope Morris recovers ok. The swimming sounds like a good idea to help muscle develpment without weight bearing if that is still an issue.
Good luck!

Elfin broke her inside toe on her back foot when she was 2.5 yrs old. I took her to a greyhound vet and they x-rayed her; it was badly broken in 2 places.

They gave me two options: 1. strap it for 6 weeks with little excerise, or
2. amputate the toe immediately, and she would be able to course in 2 weeks.

I chose to strap the toe and rest her.

She had enough of the strapping and rest after about one week, and was going crazy around the house. I started taking her out and letting her run with a firm stapping, and she was much happier.
She now has a bent toe, but can run better than most dogs! She can turn and twist at very high speeds like a whippet!

Yesterday we were at dog-show and Morris too. We asked people vets and others and everyone looks a little bit sceptical about his flat paw, but they all says that they think the backlegs will be ok. One lady says to me that he should walking in a sharp surface. Because then he will pull the paw together and maybee it would help him.

Morris wasn't at the dogshow to be present he was just there because Madde would like his breeder to see him.
But now it is no moore cage and he is going around inside the house and in lead outside.

Hi in the past i have had working lurchers that have broken toes and the vet has told me to just strap the toes together for a week or so and give them gentle excercise and then build up gradually to full working ability it has always worked but as these were working dogs it didnt matter for looks if they had a small lump on the toe.

Poor Morris and your daughter too! You must be so upset! Luckily my two have not damaged their toes, so I cant give definate advice but what the others on the site have said sounds like good sound advice to me! Who knows better than us?! Ear rubs to pup and hug to your daughter! Gillx

Thanks, they feel a little better now, when Morris not have to be in a cage moore. but still worried about hes paw and backlegs but we all hope that he will be ok. They have to training him slowly and let him build up his body again.

Tank you all for your advice, and yes we all seems to be a better team then the vets so next time if we are in accidents I will ask for your advices first.

Instinct plays a big part in the treatement of animals including dogs and I think that if the human considers the advice not to be right, then the they should seek a second or third opinion. In very serious cases of trauma, it may be neccessary to restrict movement for a prolonged period, but a broken toe; I don't think so.