I need help with physical therapy for my chi

[iluvmychi]

hi all, on Halloween of this year my chihuahua was attacked and her back leg was broken. We took her to the vet immediatly and they did surgury on her broken femur. They put a pin in her leg, so no cast. They told me to do physical therapy on her leg, but never showed me how to do it. I should go back and ask, but i was a little ticked off about the service i received. SO, here i am asking you all for some help. what i've been doing is, holding her like a baby, and slowly straightening out her leg back and forth, back and forth. She STILL does not use that leg, shes been getting around pretty well with her 3 legs. her leg looks so limp and i'm getting worried. Is there more i can do with physical therapy or should i take her back to the vet? Its only been a month, so im thinking that its still hurts her pretty bad, and she'll eventually start using that leg. Please any suggestions will help!!!! thanks!!!

Gina and Mandi

[Shineillusion]

You probably should have gone back to the vet a month a go, and gotten instructions on what they wanted you to do in the way of physical therapy.

But this is a moot point. You can't go back in time. However, I do think you should have the leg checked by a vet to see how it's healing. If you didn't care for the vet who did the surgery, get a second opinion. But do get a vet to look at the leg.

[DeLaUK]

Agree with Shine on going back to vets asap....you shouldnt be doing anything with the leg other than making sure she doesnt do any additional damage, straightening out could cause more damage if your not doing it exactly right and you should have been given VERY CLEAR instruction with a full demonstration by your vet if you were expected to do any kind of physio. The reason they pin it together is to hold it in place while it heals, the whole point is that it is immobilized for a while (some pins etc will stay in permanently and some will be removed after healing is complete). The biggest issue would be muscle atrophy and while there are some things that you can do that would help avoid that to some degree its still something that should be done by a professional or at least under close supervision/full demonstration by a professional.

(sorry if thats a little blunt but I actually felt sick at the thought of someone straightening out a pinned fx at only 4 weeks out).

[gypsy]

Yeah, some vets CAN be intimidating. So go to another one. O'course, my inclination would to be go back to the original, and if there has been further damage due to them not tutoring you properly, might get them to fix it for free. Dunno. I work in a docs office, and so i am pretty upfront with any healthcare practitioner.
ANYWAY, PT is not really appropriate until the bone has set.........any movement will inhibit the healing. Get thee to a vet, and quickly!