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Dog's broken leg misdiagnosed. How to manage swelling with a bandage?

Updated On September 23rd, 2025

Pet's info: Dog | Rottweiler | Female | unspayed | 2 months and 28 days old | 15 lbs

My dog fell on her leg 3 weeks ago. She has been checked by 2 vets and said not broken. They prescibed jel for inflamations and painkillers. She also took shots and tablets of calcium/magnesium zinc and D3. She didnt get better. Took her to a 3rd vet today who confirmed leg is broken and bone is misfit. The vet put bandage on the leg and said if we notice swelling we take bandage off then re apply. I am attaching her xrays. Pls need your kind advise if this is correct.

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2 Answers

Most Helpful Answer

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Answered By Lauren Celestin, DVM

Veterinarian, Veterinary Dentistry Resident

Published on July 29th, 2017

The image quality makes it very difficult to see the images in the amount of detail needed to properly assess them, but it does appear that the bone was fractured and is healing. The bone appears to not be healing straight, likely because the leg was not splinted when the fracture first occurred. You should definitely continue to monitor the bandaged/splinted leg. If you notice that Dixie's toes are blue or are cold to the touch the bandage/splint needs to be removed immediately and re-wrapped. I would definitely having a veterinarian re-wrap the bandage/splint as there are special bandaging/splinting techniques and materials used to accomplish different things. Your veterinarian would be the best person to do this to ensure proper healing. I hope this helps and best of luck to both you and Dixie.

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    Answered By Anna M., DVM

    Veterinarian

    Published on

    Poor Dixie! I'm sorry it's been such a struggle to get an answer! It's difficult to tell - the photos are a bit fuzzy, but I do think I'm seeing a mid-shaft left tibial fracture with some displacement. I wonder if she may have simply had a non-displaced hairline fracture initially that was difficult to see on x-rays, which could have been why the first two vets didn't see it. Hard to know without seeing the x-rays they saw (I assume these x-rays are from the 3rd vet). Fortunately, young pups like Dixie heal quickly, and very often do well with a good splinted bandage. I agree with your vet to watch for swelling (if they left the tips of her toes exposed you can watch for her toes to spread apart, which would indicate swelling) - however, I would hesitate to have you remove or re-apply the bandage on your own. It is worth having the vet do this, as doing it incorrectly could lead to serious problems. Too loose a bandage will not stabilize the broken leg appropriately, and too tight a bandage will cut off the blood supply. Better to have the vet do it! Hope Dixie feels better soon - happily young pups often can heal fractures within 6-8 weeks! Good luck! Hope this helps.

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