A few weeks ago I was woken at 3am by a phone call from a very distressed owner. Their four-month-old French Bulldog puppy had taken a tumble down the stairs, was howling and unable to stand on one of its front legs. Before they’d even arrived I was fairly sure I knew what I would be faced with – the breed and age were classic for fractures around the elbow joint.

Sure enough, when they arrived, I was faced with two fairly distressed owners, a very sad puppy and a suspiciously ‘crunchy’ elbow joint. Pain relief and sedation followed, and a couple of X-rays confirmed the diagnosis – a ‘lateral condylar fracture’. In other words, a fracture through the joint where a chunk of bone, including half of the elbow joint itself, had broken away. The only small consolation was that it could have been worse – sometimes young elbow joints literally smash into several pieces.

A challenging procedure requiring millimetre precision

The next day, after I’d grabbed a few hours of sleep, the puppy was anaesthetised for surgery. Fractures that involve a joint are always more challenging than in the middle of a bone, as it is absolutely critical to realign the fragments perfectly or else a lifetime of arthritis is the likely outcome. With little puppies you also have very little bone to play with, so a screw needs to be placed with millimetre precision through the broken fragment and into the intact portion of the humerus (upper foreleg/arm bone).

A small wire/pin was also inserted for additional security and X-rays were taken to check the accuracy of the repair. Fortunately, the repair had gone well and the elbow joint looked to be back to its normal shape and position. Within 24 hours the puppy was back tentatively walking on the leg and reunited with its relieved owners.

These types of elbow fractures are common in particular breeds, with French Bulldogs and Spaniels being amongst the most frequently affected, although Labradors and Yorkshire terriers can also be genetically predisposed.

The classic cause of these fractures in a puppy is to be dropped from its owner’s arms or a fall from a slight height onto its front legs, so extra care needs to be taken in the early months to avoid a late night veterinary emergency!