Broken bone not healing right???

[unicornlady7]

Aristotle went back to the avian vet today for a recheck on his leg. For those who don't know, Aristotle sustained a broken tibiotarsus (the drumstick) on 12/23/11 when my son inadvertantly closed the door on his leg. It was broken in 2 spots - midway and just above the hock. I took him to the e-vet right away. There is one 30-45 minutes from my home that always has an exotic and avian vet there at all times. The first x-ray showed a diagonal break in the middle (clean, and lined up, but a small space between) and the fracture above the hock was together, but turned a tiny bit. I took him back every 3 to 4 days for bandage checks and changes. He has been seen by 3 or 4 of the different a.vets there. A month ago I noticed he was moving his toes and was relieved! 2 weeks ago the vet takes off the bandage, changes it, then brings him back. She says that his leg still wasn't stable. Gives him another 2 weeks - which brings us to today.

Today they redid the x-rays and find that the fracture above the hock has a nice callous and is healing great. The other break not so much. It is off center and overlapping It wasn't like that in the original x-ray. And she asked me about his grip. 2 bandages ago he moved his toes. Today when she took the current bandage off, she said he didn't really want to grip...
The misaligned bones are showing "communication" - you see the cloudy parts where healing is taking place. She says it will heal over time, but he may have a bump, the leg will be shorter, he may not have full normal use of his foot/toes?! I thought bone placement was important - especially in birds. At least it's his leg - he can compensate. If it were his wing it would be the difference btween flying and not. But I wonder if someone messed up? How do his toes not grip? ok, maybe it's because he's had a splint for 8 weeks... But how did someone mess up the alignment??? I could have splinted him if I wasn't concerned about his bones being in the right spot. So far I have spent about $460 on his care - and money GLADLY spent on my baby, but I expected more...

So does any one have any insight at all? The vet said that trying to realign wouldn't work - too much time has passed. I do plan to call tomorrow and talk about this with an avian vet as well. It's one of those things where I think I asked good questions while I was there, but I thought of better ones after the visit.
Sorry it's a novel!

 

[waterfaller1]

I am sorry and hope you get an answer from your vet.

 

[topazldy]

Can you get a second opinion from another avian vet clinic? I see he has been seen by several different vets at the same clinic, so they wouldn't say anything detrimental about any of the other's diagnosis. I have no idea as to what is the right thing to do, so I would get another opinion.

 

[TextsFromParrots]

I hope an answer can be found. Poor Aristotle! I hope he feels better soon!!!

 

[Anne & Gang]

I would actually take him to a different avian vet for another opinion..

 

[DQTimnehs]

I would guess the alignment went off since the last xray, just from the bird moving about and the bandage not being that restrictive. Whether it should be corrected or not would be the opinion of the vet.

 

[WingedVictory]

Sorry to hear abou Aristotle's leg. These complications can happen whether bird or human and are not specifically anyones fault. You need an honest and detailed opinion from the vet who set Aristotle's leg and should you not get a quality answer you agree with, get a second opinion.

 

[unicornlady7]

Thank you for your responses, guys I feel a little better today - Aristotle moved his toes! Not a whole lot, but he did move them as much as his bandage would allow. So maybe he'll have more function than this last vet thought..
On a funny note...
While I was retaping his e-collar, he grabs it in the middle (so you see a top beak sticking out the center), bites and shakes the thing while laughing! That made ME laugh, which made him repeat even more! I will see if he does it again the next time and try to record him..

 

[DQTimnehs]

Thank you for your responses, guys I feel a little better today - Aristotle moved his toes! Not a whole lot, but he did move them as much as his bandage would allow. So maybe he'll have more function than this last vet thought..
On a funny note...
While I was retaping his e-collar, he grabs it in the middle (so you see a top beak sticking out the center), bites and shakes the thing while laughing! That made ME laugh, which made him repeat even more! I will see if he does it again the next time and try to record him..

 

[Barb E]

Poor little guy. It's really hard when they're not well.
My Buddy (meyers) was bandaged for almost 3 months before his wing healed from a break. It's been 1 1/2 months since the bandages were removed and he is flapping more and trying to fly a little - breaks take a long time to heal.
Buddy's bones did not align properly either - it would have required surgery to accomplish this and I wasn't prepared to take the risk.
As long as there is a union of the two broken bones I bet Aristotle will be fine.
Maybe he wasn't moving his toes because it hurt???
Are you giving him pain meds ? Buddy had Medicam and this helped with inflammation and pain.

Good luck with your little guy - he's lucky to have you worrying about him and making sure he's getting the best care!!!

 

[unicornlady7]

Are you giving him pain meds ? Buddy had Medicam and this helped with inflammation and pain.

He had pain meds for the first 2 weeks. That's the amount they gave me for him. He moves around in the cage really well and perches on his food dish. In the x-ray you can see that the misaligned bones are starting to heal, it's just that it's taking longer. The a.vet says the reason it's taking longer is because of the position of the bones.

 

[DQTimnehs]

Poor little guy. It's really hard when they're not well.
My Buddy (meyers) was bandaged for almost 3 months before his wing healed from a break. It's been 1 1/2 months since the bandages were removed and he is flapping more and trying to fly a little - breaks take a long time to heal.
Buddy's bones did not align properly either - it would have required surgery to accomplish this and I wasn't prepared to take the risk.

Hi Barb,
Not sure if you heard but Darwin is flying after recovering from his broken wing. He was only bandaged as well but I understand Buddy's break was more severe. Darwin was trying to fly & kept hurting himself and would get mad and not come out (poor guy). He mostly stayed in his cage for 3 months once he got here and that was a few weeks after the bandage was off. But I think that helped him recover. I used Traumeel (holistic pain meds) when he got sore. Now he is much more accurate flying right to my shoulder. So hopefully Buddy will get there too!
And of course I hope Aristotle makes a full recover as well!

 

[Sadieladie1994]

My severe had a broken wing. The vet pinned the wing and did a great job. He had a plastic compaq looking splint that was heated and molded around the wing while the pins were in. Then on top of that he put vet wrap as a deterant. She did have an e collar. After 4 weeks the break was healed and she had surgery to remove the pins. She had just over 95% function of her wing regained. It requires diligence with the sneaky little ones.