I think the odd person has been following this so I decided to stick everything in one post to tell the story so far.

Day 1:
5 weeks ago my poor baby skunk managed to trap his left hind leg in my metal bedhead. I managed to free him fairly quickly, but he was lame on the leg and the swelling suggested at least some soft tissue damage.
So.. off to the vets we went to be told to wait 24 hours for the swelling to go down and see if there was any improvement - they were reluctant to xray immediately due to the anaesthetic risk.

Ein on the offending bed pre-accident:




Day 2:
Back to the vets, no improvements whatsoever. Booked in the following day for an xray.

Day 3:
Ein gets his x rays which show he has a non-displaced fracture to his tibia, though his fibula is intact. Whilst under anaesthetic he had a hexolite splint fitted, was bandaged up and sent off home with me.

Ein with his "pegleg":



Week 2:
Unfortunately 2 weeks in the little bugger manages to pull off his cast. Cue anaesthetic 2 to refit the splint. This is where I suspect things started to go pear shaped. Rather than make him a new splint, it was decided to refit his old one. We went back to square one healing the break and he was stuck with the splint for a further 3 weeks.

Ein managing to wind up Patrick and get into mischief, pegleg or no pegleg!



Week 5:
Well yesterday Ein finally had his splint off and frankly I am not happy they chose to refit the original splint a few weeks back. It was patently too small and had been constricting the blood flow to his leg. He had a few pressure sores on his leg and some muscle wastage (both to be expected) but his pads were also cold and grey, prompting us to talk about the possibility of amputation.

Today (26 Sep):
His pressure sores are already looking a little better (I am using F10 wound gel on them) and some colour and warmth has thankfully returned to the limb. He went into the vets this afternoon and is now on metacam and baytril for a week, at which point we will reassess the leg.

At the moment it could go one of three ways.. best case scenario is his leg (which has clearly healed bent inwards) continues to improve and as his muscle tone increases he will be able to use it relatively normally.

If this doesnt happen he will be re xrayed. If the leg has not healed we will either have to resplint and cast the leg, apply a fixator or possibly even re-consider amputation as a last resort.

I am fairly optimistic he will improve, I will try to snap a few current piccies of him tonight for anyone who's interested.

Sorry this is such an essay! Ha!

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glad hes improving, looks funny with a pegleg, that ferret is huge isnt it?? it looks massive

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I will be keeping my fingers crossed for 'the boy' Hannah.

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good luck!!!!!! hope everything works out!! he looks a cute little cheeky thing!!!

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not here much, if you need me email me at: lee_39.0@hotmail.co.uk and i will get back to you a lot sooner

I hope it all works out, but amputation as the LAST resort, poor soul. As long as there is a blood supply right down the leg, better a bent one than none??? Keep us posted.

BTW he's on the bed and the window's open, were you not worried he might try to go out of it??? Just curious cos I know nothing about skunks at all, whatsoever!

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Snakes: Monty - 10 yo anery corn & Calleigh, 4yo miami zig zag corn.

Cats: 4 Somalis - Harry, Roscoe, Cadbury & Purrdy (9 - 13 yo) and 1 Siamese - Luna (10yo) - all bred by me

Fish: 15 pond fish
www.feorag.freeservers.com

At the moment the leg appears perfectly viable, so amputation isnt really on the cards, but frankly you just never know with these things.

As for the window, even if he had wings he couldnt get from the bed to the window quick enough to get out!

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Good luck, hope it all works out too.

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Entire collection for sale
http://www.reptileforums.co.uk/lizar...sale-pics.html
Please acknowledge.

erm....free care sheet with all buys? jk
erm... ill have a spliff with you if you give me moneies? layaway available? :P

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1.2 Pogona Vitticeps
1.3.1 Rhacodactylus Ciliatus
2.0 Rhacodactylus Auriculatus
4.4.3 Eublepharis Macularius
2.2 Stenodactylus Sthenodactylus
3.1 Pantherophis Guttatus
1.1 Python Regius

Hannah, Stompy broke one his legs before he came to us, it healed but was bent inwards and he never had any issues in using it, used to run around quite happily. Fingers crossed it all goes well.
It was lovely meeting Ein and seeing you at the weekend.

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"When they discover the center of the universe, a lot of people will be disappointed to discover they are not it."

http://www.herorat.org Go on sponsor a rat today and possibly save a life

You too Ray, nice to speak to people who think the same way I do!
He is looking good so far, it was a real shock to see the leg yesterday, it looked horrific. This evening he has had his metacam and the leg has actually dropped and straightened a little, so eventually it may not even be noticeable. So long as he can bear weight eventually I couldnt care less.

Fingers crossed!

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