Horsham vets treat dog which shattered paw in rabbit chase

One-year-old cocker spaniel Jarvis seriously injured his paw after spotting a rabbit nibbling on the grass 2.5 metres below the balcony he was on.

The pet fractured his metatarsal bones, which connect his ankle to his toes, when he leapt from the balcony in an attempt to chase the rabbit away.

Jarvis was taken to an emergency vet by his owner Zoe Ross.

The accident happened after Sunday lunch at Zoe's mother-in-law's house. The pair were horrified to see Jarvis disappear over the balcony.

Zoe said: "The lodge has a veranda that looks over a field and there are often rabbits hopping around.

Jarvis's shattered paw (Image: Anderson Abercromby)

"We’d been there many times before but for some reason, perhaps because one of the rabbits came a bit closer, Jarvis decided to go over the top.

"He disappeared from sight and then we heard him yelping in pain – it was such a horrible sound.

"We’re not sure if he fell awkwardly or misjudged the jump and banged his paw against the veranda’s metal handrail, but we knew straight away he’d badly hurt his leg.”

They rushed him to the vets who then referred him to Anderson Abercromby for specialist treatment.

Jarvis with surgeon Federico Piccinno (Image: Anderson Abercromby)

Surgeon Federico Piccino took X-rays which confirmed that four of the five bones in his right hind paw were broken.

Federico operated on his paw to repair the fractures and said the procedure was more complex because of where the bones had broken.

Federico said: "The injury was quite severe because of the number of bones involved and because they were fractured very close to the joint which connects his paw to his leg.

"Usually, we would use a metal plate or short pins to repair fractures in these bones, but because the bone fragments were so near to the joint this wasn’t possible.

“Instead I used long metal pins which I inserted through the knuckle joint between Jarvis’s toe and the long bones of his foot.

The pins installed in Jarvis's paw (Image: Anderson Abercromby)

"Another pin was inserted through the ankle joint and connected to the pins to stabilise them. This was covered with epoxy resin to act as an external frame and a bandage applied over the top to protect the paw and minimise the risk of Jarvis catching himself on the pins.

"The surgery took around an hour.

“While we do see similar injuries in dogs, Jarvis was quite unusual in that four of the five metatarsals were damaged and they were fractured right at the top of the bones.”

An X-ray showing the metal pins in place (Image: Anderson Abercromby)

He was able to return home a few days after surgery but was confined to a small room with limited exercise while his bones healed.

Eight weeks later he returned for a check-up - where follow-up X-rays were performed and his toes had healed.

Jarvis's pins were removed and he is able to use his paws normally again, enjoying walks with owner Zoe - but only where he can not be tempted by rabbits.