A broken bone can happen in an instant. In this edition of Pet Pointers, Lisa Chelenza explains what to do if your pet has a broken bone.

Broken bones are a scary and painful traumatic event. They can happen as the result of a pet being hit by a car or an awkward landing just playing in the back yard. Even a small dog or young kitten can be injured falling from a high place. If you hear a yelp and see your pet has been injured, get them to your vet or emergency vet clinic immediately.

Doctor of Veterinary Medicine Maureen Luschini has seen lots of broken bones and tells us what steps your vet will take to treat your pet.

“First thing is to evaluate the dog’s overall health status because often times a broken leg is due to a trauma, and if they have trauma to the leg, there could be trauma elsewhere in the body. The second thing we usually do is stabilize the patient, whether that means IV fluids or pain medications. If the patient is stable then definitely pain medication is the next thing we do,” said Dr. Maureen Luschini, veterinarian.

After your pet comes home, whether you have a large or small animal, there will be more care needed with recovery taking several weeks.

“Quiet and calm, no major activity, basically lying around inside comfortable on pain medications. Go outside to go to the bathroom and then come back in, so minimum activity is required to help a fracture heal,” said Dr. Luschini.

If your vet doesn’t offer pet rehabilitation, most can recommend a pet physical therapist in your area to help your pet make a complete recovery after a serious injury.

The most important thing you can do if you think your pet has a broken bone is get them to the vet as soon as possible.