Fractures and Musculoskeletal Surgery

Fracture Repair and Management

Fractures can occur in almost any bone in the body, and the majority of them require surgical fixation to heal. Every fracture must be assessed and treated individually according to the specific patient needs, and therefore, accurate costing without assessing the patient is difficult.

Most of our fractures will cost £1779 - £2019 for surgery (depending on the types of implants required), plus X-rays (£419) if not already performed at an Animal Trust practice. This includes up to 48 hours of hospitalisation and inpatient medication, in-house blood tests, and pain relief to go home with. However, some patients may have concurrent injuries requiring further hospitalisation or ongoing care. Patients with multiple fractures may need more than one surgery, sometimes staged over several days.

For a more accurate estimate of the total cost, please ask your vet to complete our referral form and provide any X-rays. We will then contact you to discuss and arrange a consultation and surgery with one of our referral vets.

What does surgery involve?

The exact method of fracture repair will depend on the patient, the type of fracture, and whether there are concurrent injuries; however, most surgeries involve internal fixation with a bone plate and screws, or sometimes bone pins. X-rays will be taken immediately following surgery to confirm the implants are in an appropriate position. Commonly, patients are hospitalised overnight to ensure adequate pain relief is given before discharge.

How long will recovery take after surgery?

Typically, we advise dogs and cats to rest strictly for six weeks, ideally in a suitably sized crate. Following this, we gradually increase exercise over several weeks. We may recommend follow-up X-rays 4 – 6 weeks after surgery to assess how well the fracture is healing, at a cost of £419.

Complications

Unfortunately, the potential for complications is an unavoidable reality of surgery. Occasionally, wound infections or complications associated with bone implants (such as infection, irritation, movement, or failure) can occur. This may require further surgery.

At Animal Trust, we are proud to offer our ‘Help with Complications’ promise. This caps the cost of treatment required for complications that arise within 8 weeks of orthopaedic surgery at £125, including medication and up to one further surgery. This is subject to satisfactory adherence to our post-operative advice and that the initial treatment was paid in full at the time of surgery. This help with complications is entirely at our discretion; the veterinary surgeon's decision is final and only applies to treatment at Animal Trust.