A dog whose leg was saved by a East Neuk vet after a horror accident left it shattered has triumphed at his first agility trials after the injury.
Two-year-old border collie Wyn suffered the leg break after smashing into a gate.
Owner Gordon Aitchison, who is from Balerno just outside of Edinburgh, feared Wyn’s leg may have to be amputated after first seeing the “devastating” injury.
He said: “I’ve got six other dogs and Wyn was running flat out and looking back at them when he smacked into a half-open gate in the field,” said Gordon.
“When I put my hands under to try and lift him back onto his feet, his leg was just hanging, and there was blood coming from where the bone had punctured his thigh.
“I knew right away how serious it was. It was just devastating to see, and I didn’t know if he was maybe going to lose the leg.”
After emergency vet treatment showed the extent of the fracture, Wyn was referred to East Neuk Vets in St Monans (part of the My Family Vets group) – where pets needing highly-specialised orthopaedic care are sent.
There Wyn underwent surgery to fit bone plates and screws to fix the fracture.
Vet Padraig Egan said: “Wyn had a severe fracture of the femur and the bone had pierced the skin.
“The soft tissue damage to muscle, nerves and blood vessels in open fractures can cause permanent disability, and if bacteria get in, infection can be devastating.
“We flushed the site with sterile fluid and removed all the contaminated tissue.
“We then had to make a large incision to bring all the broken bone pieces into alignment and repair the fracture with a bone plate and screws.”
Following the surgery, Wyn had extensive rehab for muscle damage.
In April – just nine months after the horror injury – the border collie was back winning agility events.
Gordon now hopes Wyn will be able to make his mark on the world renowned dog show Crufts.
He said: “It was amazing to see him win just nine months after he was basically a goner.
“He has great potential and if I can keep up with the skills levels, I hope we can go to achieve grade 7 and qualify to compete at Crufts.
“I can’t thank the team at East Neuk enough for all they did.”
