Leeds vets mend puppy's broken jaw after freak accident

Four-month-old Cockapoo Marvin shattered his lower jawbone after crashing to the floor when bounding into the family’s North Yorkshire home. It left him facing serious deformity, with the roots of his teeth potentially affected.

“Marvin had been playing with my son in the garden and as he came racing into the conservatory, he completely missed the step and crashed onto the hard floor face first,” said owner Rachel Aldridge, from Hemingbrough, near Selby.

“There was a lot of blood, and it was obvious he’d done some real damage. Although we couldn’t see just what had happened, we knew we needed help and took him straight to our local vets in Selby who told us he’d broken his jaw.

“It was really distressing as he’s such a part of the family.”

Marvin was transferred to Swift Referrals, who were able to take him as an urgent case, and seen by vet Andrea Geraci.

Although the team at the Wetherby hospital had only previously treated such injuries in cats and had never dealt with such a young dog, they carried out surgery.

Within weeks, the intricate work by Mr Geraci proved to be a major success and delighted owner Rachel says her lively puppy is totally back to normal.

“It was quite a gruesome injury, with the jaw hanging down and the teeth in a different direction,” said Mr Geraci.

“We see this kind of injury in cats involved in road traffic accidents, but not in dogs through something like this.”

After initial examinations, CT scans showed a fracture in Marvin’s lower jawbone and a lesion on the soft tissue lining of his mouth.

With Marvin still a puppy and skeletally immature, there were concerns over the effects on bone growth and his teeth as a result of the trauma or fixation used to treat it.

“An internal fixation would have then required further surgery to remove it,” said Mr Geraci. “Because Marvin was so young, we took the decision to use something less invasive and apply an external fixator and bar to follow the contour of the mandible.

“It was quite a delicate procedure and I’ve certainly never had to do it on such a very young dog.”

An oesophageal tube was inserted for feeding and it was then all down to tender loving care for the next four weeks.

For Rachel, that involved initially sleeping downstairs with him by her side, to make sure he ate and didn’t do any damage to the fixator.

“I’d had to learn to syringe feed him and was doing that for about 45 minutes several times a day,” said Rachel.

“And we had to change bandages and make sure he didn’t bash the brace by jumping off the couch or try and play with toys he shouldn’t have.

“But I was then able to feed him with a spoon and he continued to make great progress and eventually have the brace removed.

“Swift Referrals were absolutely brilliant all the way through and we’re so grateful to them for everything they did.

“He is now back to normal, is just like any other puppy and his adult teeth have come through fine. You would never know anything had happened at all which is just incredible.”

The family have now fitted a big soft rug on the conservatory floor and keep the door only slightly open to avoid any further potential accidents.

Marvin hasn’t had any further issues and now, at eight months, continues to show no ill effects whatsoever.

“Obviously if we weren’t able to do this, Marvin’s development would have been severely affected and he would have faced a very difficult future,” added Mr Geraci.

“We were so pleased when we saw how well everything had healed when we removed the fixator. It’s lovely that he is now a happy dog who can enjoy his adult life.”