Abstract

Appendicular bone fractures in small animal practice constitute a major challenge facing veterinary orthopedic surgeons concerning affected limb and bone as well as the extent of tissue damage, site, and shape of the fracture line. Therefore, this retrospective study was designed to provide descriptive data at referral veterinary teaching hospital, faculty of veterinary medicine, Cairo University, and some private pet clinics in Cairo district, Egypt to identify and determine the prevalence of appendicular fractures arising from trauma in dogs and cats treated from January 2017 to January 2020, and emphasizing the information that characterized the population (breed, age, gender, and animal size). The investigated fractures were classified according to the specific limb (forelimbs / hind limbs), specific bone fractures (Humerus, radius and ulna, femur, tibia and fibula, and the other bones), extent of tissue damage (open or closed and incomplete or complete), site (proximal, diaphyseal or distal zones), number (single or comminuted), and the direction of the fracture line (transverse, oblique or spiral). From the obtained data, it could be concluded that there was a high incidence of the appendicular long bones concerning the different bone fractures with significantly higher records in dogs, compared to cats. The highest records of fracture were in mongrel dogs, and cats as rescued animals. Excluding mongrel dogs and cats, the highest incidence of fracture-cases in dogs was recorded in Miniature breeds and svelte breeds for cats. Male dogs and cats showed a higher incidence than females. The bone fracture mostly occurred in dogs younger than one-year-old, and cats aged one to three years. A fracture in the hindlimbs was more significant than forelimbs with the highest incidence in femoral bone among both dogs and cats. The percentage of open fractures were more common in cats than dogs. Incomplete fractures were recorded more frequently in dogs than cats. In dogs, the most common fractures in the femur, tibia/fibula, humerus, and radius/ulna were complete comminuted diaphyseal femoral, complete oblique diaphyseal tibial/fibular, complete transverse distal humoral, and complete transverse diaphyseal radial/ulnar fractures respectively. Moreover, cats were complete transverse distal femoral, complete oblique diaphyseal tibial/fibular, complete spiral diaphyseal humoral, and complete transverse distal radial/ulnar fractures. In conclusion, appendicular bone fracture among dogs and cats referred to the veterinary teaching hospital, Cairo University and some private clinics in Egypt showed high incidence (87% in dogs and 71.8% in cats) out of total fracture cases and this incidence correlated with some predisposing factors (including breeds, weight, age, and gender) and causative agents that resulted in different types of appendicular fractures.