A survey of bone fractures in the dog and cat

A survey was made of 284 canine and 298 feline fractures admitted to a metropolitan small animal hospital over a 2-year period. Approximately 80% of fractures occurred in animals less than 3-years old. Males were more commonly involved than females in both species. Road accidents were the main cause of fracture but falls and crush injuries were more common in dogs than cats. Bones most commonly affected in the cat were femur (28·2%), pelvis (24·8%) and mandible (11·4%), and in the dog radius and ulna (17·3%), pelvis (15·8%), femur (14·8), and tibia (14·8%). Forty percent of fractures were treated conservatively or by external fixation, 46·8% by internal fixation, and 13-1% were not treated. Results were satisfactory in 96·7% of treated cases.