Limb Gait Score of Femur Fracture Fixated by Intramedullary Pinning in Dogs

Animal posture, limb gait, and body weight-bearing in dogs can be evaluated by limb gait score. In this study, nine adult male dogs of local breed were used to induce a complete transverse femoral mid-shaft fracture fixed internally by intramedullary pining under general anesthesia with the aseptic technique and followed for 60 days postoperative. The data were analyzed, including five degrees that indicate the correlation among animals' posture, limbs, and body weight tolerance per day. The results demonstrated that in grade 5, the animals completely hold the affected limb during standing position 1^st-3^rd day postoperative. From the 4^th-10^th day postoperative, in grade 4, the animals supported the body weight on the affected limb in the standing position and hold it during waking. In grade 3, from 11^th-21^th day postoperative, the operated animals supported body weight on the affected limb in slow waking and hold it in speed waking and running. From the 22^nd-28^th day postoperative, in grade 2, the animals used the limb in speed walking, from the 29^th-35^th day postoperative. In grade1, the animals could use the limb in running from the 36^th-2^nd day postoperative. In grade 0, the animals used the limb normally in walking, running, and jumping until the end of experimental periods (60^th day postoperative). The results indicated that limb gait scores in dogs can be used for the evaluation of the relationships among animals' posture, limb gait, and body-weight bearing per day during bone regeneration processing of femur fracture fixed by intramedullary pining.