Dr. Todd Prince, a board-certified small-animal veterinarian, builds on more than 22 years of practice experience. Dr. Todd Prince pursues a particular professional interest in orthopedic care for companion animals.
Like humans, dogs can experience a variety of bone fracture types. Veterinarians generally classify fractures as “open” or “closed,” the first being one where the skin has broken and made the bone visible and the second being one where the skin remains intact. Practitioners also categorize a break as either incomplete or complete. A complete fracture sees the bone severed into two pieces, whereas a hairline fracture signifies only a partial break.
Additionally, a veterinarian is likely to describe a canine bone fracture according to the shape of the break. A transverse fracture occurs across the bone perpendicular to the bone itself, while an oblique fracture signifies a diagonal break that divides the bone into two pieces with sharp ends. Fractures that separate the bone into more than two pieces fall under the category of comminuted fractures, which create multiple pieces of differing shapes.
