Surgical management of ectrodactyly in a Turkish Kangal dog

Abstract

Ectrodactyly is an exceptional congenital disorder which is seen at the distal part of the limbs and characterized with longitudinal bony and soft tissue clefts. These clefts can include digits, metacarpal bones, carpal joint or radius-ulna. A male, 18 week-old, Turkish Kangal dog was presented with the right forelimb lameness and inspectional abnormality with a long and wide cleft starting from the distal manus to the carpo-metacarpal joint. The long cleft between metacarpal bones was fixed with two lag screws after filling the gap with corticocancellous bone block and fusion podoplasty. Short term clinical results were favourable following the surgery, but long term clinical outcome was less favourable because the dog revealed mild lameness due to the erosion of skin surrounding the digital pads. Finally, this problem was solved by using pad protectors when walking on rough grounds.