My puppy has a broken rib and punctured lung. Is home recovery safe?

Thank you for contacting Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach with your question. Poor boy. He should see a vet for it. You need an x-ray done to make sure the rib isn't broken. A broken rib could potentially puncture a lung. In addition, he needs pain medication. Unfortunately there are no human pain medications you can give him, as many are toxic to dogs and can be fatal if given. Even if the rib isn't broken and rest is all that is needed, he should still get pain medication to make him comfortable. I'd take him into a vet now. I hope this helps!

Pulmonary contusions alone without any other injury can take few days to recover completely. Considering the young age and if he is otherwise fine, the chances for recovery may be good. The prognosis would depend upon the full clinical assessment, so I would need more information to give you a specific advice. Hope this answer was helpful, but please do not hesitate to contact us again on the forum or by requesting a consultation if you have any more questions or to discuss it any further.

Hello, sorry to hear about Princess. In cases with dog bites all cases are different. The general goal is to treat the most pertinent issue, in this case air in the chest cavity as this can cause severe respiratory distress and even death. The next risk with dog bites is infection, so having aggressive antibiotic therapy is essential. Finally, lung contusions will get worse before they get any better. Therefore, I would expect the x-rays of her lungs to look worse before they show improvement. My only concern which goes in hand with having air in the chest, is that of a lung lobe laceration. This may cause continued air leakage into the chest and thus could lead to respiratory distress. I would continue to monitor her x-rays intermittently and watch her for any signs of respiratory distress such as open mouth breathing, blue gums, or increased abdominal effort while breathing. If you note any of these , then Princess should be evaluated immediately. Otherwise, Princess should be on antibiotics and pain medications for the next couple of weeks. Hope this helps and I wish Princess a speedy recovery.

It's hard to say. It sounds like he's still in the active part of recovery where he may still not be fully in the clear. If nothing new comes up in the next week and there are no complications, he should be feeling pretty good in 1-2 months I'd expect.

I am so sorry! Since it has been a few days she may still heal on her own. I am concerned though that she may have a broken rib or puncture lung since she is breathing heavily. I wish I had a great home care treatment for her but it sounds like she needs extensive medical care to ease her pain and help her heal. You could call the vet that saw her and see if they can prescribe any pain meds or additional pain meds to help her. Plus without seeing her and knowing exactly what is going on, it is hard for me to give any recommendations. If she is continuing to suffer and treatment isn't an option, you may want to consider humane euthanasia so she doesn't continue to suffer. I'm sorry and I hope she starts to heal.

It looks like he sustained a wound into the chest which may be why there is trouble breathing (pneumothorax). Damage may have been done to the lungs. This is not something you can treat at home. He needs to see a vet. ( https://www.petcoach.co/dog/condition/pneumothorax/ )

Poor Peppie! It depends on where the fracture is, and whether it is displaced. I have had good luck with fractures of the mandibular symphasis (the very front of the bottom jaw) by having the dog wear a loose-fitting soft muzzle for ~6 weeks and feeding exclusively soft food. The muzzle would be loose enough for Peppie to lap water and soft food, but tight enough that he couldn't totally open his jaw and it would help stabilize. He would wear this 24 hours a day, including while eating and sleeping. Your vet will likely be familiar with this so I recommend calling and asking if this might help. It would only be beneficial for specific types of jaw fractures so it's important for your vet to give the go-ahead first, since they know the specifics of Peppie's fracture but I've had good success using this technique. Good luck!