Veterinarians, who saved the leg of a 2-year-old kangal dog with a method developed firstly at Ondokuz Mayıs University, (OMU) also covered all the expenses of the operation.

The 2 year old kangal dog, which was shot by a gun on the left front leg, was brought to the OMU Faculty of Veterinary Medicine Animal Hospital with a comminuted fracture.  The owner of the dog could not meet the expenses due to financial reasons. The operation and care costs were all met by the veterinarians. The kangal was taken care of like a baby for 20 days against infection and then operated on. A fixer, first ever in the world applied at OMU, was applied to the leg of the kangal, as the leg nerves were intact. The veterinarians, who saved the kangal’s leg from being cut, stated that they expected the kangal to join its herd in 2-3 months time. The fixer, which was developed as a result of a 12 years work by the OMU Faculty of Veterinary Medicine Surgery Department, was named OMU-Vetfix. Animals can use their legs after the operation without any bandage application. This method cannot only be used on dogs but also cats, calves and horses.

Giving information about the operation and OMU-Vetfix, OMU Faculty of Veterinary Medicine Surgery Department faculty staff Assoc. Prof. Dr. Cenk Yardımcı said “The 2-year-old kangal dog was brought here wounded by a firearm. Its front leg had almost lost all its bone tissue. We did our best as the nerves were intact. We have a fixer first developed by us. We tried to heal the kangal’s leg with the fixer we named as OMU-Vetfix. This is a peculiar system. We are using this for the first time in the world and our country. With this fixer, the animal can continue its daily life using its leg comfortably after the operation without any bandage application.  Of course, as the animal experienced a big trauma, its leg won’t be as in the past. But, our main aim was to enable the animal walk on 4 legs. Our assistant and intern friends also put much effort in this. Our friends took the animal under care for 20 days to heal the infection. We operated on the dog after 20 days. A 1.5 months rehabilitation period is ahead of us. Then we will remove the fixer and start the physiotherapy process. Then, hopefully, we will discharge our patient. The owner of our patient is not in a good condition financially. The owner said they are unable to meet the expenses. We decided to meet the expenses with our assistant and intern friends. As this is used as a sheepdog, we will deliver our patient to its owner if we can return it to its old form.”

Stating that they have been working on OMU-Vetfix for 12 years, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Cenk Yardımcı continued “We started developing this fixer 12 years ago with a very basic model. We developed it and started using it on dislocations and joint locks beside fractures. We can use it on not only dogs but also cats, calves and horses. We have many international articles about OMU-Vetfix. This is a method only used by our university.

İHA