Joker, Siberian Husky Puppy - healing journey from broken femur to adult Racing Husky

Initial X-Ray Before Surgery

After a freak accident whilst playing with his brother in the garden on 5th June 2022, 7-month old Siberian Husky puppy, Joker, broke his back left leg and sustained a spiral fracture to his femur, close to both joints.

Kaz & Pete Jones, founders of one of the largest highly successful UK husky racing teams, bred Joker who was lined up to join Team Coldfeet Siberian Racing Huskies, as a full working racing husky when he was older.

Kaz explained; “we immediately took him to our local vet and he confirmed the surgery needed was beyond what he could do. We were referred to an orthopaedic vet in Hucknall, Medivet referrals, East Midlands. The following day, the vet performed the emergency surgery, a very difficult but amazingly successful operation on Jokers leg.

We brought him home and then began the journey of comprehensive post-surgical care and rehabilitation for Joker. He was of course shocked that he couldn’t run around with his brother and other huskies but soon became a very good willing patient. He was incredibly compliant and happily allowed us to manage his wound healing on a daily basis.

The vets fitted a customised splint to hold the bone in place and a full-length dressing after surgery. We couldn’t remove the dressing that first week but we understand how the effects of this modality work through cellular messengers which can benefit healing, even if you can’t apply doses directly over a wound area.

Joker Immediately Post Surgery

By 18 June, the vet was happy for us to start changing his bandage. We of course had to be very careful to not disturb any of the metal work holding his bones together during these early dressing changes. After removing all the dressing, we applied single Photizo doses around the whole area where his leg was broken without touching his wound area (around 1cm off his leg). Joker got very used to us using Photizo, and what worked really well was slowly moving the Photizo in a circular motion over his wound area. Wounds can be incredibly sensitive at this early stage but he wasn’t uncomfortable at all and happily laid there while we applied Photizo and a new dressing. 

We initially applied the Photizo Vetcare (red light therapy / photibiomodulation device) twice per day, starting with several doses at the top of his leg on the muscle and also in his groin area (to encourage lymph flow). A few doses were also applied on his paw which we thought would help encourage blood flow down the limb to assist healing of his wound.

Leucillin being used to clean and sanitise Joker’s surgical wound

We could see, even at this early stage, the wound healing was going very well, there was no sign of sore inflammation or swelling.

By 20 June, the sticky plastic came off and the stitches had dissolved. So now we were able to clean the area regularly with Leucillin and use the Photizo over the wound and our vet was extremely pleased with Joker’s progress at that stage.

Leucillin helped to remove some of the sticky plaster and also gently on his wound to keep the whole area clean, infection free. Leucillin is another go-to product for our huskies to help prevent infection, sanitise and promote the natural healing along with the Photizo. Once we were able to get to the wound area, both products were applied twice daily.

By the end of July, the wound area had healed and by early August, he was even ready to have some time playing and jumping a little on the stake out.

The physiotherapy and core strengthening had began even while Joker was still bandaged as his leg was fully pinned. We started with gentle slow lead walking building up to a ¼ mile, ½ mile then a mile over the initial weeks. Joker’s mobility throughout was brilliant. Massage was also a big part of his Physiotherapy alongside Photizo on a daily basis.

Once we were confident to supervise him free run around the garden, this helped so much with his mental wellbeing.

Several weeks into Joker’s rehabilitation, his leg had healed so well and he was so strong, we realised he was probably frustrated with digging in and pulling hard on his lead walks. After all he was bred to be a working husky in harness and not trained for slow lead walking. By early October, we took the decision to put him in harness and allowed him a very gentle short run after comprehensive warm up.

At that stage it was about building muscles in the leg to help support it even more. His first short run was great for him & he loved it! From October 2022 he was allowed short gentle runs once a week, we always assessed him before and after to see how he was managing, and he just went from strength to strength.

From then on we slowly built his strength, allowing him to learn being a working husky, part of a pack and team. We were still using the Photizo a few times a week to assist any delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS) and range of movement while building the muscles in his leg. Adding in a few more short runs into his exercise programme, gradually increasing distance over the following few months was key for his strength and mental wellbeing. This was while he was still undergoing regular physiotherapy to make sure his leg was moving correctly.

We love him so much and we’re so proud of his strong will to recover and get fit. He just wanted to run like his siblings and his pack.

Joker running right wing next to his Mum

What amazed us is, he never once was upset or stroppy during his recovery, just a little frustrated at times because he had to be held back in the early days of his recovery. He took every day in his stride and knew we were helping him.

He’s just a wonderful special boy and this 2023/2024 season, has made it to Pete’s 6 dog team! He’s still a youngster and even though he may not quite yet be running the longer distances as his more experienced team mates, this has been an incredible journey of recovery from the severity of the break he suffered as a pup!

Thanks to the vet and team at https://www.medivetgroup.com/vet-practices/referrals-east-midlands/ for such successful surgery.

Our biggest thank you to Kaz and Pete Jones of Coldfeet Siberian Husky Racing Team, our wonderful and first ever Photizo ambassadors since 2015 for providing this story of Joker’s spectacular recovery. Joker’s story is testament to Kaz & Pete’s loving dedication and understanding of this working breed to ensure all their beautiful huskies become the best they can be as canine athletes.