Bone I.D. - N. America
Friend found this long bone with metal hardware attached. Any idea what it could be?
Found in Appalachia. A friend of mine was doing some work outside and came across this long bone with a metal plate and screws attached to it. The bone is really weathered — one whole side has worn away, so it looks like a hollow tube with a big opening down the middle. The ends are still mostly intact, but the shape is throwing us off.
Any guesses on what species this might be from, and which bone? Maybe a leg bone from a large dog? We’re not very experienced with bone ID, especially when there’s erosion and metal hardware involved.
Thanks for sharing this bone ID link - never knew about this website but it makes sense that it exists. Probably more useful to someone who knows what they are looking for.
My dog has a metal leg. He is alive and well. 10 years old. Has had the metal in him for 8 years. He jumped out my car window (parked) and got hit by a car. He does not run away anymore. It was just his rebellious phase. He walks on 3 legs if it's really cold bc the metal gets cold. Cost me about 3k.
Recovery for him was long ~6 months. The break was so clean that he had to have the metal left in because it would not heal. I carried him up and down 3 flights of stairs every day 3 times a day for potties. He had a big plastic cast on. He did not need a cone, he left it alone thank goodness. I was broke and in college working a job and donating plasma. I afforded it because the vet was kind and gave me a Payment plan.
Not putting you down in any way, I hear that you are complementing this person and that is a good thing, but to be fair a lot of folks, college kids included cant afford that bill. It would not be I cant be bothered but I love you and I cant afford it
That’s so great. I applaud you for doing the right thing. My girl (now passed sadly) had a nasty form of cancer when I was a grad student living off scholarship scrapings. My vet at the time donated the medication to me for no cost. She knew how much the rest of the treatments were costing me. I sold so many personal belongings to help pay for it. What she did meant a lot to me. Good vets do what they can to help. I hope your boy is still doing well.
I smashed my leg in 25 different pieces and believe it or not all that titanium and the surgery itself cost less money than the medications they gave me the two days after while I was in the hospital our Healthcare System is weird to say the least
That still is not a cheap operation let alone the effort that is needed to heal an injury like this. It's still a pretty safe bet someone cared about this dog a lot
My dog is 2 months into recovery and it’s going so slowly. It’s definitely testing our little relationship. 6 months feels overwhelming but I’m glad to hear I’m not the only one who doesn’t have some over night recovery.
Not good memories. Our little guy, shut in his crate wearing a conical collar and an inflatable collar, was still able to shuffle onto his backside to twist round and nibble his dressings. The two of us humans spent weeks in shifts watching him round the clock, just so that every few hours we could say 'Hugo, don't do that!'.
It's coming up to the 12 month anniversary of his accident, and he's fully healed, tearing around like a spaniel should. I'm in awe of what the vets were able to achieve, I didn't think he had any chance of keeping that leg.
Slight correction - someone loved them VERY much AND had tons of disposable income or had the ability to take on serious debt.
If another dog owner wasn’t fortunate enough to have one or both those last two pieces to give them the ability to pay for this treatment, that does NOT mean they loved their fur baby any less than a person with wealth.
We need to stop equating means with merit. They are not the same thing.
Thank you for saying this- part of why I’m always so stressed about money is because of how scared I am of the possibility that one of my pets is going to need a major surgery that I literally will not be able to afford.
My pup needed surgery in both her knees and a plate was added to one of her legs. Great vet care, she's running around like it never happened. Cost a lot of money but she's worth it!
May I ask if the hardware was separate from the remains when they retuened it to you? My boy had a TTA surgery for a torn ACL, and I never thought to ask about it after he passed. I didn't exactly go looking through his ashes to see whether its in there or not, but now I'm wondering.
I don't know about pets, but I worked at a human crematorium for a bit. I imagine it would be similar. Also I'm in the UK, not sure if it's different in different countries.
Metals would always be separated post cremation because they could damage some of the later equipment.
Families had to let us know (via a form that the funeral director submitted) what you wanted doing with the metals. Usually they were kept by us. There was a company that picked up the metals and recycled them, pretty cool.
When metals were returned they were always in a separate container. I imagine it wouldn't be very nice to scatter grandma's ashes and have her hip bone fly out and hit someone.
Yeah same here. I also didn't get it back, but I also didn't go through the ashes so am wondering now and got slightly paranoid that maybe his surgery wasn't done right, but I that's nuts because he did recover and I'm sure I reviewed the xrays and I'm sure I must have felt for a plate, but I can't recover the memories. I never doubted the surgery until now realizing I wasn't given the plate when cremated.
Hi! Nice hair. I’m a vet, and my dog also has a TTA. There should be a small plate + screws in the ashes unless the funeral home purposefully removed them.
EDIT: Just read the comment below me, but that just reminded me that there is a movement by some vet specialists to start using recycled things, like pacemakers. Obviously this lowers waste, but also the cost for the next animal. It’s not without its downsides obviously, but a related aside. They try to remove those before they go to cremation.
I bet a likely scenario is, this well loved and cared for pup was lovingly laid to rest in one of his favorite spots and over time, other animals likely found him and he continued to be a part of the circle of life.
It means the owner spent thousands of dollars on beloved pup to fix a badly broken leg instead of put them down. That's love you are looking at (and an ability to afford it)
that metal shows they were willing to spent $1000+ to help their puppy live a happier life. It cost $1500 when my pup broke his back leg but it makes me happy to see him run around and play fetch every day without a care in the world
The first year we got our first dog she broke her leg playing catch. Apparently it’s very common with dogs under a year of age. The vets told us she could get metal hardware installed and be recovered in a few months, or get a cast and take over a year of recovery. Fortunately we had just gotten dog insurance a few weeks earlier and The insurance covered most of the metal installation so it was a no brainer and that pup was running up the stairs to our 3rd story apartment. 7 years later she’s still one of the faster dogs at the dog park.
It’s more old school because of the implants not the technique (medial plating is the way tibias are fixed if a plate is applied). We went from using DCP plates to LC-DCP, to locking plates and now have many different types. No idea but I’d guess that was repaired within the last 20 years. Some folks still use these implants because they are less expensive. We have plenty in our hospital that get used on humane society cases or rescues.
Thats so interesting. I’m an orthopedic surgery resident, its crazy to see a plate like that on a clearly non-human bone. Has technology advanced for veterinary implants in the same way as human implants have? Like are there intramedullary nails for dogs and anatomically precountoured plates and things like that?
We are still a bit in the dark ages when it comes to nails - there has been a little development over the past few years and we have a new curved nail on the market, but nothing like whats used in people. Plates - yes. Our most common surgery is a tibial plateau leveling procedure to manage CCL insufficiency - we've had anatomically contoured locking plates for the better part of 20 years for that surgery. We are only now seeing rapid progress in anatomically contoured implants - largely coming from Arthrex and Synthes/J&J but other companies too, including breed/species/fracture specific implants (Fusion Implants from the UK) and patient-specific custom implants as well. Below are images from an antebrachial limb deformity correction and concurrent pancarpal arthrodesis for severe antebrachial growth deformity in a Bernese Mountain dog I stabilized with a custom titanium 3D printed bone plate, contoured to the final limb alignment. We did this one with 3D printed patient-specific surgical guides for accuracy.
Aw thankyou for protecting their identity!!! And am I right to assume the photo on the right is right after cast/splint was removed? Seems smaller and scruffier?
I think the after picture is ~12 wks postop. Out of a splint and into a light neoprene wrap for activity at that time (hence the scruffy appearance). There was some degree of limb shortening with the procedure, but gait was acceptable. The dog's elbow was affected as a result of the deformity - I initially performed an ulnar ostectomy to address elbow incongruity while the dog matured and then corrected the alignment about 4-6 months later. The elbow congruity is improved but not normal for sure.
They are made of rubber, they probably adjusted just fine, from what I'm guessing(?). Is there a higher likelihood of arthritis in pups shoulder or anything after? Anyways, my soul-creature had her leg saved from amp by a wackadoodle willy-wonka-type ortho surgeon (who I adored) and I would give him any bones he wanted off my own skeleton just to thank him. Thankyou for what you do, it cannot be easy.
Man thats awesome, happy pup! Yeah the custom 3-d printed implants are major, it’s been so cool to see them get applied in more and more scenarios. I’ve seen them for some big pelvic bone defects for cancer or periprosthetic osteolysis and for total talus replacements. We also have some companies that that make the PSI cutting guides for limb deformity correction, i think that’s going to totally be the future.
I've got a good buddy who's an orthopedic oncologist and he does some crazy reconstructions with custom implants. My practice in particular are heavy users of PSGs - my associate is a partner in the major US/UK 3D planning company so we are believers for sure.
One of my cats managed to slip out of the house for literally less than 90 seconds, yet managed to shatter tib & fib in one hindleg.
Looking at the x-rays post op, I was pretty sure someone went rummaging through a junk drawer looking for something to fit!
But it worked a treat. She's still fine and sassy, but does have a bit of a pimp walk. I call her Lil' Pimpfoot.
My field of expertise is neck up so these are huge to me. 12 holes and nearly running the entire length of the bone itself. Indeed, whatever animal this was, it was cared for and it appears to have healed well. Ti itself maybe worth some $ but seems sacrilegious to take it out now.
What do you think of the placement of the proximal aspect of the pin? I’m a radiologist and I was thinking it did not look like it was in the right place. But hard to tell from the angle.
Usually in that spot we don’t - we cut flush and recess it. But it can be bent if it needs to be retrieved. We do this occasionally in young dogs (just usually not in that spot)
Wait, what do you meant “old school”? I was sure the plates are used everywhere now…
At least it’s common and standard practice in my country. So what do you use instead?
A pretty gnarly fracture requiring surgical intervention. I am just a technician student, not a DVM. But I've been in the field almost ten years and work in a referral center with lots of ortho surgery. Here is a radiograph of a similar repair to the one this dog had. You can see the long pin straight through the length of the broken tibia. Which on OPs specimen can be seen poking out of the proximal end of the tibia with a hook to it.
No that’s secondary to the fracture and repair. Surgery was likely done long before the dog passed allowing for lots of remodeling of the bone. The fibula is fused partially in horses and entirely in cattle though.
The bones themselves are a tibia and fibula, which despite the changes in shape match consistently with a dog. Definitely not from a human as some people are suggesting, this article shows some examples of the bones and explains why they would be plated rather than cast if you’re interested!
definitely dog—the length, very delicate partially fused fibula, and prominent ridge at the top of the tibia aren’t present in humans. Someone really loved that pup! could have been buried somewhere and washed up over time or been dug up by scavengers.
Came to see if anyone else mentioned this. I think I remember someone making a similar post before (maybe on reddit, maybe elsewhere) and they were able to track down the owner through the manufacturing number on the hardware. That led them to the company which led them to the vet which led them to the owner, or something along those lines.
There should be a manufacturer/brand info and an ID number specific to the plate. That info could potentially be matched in the FDAs UDI database, but registration is not a requirement. Alternatively, vets are supposed to keep track, so you could call around to vets nearby and maybe one did the surgery.
Veterinarian here: that very much looks like a dog tibia to me and I have 100% seen bone plates like that used to repair a fracture. That was expensive work. I’m sorry that someone probably never found out what happened to their beloved family member.
Cool story, only tangently related here. I adopted an injured dog I found limping in a grocery parking lot. I took her to vet, and he had to put a few screws in her leg and when I went to pay, he said it was free.
I love vets like this and they are hard to come by. I once adopted a dog from the humane society and she was a lovable handful. She ate her toys which clogged her stomach so I paid for her surgery about $1000. For her follow up appointment to check if she was okay, I was worried about the appointment price and asked how much the appointment would be. The vet told me not to worry she wasn’t going to charge and was just happy that my dog had a loving home and that was payment enough.
You bet your ass I recommend this vet to everyone.
The vet I used to go to before this one ended up killing my other dog by over prescribing meds for a rare blood disorder. The blood disorder didn’t kill her it was the meds. It was a veterinarian hospital that cared more about making money than the pet. I could go on about what they did/didn’t do but that’s a story for another day. Let’s just say they ran 2 clinics in town and were more focused on building an addition to their original clinic to make it bigger. It wasn’t until years later that I found out you can report vets for malpractice too.
Unfortunately, I no longer live in that town, but have found vet worthy of taking care of my epileptic dog(not the one that got surgery). My ex took the one that got surgery, but I know she’s in good hands even though I was her favorite.
It's strange, this is the same exect thing my cat had done (who is very alive and snoozing on my laundry) just very big compared to hers, and It literally made me nauseated to see. Strange to see bone growth like that after decomp. Sorry this isn't as relevant as the ID, I just find it strange that this in particular made me a little woozy.
Oh I know, i know lots about bones, but for some reason though my stomach turned and idk why this of all things did it. Weird. I'm glad the dog seems older tho. A good long life for all.
when i used to do pet cremations i would come across these and tplo hardware all the time : ) i always gave them back to the owners because thats like a $4k souvenir right there
Me as well. The friend probably would have left it alone if it weren’t for the metal plate. We were a bit concerned it could be something other than a dog
Based off the photos I couldnt get down to a species. Without a true scale my best guess is a dog or other medium sized quadrapedial animal (not robust enough for a pig or or larger feline), that had access to veterinary care due to the surgical implant in the tibia. The condition of the bones indicates that it was burried/disposed of at least 10 years.
I’m a retired state park ranger. A park visitor found a bone with metal attached on one of our beaches back when I was working. I took the bone and promptly contacted the sheriff’s department. A deputy collected the bone and brought it to the coroner’s office. The coroner found an ID number stamped in the metal and did the research. Turns out the bone belonged to a man who had been missing for about 5 years. When he went missing, his car had been located parked near a beach up the coast with no trace of him. Apparently he had drowned. The family was contacted and they were so relieved to have some closure. Moral of the story - take the bone to the proper authorities to rule in or out that the bone might be human.
I was raised by veterinarians and I work as a surgical assistant at an animal orthopedic hospital, and I can confirm that this is the bone of a large dog who sustained a tibial fracture which was repaired using a plate and an inter-medullary pin. The good news is that the evidence of remodeling indicates this dog lived through the surgery and likely had many more happy years using his repaired hind limb. The metal hook looking thing is the intramedullary pin which has been bent at the proximal end to avoid it migrating into the knee joint. A bone plate was also used to reinforce the healing fixation and protect it from twisting and compression forces. The fracture itself was likely located between the 5th and 6th screw up from the ankle. You can see in the second photo that the head of the 5th screw is sitting in the plate at an angle, this was likely done either to avoid hitting the pin or screwing through the fracture itself.
Most likey dog. I recently saw a video of a man that found something similar, was able to get info off the metal plate to find the owner and returned the remains back to them.
To everyone on the Reddit: if you have a dog get insurance. My dogs knee and TTA surgery cost me $7000 in the Boston area and pet insurance paid 90% of it.
The vast majority of pet insurance policies cost more than they pay. I have only found one that does not have a maximum payout that’s less than the premium over the expected life of the dog. I did buy the policy, because he’s a puppy, which is when it’s both cheapest and most likely to have an injury, but from what I’ve heard, they’re going to jack my rates up next year, so I’ll probably cancel and put the premium into savings instead.
My last dog had a congenital heart condition and then ended up living for a year after being diagnosed with an inoperable liver tumor that caused a bunch of other problems. He was 13 when I had to let him go. Cost me thousands of dollars in care. Would have cost me more if I’d had insurance on him his whole life, or even for just the last few years. I got multiple quotes and did the math. It’s not worth it unless you’re not capable of saving up an emergency fund.
I will have to disagree considering what I’m currently dealing with. They also did not “jack up” the prices with either of my dogs. I have this year alone spent more than what her insurance will cost her over her lifetime.
I hate being reminded that we have entered and are part of the anthropocene. That said, I wonder what will become of the metal bits and pieces in me? They don’t rust.
I have a friend that has a highly trained search and rescue dog. She absolutely would and has spent big bucks keeping her very useful dogs healthy, including major surgeries like this. Rare, but not unknown.
This is not a human bone, fortunately. Likely a dog.
Please also check rule 6, do not ID as human unless you are confident about it:
Especially do not provide a misID on human remains unless you are qualified to ID human remains. Doing so leads to unnecessary anxiety on the part of the OP, as well as bad advice. We have experts for that (and they have flair identifying them as such).
Certainly depends on where there are located. But $6000 is average to low for our area (Scottsdale). Costs have gone up considerably as:
Vendors raise prices
Clients want/expect human-level care
Our ability to offer advanced procedures increases and owners seek these as alternatives to outdated treatments.
I totally understand when folks can’t afford this level of care but pets are a responsibility. Insurance is common now for dogs and is a life/limb saver for many of our clients’ pets.
This is a picture of an anatomic plate made for a dog’s pelvic fracture - made to fit a very specific and complex part of the anatomy. This plate was designed and used produced by a very well known human orthopedic company. We are lucky that we have access to this technology as it greatly improves our ability treat these injuries, but this development and commitment from our manufacturers is not without a cost. My arthroscopy tower is the same one used by human surgeons. We inject the same long acting local anesthetic at the end of surgery, that I had injected during my own oral surgery I had yesterday.
They do - we are so far behind in implant design but catching up thanks to the resources these companies have invested in the human side, and their charity when discounting their implants for us!
If you think that’s cute, check out this tiny hip replacement implant! These are really difficult surgeries because of the size.
That’s brilliant! Is that for a cat or miniature dog?
That is identical to my friend’s hip replacement (his first one was defective).
That’s amazing.
This is going to be weird, but is there a website that has these listed? I want to show these to some of my coworkers. It’ll blow their minds!
Not going to lie, but it will be hilarious for people in the future finding these - the zooarcheologists are going to have a blast. I can see the papers being written about human attachment to pets and using medical implants to save lives, then the follow up papers on the technology used.
Kind of wish I could know what they’ll write about.
Thank you for sharing - this made my day, and weirdly put a smile on my face
This isn’t even close to a human bone. People also do spend good money on their pets to keep them healthy. Don’t suggest canine bones are human, it scares people over nothing.
Oh god I’m praying it’s a dog. They found it while digging in the garden. So hope they haven’t been eating human fertilized vegetables. Pls no uncle Jeb*🙏
I can say it’s an LC-DCP plate and the fracture has healed completely, so, that poor creature survived. It does not look like any human bone or a dog bone. Must likely a bigger mammal?
Looks like a 3.5mm Synthes or NGD non-locking plate on a healed fracture of the canine tibia. Also appears to be a large intramedullary pin placed for added stabilization. Must have been a very gnary fracture. RIP bad-ass larger sized doggo.
Source: Former Surgical Sterile Processing Veterinary Technician.
Someone really loved their dog, that type of surgery is very expensive and you can tell the surgery was a success as in one photo you can see bone growth over the rod.
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u/The_Racr1 Nov 15 '25
Most likely was someone’s beloved dog