Jack and Spunky,
I do a fair amount of orthopedic surgery and these are good questions.
 Fractures in animals are handled a little different then in human medicine.
 The fracture must usually needs to be repaired so the bones are very stable
and close together (more then just a cast in most cases) because animals are
hard to keep quiet after surgery and physical therapy is usually not
possible.  The fracture that you are discribing involves the femur (the upper
leg bone).
How these fractures are repaired depends on many factors (How badly the bone
is broken--shattered or just 2-3 broken pieces of bone, open or closed
fracture, how close to the joint the break occurs, and amount of muscle,nerve
or vessle damage).In general these fractures are repaired with a pin down the
center of the bone or whats called a KE apparatus (this involves pins that go
into the bone and exit the skin, these pins are connected with an external
pin--outside the leg).
As with any surgery there are always risks including anestheia, length of
surgery, skill of the surgeon and post operative care (if the patient is too
active the pin or pins could loosen or move and put pressure on the sciatic
nerve).  Risks are generally minimal and the benefits of surgery (for
fractures) usually out weigh the risks.  Without surgery you run the risk of
a bone that never heals which can be a chronic source of pain for the
patient, broken ends of bones that are not repaired can put pressure on and
damage nerves.
As far as cost that will vary depending on the part of the country you are
in.  In our hospital a dog or cat fracture is a little more then that, and
ferret fractures are about half that cost.
 
Good Luck,
Dr Weiss
301-299-4142
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[Posted in FML issue 1125]