The Long Carry

I have written about the dangers of sticks being thrown but in this case it was not a thrown stick that did the damage but a dog off having a good lunatic run and enjoying the summer weather. To be honest you can not blame him as we see so little sun in the UK like all accidents it was one of those things that happens. Oh dear l can hear the hands rub of the health and safely people looking for some reason and way to stop it.

The dog ran into a broken end of branch from a fallen tree. The stick slammed in under his front leg and upwards. His owner had to lift him off the branch as he sensibly froze and screamed for help. She then had a 1 mile walk back to the car carrying the poor lad. I think she was in a worse state of exhaustion when she got to us than the dog with his wound. Reception got her a mug of tea as a first aid measure.

He was very lucky it missed all vital nerves, bones, chest etc and after a very good flush to remove bits of dirt, bark and other debris he only needed sutures and a drain. The drain is called a Penrose drain, it is a hollow thin flexible silicone “straw” and is placed to allow fluid that builds up in certain wounds an escape route; they run down the outside of the tube and drip onto the floor.
If as in this case you can not pull all the muscle across to close the hollow all the way up there is a sort of open hidden space, tissue fluid would form in here and cause problems as it built up hence the penrose drain, then the fluid just causes problems on carpets.

The Eye

Eye injuries curl my toes. As soon as l see a damaged eye, my eyes start to get sore in sympathy. This cat was a total toe curler when he came in.
He had somehow stabbed him self in the eye when he was climbing, the stick had broken off and was protruding from the corner. Amazingly he did not appear to feel the problem and was calmly sitting on his bed looking out at the world.

We sedated him and Puss proved he was one of life’s lucky creatures. The stick slid around the orb of the eye, stayed outside of the whole globe and had not damaged anything. It came out when the vet applied firm but gentle pulling pressure. It was a smidge under 2 inches long, l measured it in disbelief.

Puss went home later in the evening when he came round. He was annoyed that we had put a buster collar on him to stop him touching his face for a few days that really did bug him.

Looking down at the stick from behind puss



The Stick from the front

Sticks and Stones

It was a warm day and the Lab’s owners took him for a walk. He was 18months old, about 35kg and a happy, bouncy dog.

The ball had been left at home so they found a stick, a nice bit of wood and ripped the rough bits off it. The husband teased the dog with the stick a couple of times to get him excited then threw it.
Off went the dog and a minute later was back, stick dropped and barking for more. The owner threw it again and it caught in a small bush, scarcely more than a twig.

That twig was enough to hold the stick slightly upright. When the dog bounded over he slammed into the stick mid bark. He would never bark or bound again. The stick rammed into the roof of his mouth and down his throat with his full weight behind it.

The owners were 5 minutes away in a local park and they pushed the dog straight into their van and to the vet’s. By the time he got there nothing could be done, he had almost bled out in the van.
The vet attempted to place a tracheotomy tube but the dog was to far gone and the damage to great.
His oesophagus (where food goes down) and trachea (tube to lungs) had been turned into an almost single channel. Even if he had not bled out, with his throat as it was he was past saving.

This happened, I never found out the dogs name, l placed the iv catheter and when that proved to be past use, l helped place him into a body bag.

*******DO NOT THROW STICKS THEY KILL.******