Log Impales One Tough Dog!
Vets Now, which provides an Out of Hours emergency veterinary service, was recently called upon to perform emergency treatment on one very tough and extremely lucky dog who survived a nasty encounter with a fallen tree branch.
Casca, a 4 year old Bearded Collie arrived at Vets Now Farnham on a cold Friday night in December after impaling himself through the chest area on a fallen tree branch whilst walking in the woods with his owners at night. Realising that the log could not easily be removed, Casca’s owners, Mr and Mrs Holden of Borden in Hampshire, were quick to react and took the dog home where they immediately sawed off the branch before rushing Casca to the nearby Vets Now clinic.
The Vet and Nurse on duty at the clinic were shocked by the injury Casca had received but quickly got to work to help him. He received pain relief and oxygen to help stabilise him before receiving an anaesthetic to allow the team to begin to explore the chest area and work out how best to save his life and remove the offending log.
Luckily for Casca, the log had missed any major organs, skimming along the rib cage, entering the chest muscles and exiting behind his shoulder. This allowed the Vets Now team to gently ease the log out before flushing the wound to treat the internal contamination the log had caused.
Astonishingly, radiographs taken after the freak accident showed no nerve or internal damage in the chest area and the emergency vets were able to close the wound. Perhaps even more surprising, given the condition of Casca when he arrived in the clinic was that within three hours of the surgery, he was up and walking and bounded out of the clinic just two days later with his owner!
Commenting on the freak accident, Vets Now Farnham’s Senior Veterinary Surgeon, Rene Mostert said; “At Vets Now Farnham, we’re used to seeing a wide range of emergency cases every night. We’re never quite sure what is going to arrive through the clinic doors but when we received the emergency call from Casca’s Owner, we knew this was going to have to be one very tough dog to survive such a horrific accident. It’s a miracle that there was no serious internal damage and Casca is without a doubt, the luckiest dog I have ever seen, given the depth of the wound and the risk there was of infection through contamination. We’re absolutely delighted that he made such a speedy and full recovery. He really is truly remarkable.”
Casca’s owners were delighted to bring him home on the Monday morning and paid tribute to the Vets Now Farnham team for their care and treatment of their dog. Speaking about the accident, Mrs Holden said “We were taking Casca for his nightly walk and had let him off the lead for a run when he disappeared into the darkness and then gave out an agonising yelp. We rushed to find him and couldn’t believe what we saw. We didn’t think he would have a chance of survival but fortunately the team at Vets Now were on hand so we were able to phone them and rush Casca there immediately. I can’t thank the Vets Now team enough for their calm and professional approach in what was a really shocking and upsetting situation. Casca was clearly in great distress, and the treatment and care he received at the Vets Now clinic was
truly exceptional.”
We’re pleased to say that Casca is now happily bounding everywhere again with his usual reckless abandon, none the worse for his brief encounter with the stray log! A very lucky dog, minus a very sharp log!
