6 Jun 2022
Team at Wear Referrals save one-year-old Hungarian vizsla left with fractured ribs and a hole in its pericardium just millimetres from its heart after running into a stick during a woodland walk.
Paul Imrie
Job Title
A dog speared by a stick that was a millimetre from its heart is on the mend after vets at a referral practice got on the case.
One-year-old Hungarian vizsla Chester was injured out on a walk in the woods and had to be stabilised at a vet practice before being transferred for specialist care to Wear Referrals in Bradbury, County Durham.
The stick had entered through his skin, ricocheted off his ribs – fracturing some of them – and gone into his lung cavity, puncturing one of his lung lobes.
Wear’s soft tissue specialist Anna Cronin said Chester’s extensive injuries made it a challenging case. She said: “When Chester arrived, a team effort from our specialist nursing team, anaesthesiologists and surgeons was carried out to immediately further stabilise him, and he had two chest drains placed to combat a buildup of air in his chest cavity.
“He was then sent for a CT scan which identified what looked to be a stick inside the thorax (chest), most likely from the bushes Chester was running through earlier in the day.
“He was taken to surgery to explore his chest cavity which revealed one of his lung lobes had been punctured and needed to be removed.
Dr Cronin added: “The stick had also managed to make a hole in the pericardium and was a fraction away from perforating the heart.
“Chester responded well to surgery, though, and was discharged home four days later to continue his recovery with his family.”
Chester required total rest for six weeks, but has slowly returned to his normal routine.
