Stick or twist for Piper as vets save impaled dog

Vets have helped a dog make a “remarkable” recovery after it impaled itself on a large stick.

Crossbreed Piper underwent life-saving emergency surgery at the University of Liverpool’s Small Animal Teaching Hospital (SATH) after colliding with the stick while chasing it during a walk.

The stick penetrated the left aspect of her thoracic inlet and a portion of it could be seen underneath the skin on her right chest wall.

Referred

The three-year-old was stabilised by Birchwood Vets in Warrington before being urgently referred to the university’s soft tissue surgery service.

A CT scan revealed the stick extended into Piper’s thorax and only narrowly missed her trachea, jugular vein and carotid artery.

The stick broke in half at the right ventral aspect of the fifth vertebra and exited Piper’s thoracic cavity at the level of the 10th rib.

Full exploration

Prue Neath, an RCVS and European specialist in small animal surgery, led the emergency surgery involving a median sternotomy to allow full exploration of the chest and the removal of the right cranial lung lobe, which had been lacerated.

Piper is said to have recovered well from the surgery and was allowed home after spending seven days in the hospital’s ICU.