A young dog hit by a car.
A young female dog was rushed to the Animal Welfare League NSW Vet Clinic after being hit by a car. AWL NSW Senior Veterinarian Dr. Deshaylia Moodley ran outside the vet clinic to find the poor dog curled up on the floor of her owner’s vehicle. The dog was in so much pain and yelped loudly when moved.
Dr Deshaylia Moodley and her team of nurses quickly brought the dog inside and began to stabilize her as she was in shock. In many emergencies, shock can kill the animal before the actual injury. The AWL NSW vet team started the dog on a drip and administered strong pain relief immediately.
Upon initial examination, it was clear that blood was coming from wounds all over her hind legs and tail. Dr. Moodley suspected significant fractures and performed x-rays. These x-rays showed that she had fractured the end of her spine (lumbar vertebrae 6) as well as her right hip. Due to the extent of her injuries, her owners could not afford treatment and chose to surrender her into our care.
Rosie was placed into intensive care and required multiple surgeries over a period of weeks. Her first surgery was to amputate her tail as it had lost all blood supply and would have become necrotic, leading to blood poisoning.
The AWL NSW vet team placed Rosie under strict cage rest to allow her spinal fracture to heal. They continued to provide her pain relief and supportive care which included constant wound cleaning, medications and physiotherapy. After a few weeks, Rosie’s spine began to heal and she became more comfortable which allowed opportunity for the vet team to address her fractured hip. This could not have been looked at previously as there was a risk of displacing her spinal fracture even more and severing her spine.
The AWL NSW vet team performed a Femoral Head and Neck Ostectomy on her hip which gave her pain free movement. Over the next few weeks, Rosie was slowly rehabilitated and when she was finally stable enough, was sent to live in a foster care home for continued rehabilitation and rest.
After a few weeks in foster care, Rosie returned to the vet clinic for a check-up. More x-rays confirmed that Rosie’s spine had now healed and was later adopted from our Kemps Creek shelter.
The AWL NSW vet team encourages all pet owners to consider pet insurance for peace of mind when unexpected vet bills arise. Read more here about the importance of pet insurance.