Dog’s paw impaled
November 15th, 2007 by admin
A walk through the woods
My friend Tony and I were walking our dogs in a country park and the only noise that could be heard were the birds in the air and the dogs bounding through the leaves. We were chatting to each other, when we were stopped in mid-sentence by the sound of a dog screaming. We couldn’t see the dogs, but I knew it was Beano, my lurcher. I called out his name and my legs surged with power like a turbo-powered car as I ran towards the screams. I rounded the corner and saw my dog half way up a hill surround by brambles, with his paw held in the air. I kept calling his name to try to bring him some comfort as I ran towards him. The shortest way to reach him was through the brambles, and I ploughed through them, not noticing how the brambles tore at my clothes. In between his screams, he was biting at his paw that from a distance looked like it was hanging in mid-air.
Beano’s impaled
As I reached him, I kept talking to him and looked at the situation. Beano was trapped by a metre long, 1cm wide, rusty metal rod. The sharp end had entered his paw and stuck out about 20cm – it hadn’t gone up through his paw, it had gone horizontally through his paw. The rest of the rod was embedded into the ground. By now, Tony had reached us and sat down next to Beano. My mind raced through all the first aid/nurse training I had had. I knew foreign objects should not be removed –but I couldn’t remove the rod from the ground, it was too long. The next step was to remove the rod from his paw. Quickly, Tony and I looked through our pockets for something to stem the bleeding once the rod was removed and we ended up with one wrinkled tissue and a hat. It would do. We worked out a plan of action: I was to hold Beano and my friend was to pull his paw of the rod. Just as we were about to put the plan into action I had visions of Beano biting as the pain intensified when the rod was removed. ‘Stop!’ I called out. ‘We have to muzzle him just in case he bites in pain.’ We decided to use a dog lead as a temporary muzzle. We positioned ourselves again –my friend posed to pull the rod out and me holding Beano.
The rod is removed
On the count of three, with one fell swoop Beano’s paw was removed from the rod. In a surge of energy, Beano wriggled out of my arms, took off his makeshift muzzle at the same time, immediately turned on my friend’s dog, and started biting him. With a harsh word from me, Beano stopped the fight and looked at me. I looked at him. There he was standing there as though he only had a bramble thorn through his paw rather than a dirty great big bloody rod! There was hardly any blood and he looked eager to go on another walk! Once my friend and I had composed ourselves, I wanted to hurry up and get Beano home. I knew it was only the adrenaline that was keeping Beano going for the moment – and he would be very heavy dog to carry home if he collapsed. Tony and I quickly walked through the woods to reach my home, and with hardly a limp Beano led the way!
To the vet’s
Once we were home, Beano took himself into a corner and started licking his paw. His paw was swelling and started to bleed a small amount. I called the vet and I was asked to bring him in straight away. Tony volunteered to us, which I gratefully accepted because by then I was feeling a little shaky about the incident.
When we arrived at the vet, we didn’t have long to wait before we saw the nurse – the vet was held up in the operating theatre. I gave her details about the incident and she disappeared to return with a sedative injection and a bandage. Beano knew something was going to happen, and he jumped up on the seat to sit very close to me! Beano is big scaredy-cat at the vets and has to be muzzled with a bandage because he would bite out of fear. After he was muzzled with the bandage – experience has shown he gets out of the plastic cage type muzzles, he was injected with the sedative. I took him through to the operating room waiting area, made him comfortable in his bed, and removed his muzzle. I had to leave Beano at the vets, so after giving my boy a big hug and kiss, I left him in the hands of the vet and went home.
Coming home
The vet called me a couple of hours later to inform me about Beano. His paw had been cleaned and flushed with an antibacterial solution and the wound was so contaminated, it couldn’t be stitched, because it would make enclose any infection in his body. I was told I could collect him in a couple of hours when the sedation had worn off. When I arrived at the vet, I was invited through to the recovery area to collect him. Beano looked liked he had spent the night on the town – his eyes were glazed and his movements were slow, but he was okay and that was the main thing. He had to take antibiotics and painkillers for a week and only walk on the lead for 5 days so he didn’t tear the wound open. I was given a syringe so the wound could be flushed with salt water and I had to soak his paw in salt water twice a day. I knew that would be an interesting task to do because Beano hated having any medical treatment – and he was one big dog to wrestle!
Wound care
By the following afternoon, Beano was up and about, raring to go on a walk – nobody would believe that 24 hrs ago he had had a big metal rod in his paw!
I decided not to do the salt-water soaks – I knew what his reaction to be, so I used aloe veterinary formula twice a day on his paw instead. It is made from 100% stabilized aloe vera, increases the natural healing process, helps to protect the wound from infection, and comes in a spray bottle. With a couple of quick sprays, the aloe vera is on his wound before Beano has time to complain.
Tony was amazed when he saw him three days after the accident, as he was bouncing around like a pogo stick.
Aloe vera
I can only put Beano’s speedy recovery down to aloe vera. Beano has had aloe vera juice on his meal every day for the past 18 months, and I sprayed his wound with aloe veterinary formula for five days. Aloe vera - juice has about 200 nutrients in it and helps boost the immune system, increases the natural healing process and generally boosts overall health – so in other words it’s fab stuff!
Back to being a Damn Dog
Beano is a dear boy, a lovely family dog, but his nickname is ‘Damn Dog.’ If anyone has a lurcher, they’ll know what I mean. Lurchers are known to be strong-willed, escape artists, naughty – actually very naughty, a thief, and difficult to train. Beano had all those characteristics! He quickly earnt that nickname in a matter of weeks of him coming to live with us: four-legged chairs were converted into three-legged chairs, he ate dinners being cooked in the slow cooker, birthday cakes were consumed, bins and content eaten, bedding eaten –both his and mine, the BBQ moved across the courtyard and the cover half eaten (he is sitting on the BBQ cover in the photo). I could go on but you can see where I’m coming from!
After the third day of walking on the lead after his accident, I decided he had to walk unrestricted because he was very restless from not being able to burn off his energy. The following day we went on a long walk and Beano was running backwards and forwards like the Energizer Bunny. As we approached home, I called Beano back so I could put him on the lead. Normally (88% of the time) he comes back, but not today. He took one look at me and his look said ‘no way, not after putting me on the lead for the 3 days – I’m off.’ And that was it, gone, for three hours. 
Damn Dog!
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