Anyone have any experience with a dog impaling themselves? My 2yr old dobe
is currently in the hospital recovering from surgery after impalling himself
yesterday on a stick running through the woods.

It was a horrific sight that I'll spare you the details of. I guess my
concerns/questions are that assuming he weathers the surgery and anti-bios
keep infections away, what can I expect? Does anyone have experience with
this sort of thing?

Tom DeNapoli wrote:

Anyone have any experience with a dog impaling themselves? My 2yr old dobe
is currently in the hospital recovering from surgery after impalling himself
yesterday on a stick running through the woods.

It was a horrific sight that I'll spare you the details of. I guess my
concerns/questions are that assuming he weathers the surgery and anti-bios
keep infections away, what can I expect? Does anyone have experience with
this sort of thing?

well my dobe also punctured herself with a stick several years ago, but
she didn't puncture her lung. I had to deal with drains and stitches and
infection--pieces of the stick lodged in her and were removed but still...

She's now 100% fine. Not the most fun experience I've ever had. I'd be
concerned about her lungs but if you keep it very clean and follow the
vet's instructions he should be okay.

Tom DeNapoli wrote:

Anyone have any experience with a dog impaling themselves? My 2yr old dobe
is currently in the hospital recovering from surgery after impalling himself
yesterday on a stick running through the woods.

It was a horrific sight that I'll spare you the details of. I guess my
concerns/questions are that assuming he weathers the surgery and anti-bios
keep infections away, what can I expect? Does anyone have experience with
this sort of thing?

well my dobe also punctured herself with a stick several years ago, but
she didn't puncture her lung. I had to deal with drains and stitches and
infection--pieces of the stick lodged in her and were removed but still...

She's now 100% fine. Not the most fun experience I've ever had. I'd be
concerned about her lungs but if you keep it very clean and follow the
vet's instructions he should be okay.

"Robin Nuttall" wrote in message
news:9i7wb.282724$HS4.2504210@attbi_s01...

well my dobe also punctured herself with a stick several years ago, but
she didn't puncture her lung. I had to deal with drains and stitches and
infection--pieces of the stick lodged in her and were removed but still...

She's now 100% fine. Not the most fun experience I've ever had. I'd be
concerned about her lungs but if you keep it very clean and follow the
vet's instructions he should be okay.


He's home today. Seems *much* better than I was picturing. The vet used
staples on 2 4" wounds; one from the stick the other from the surgery to
clean/repair. I have to say, other than being a very little bit sluggish
from the pain meds hs seems like he'd play ball if I wanted him to.
Amazing.

2 points of real concern at this point:
1. infection: he's on 2250 mg (750x3) anti-bio per day
2. blood flow to the wound: there is a smallish area of skin that doesn't
have good flow and looks a bit necrotic. If it gets bigger, more surgery to
remove it and pull the good skin closed. If not, then they think it will
slough off and gradually repair itself.

Yee haa.

"Robin Nuttall" wrote in message
news:9i7wb.282724$HS4.2504210@attbi_s01...

well my dobe also punctured herself with a stick several years ago, but
she didn't puncture her lung. I had to deal with drains and stitches and
infection--pieces of the stick lodged in her and were removed but still...

She's now 100% fine. Not the most fun experience I've ever had. I'd be
concerned about her lungs but if you keep it very clean and follow the
vet's instructions he should be okay.


He's home today. Seems *much* better than I was picturing. The vet used
staples on 2 4" wounds; one from the stick the other from the surgery to
clean/repair. I have to say, other than being a very little bit sluggish
from the pain meds hs seems like he'd play ball if I wanted him to.
Amazing.

2 points of real concern at this point:
1. infection: he's on 2250 mg (750x3) anti-bio per day
2. blood flow to the wound: there is a smallish area of skin that doesn't
have good flow and looks a bit necrotic. If it gets bigger, more surgery to
remove it and pull the good skin closed. If not, then they think it will
slough off and gradually repair itself.

Yee haa.

Robin Nuttall writes:

well my dobe also punctured herself with a stick several years ago, but
she didn't puncture her lung. I had to deal with drains and stitches and
infection--pieces of the stick lodged in her and were removed but still...

Be thankful it was a Dobe. Our youngest (and furriest) stabbed herself
and I didn't notice for a few days. Finally, I was hugging her and I
said "Whew! She needs a bath." Then I investigated some more until I
found the wound.

Of course this was right before we needed to fly to the other side of the
country for a conference, so we quickly had her stitched up and she wore a
lovely sweatshirt to protect her drain (and so that we wouldn't have to
see it - ick!) during the trip.
http://lairds.org/Kyler/photos/disk0...g/image_viewer
After explaining way too many times why she was wearing that, we switched
her to the conference shirt.
http://lairds.org/Kyler/photos/disk0...g/image_viewer
No one questioned it then.

--kyler

Robin Nuttall writes:

well my dobe also punctured herself with a stick several years ago, but
she didn't puncture her lung. I had to deal with drains and stitches and
infection--pieces of the stick lodged in her and were removed but still...

Be thankful it was a Dobe. Our youngest (and furriest) stabbed herself
and I didn't notice for a few days. Finally, I was hugging her and I
said "Whew! She needs a bath." Then I investigated some more until I
found the wound.

Of course this was right before we needed to fly to the other side of the
country for a conference, so we quickly had her stitched up and she wore a
lovely sweatshirt to protect her drain (and so that we wouldn't have to
see it - ick!) during the trip.
http://lairds.org/Kyler/photos/disk0...g/image_viewer
After explaining way too many times why she was wearing that, we switched
her to the conference shirt.
http://lairds.org/Kyler/photos/disk0...g/image_viewer
No one questioned it then.

--kyler