Impaled objects

There are certain situations where you may be presented with this emergency. So this would be what I would classify as an impalement injury or a stick injury. So you know when you are throwing sticks for your dogs, which we always advise against, they bounce in different directions and your dog will bounce in different directions as well and this could happen. So if you have an impalement injury where the stick is penetrating any part of the body, it could be the chest as it is here with this dog, it could be the abdomen, it could be the side somewhere, that is always going to be the same way that you are going to try and manage it. Basically, you need to try and immobilise your dog and immobilise the foreign body that they have got inside them, that they are impaled on. Most of the time, it will be a stick.

So the thing to do is to keep your dog calm, try not to let them run around. Certainly, do not try and remove the foreign object because we do not know where this is going into the body. This one in the chest could be in the heart, it could be in lung tissue and actually, it could be blocking and preventing this dog from bleeding out so you definitely do not want to remove this. If it is safe to do so, I would suggest trying to shorten the foreign object because the longer it is, the more likely it is going to move around and this is what we do not want to happen and we need to try and immobilise this.

If your dog is very panicky and distressed with what has happened, the best thing to do is to do nothing. Do not try and remove this. Do not try and shorten it. Do not try and do anything with this. If you can possibly get someone to try and hold this as well so that it is not going to move, if your dog is flailing around or very distressed, then do so. You want to make sure you are keeping them warm, keeping them calm and that is all you can do. The temptation is to try and remove that foreign object. But like I say, it could be going through something quite vital and actually stopping it from bleeding out so we must leave it exactly where it is until you are seen by your vet's.