A young dog has made a remarkable recovery after undergoing emergency surgery at the University of Liverpool Small Animal Teaching Hospital (SATH) following a life-threatening stick injury.
Piper was out on a walk when she chased a large stick and collided with it. The stick penetrated her thoracic inlet and a portion of the stick could be seen under the skin on the right chest wall. She was immediately stabilised by the team at Birchwood Vets in Warrington before being urgently referred to the University's Soft Tissue Surgery service.
On arrival at the SATH Piper underwent a CT scan that revealed the full extent of her injury. The stick entered the thorax through the left aspect of the thoracic inlet, extending into the thorax, narrowly missing the trachea, jugular vein and carotid artery. At the right ventral aspect of the 5th vertebra the stick split in half and exited the thoracic cavity at the level of the 10th rib.
Emergency thoracic surgery was performed by European Specialist in Small Animal Surgery Prue Neath and resident in surgery Will Petchell. The stick was carefully removed: it had collided with the right cranial lung lobe causing a laceration so the right cranial lung lobe was removed as well.
Piper made an excellent recovery from her surgery and remained in the hospital's Intensive Care Unit (ICU) for seven days, receiving 24-hour monitoring and nursing support. Thanks to the combined efforts of the Soft Tissue, Anaesthesia and ICU Nursing teams, she was soon able to return home to her family.
Her owners expressed their gratitude to the hospital's teams, saying: "From the moment we arrived there was an air of calm... Prue and her team were fantastic, explaining everything in detail and keeping us informed throughout Piper's stay. Huge thanks to everyone involved."