Pet of the Month

 

The Pet of the Month award is given by staff to a pet who has had an interesting or unusual problem, or who has bravely come through a major illness.

February 2010

Meet Freddie - our February Pet of the Month - and a very lucky dog!  Just after New Year Freddie's owners took their one year old terrier for a walk by the river Eden.  He chased after ducks but skidded on ice and went straight into the very cold river.  His owner bravely dived in and managed to pull Freddie out but he wasn't breathing.  They resucitated him on the river bank then took him home to dry him off and get him warm.

Freddie was having real breathing problems so he was brought to Paragon at Dalston as an emergency.  When he arrived he was very shocked and had a very shallow breathing rate.  Luckily he didn't have hypothermia thanks to his owners warming him up at home, but his condition was very serious.  X-rays confirmed he had inhaled a lot of water.  We put him on an oxygen mask and gave him a diuretic injection into the vein to remove fluid from his lungs.

After intensive veterinary and nursing care he responded well and showed no signs of developing pneumonia, so was allowed home two days later.

Freddie was a very lucky dog but the outcome could have been very different - please remember to be very careful when walking your dogs in the cold wet weather by rivers.