Pet survival? Anyway, here are some local vet stories that may be interesting:
A man was shooting at the neighbor's dog for chasing stock or some related crime-punishable-by-death. His own dog was in hot pursuit of the neighbor dog, but it was still a clean shot - the two were separated by several yards. Clean, that is, except for the fact that he forgot to lead his shot. He hit his own dog in the neck. The bullet didn't expand for whatever reason, so it survived for a while. It died in pain on the table at the vet's office just yesterday.
Something which is surprisingly frequent and completely preventable is a dog being badly injured when it jumps out of a truck bed. Owners always have the same thing to say. "Stupid dog. It never did that before." True on both counts. Animals are much dumber than us, and they usually only get the chance to jump out once. If they heal, they are usually too hobbled to make it over the side again. The most disturbing ones are tied to a corner of the bed with a leash just long enough. You get the idea.
One of my personal favorites is the guy who called the vet late at night with an emergency. His dog was sick - probably just had a belly ache. He had panicked and unloaded most of his medicine cabinet into the dog before calling. Unfortunately, half the stuff he gave the pooch was poison. The vet managed to stop him from stuffing a suppository (unknown type) into the poor critter, but it was too late. Chocolate isn't the only human consumable that is poison to dogs. Some have even poisoned their dog based on medication advice from physicians. They forget that not all mammals are the same.
Speaking of poison, you can get your dog to throw up recently ingested items with hydrogen peroxide. Just put Rover between your legs and make him chug a cup or so. It will foam up and bush the badness back out the way it came in. My boxer took a couple of pints when she got into the garbage (spilled a lot).
Scott
A man was shooting at the neighbor's dog for chasing stock or some related crime-punishable-by-death. His own dog was in hot pursuit of the neighbor dog, but it was still a clean shot - the two were separated by several yards. Clean, that is, except for the fact that he forgot to lead his shot. He hit his own dog in the neck. The bullet didn't expand for whatever reason, so it survived for a while. It died in pain on the table at the vet's office just yesterday.
Something which is surprisingly frequent and completely preventable is a dog being badly injured when it jumps out of a truck bed. Owners always have the same thing to say. "Stupid dog. It never did that before." True on both counts. Animals are much dumber than us, and they usually only get the chance to jump out once. If they heal, they are usually too hobbled to make it over the side again. The most disturbing ones are tied to a corner of the bed with a leash just long enough. You get the idea.
One of my personal favorites is the guy who called the vet late at night with an emergency. His dog was sick - probably just had a belly ache. He had panicked and unloaded most of his medicine cabinet into the dog before calling. Unfortunately, half the stuff he gave the pooch was poison. The vet managed to stop him from stuffing a suppository (unknown type) into the poor critter, but it was too late. Chocolate isn't the only human consumable that is poison to dogs. Some have even poisoned their dog based on medication advice from physicians. They forget that not all mammals are the same.
Speaking of poison, you can get your dog to throw up recently ingested items with hydrogen peroxide. Just put Rover between your legs and make him chug a cup or so. It will foam up and bush the badness back out the way it came in. My boxer took a couple of pints when she got into the garbage (spilled a lot).
Scott
As for the dogs in pick-ups - While driving on one of California's 4 lane highways, I was coming up a hill & saw this black lump in the middle of the roadway. As I got closer, a black Labrador lifted its' head pleading to be helped! Not much anyone could do but swerve out of the way at 65 - 70 mph! That's when I took notice of all the A--holes driving with their dogs in the backs of their p/u! Only consolation was that maybe they had learned something that day! Sometimes I wonder where people's 'smarts' are?
