Mylo's pucture wound...

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Mylo is a 9 year old neutered male yorkshire terrier who was rehomed by the Dog's Trust to some loving owners just over 2 years ago. Mylo was walking on his lead one evening when a dog who was running off the lead attacked him. He was thrown in to the air and left feeling worse for wear.

He presented to us with a puncture wound to his right side close to his 10th rib. As it was a puncture wound we decided to investigate further. Mylo had a general anaethetic so that we could examine him and his wound properly. He was placed on fluids immediately as he was suffering from shock, as well as being an older pet. We X-Rayed his chest to check for broken bones or other abnormalities.

His wound was clipped and cleaned and it was noted that there was a lot of bruising cranial to the wound. He was brought into theatre to explore and flush the wound and then suture it together. However on further investigation it was noted that there was a large wound extending the length of his chest in his intercostal muscles between ribs 4 and 5 exposing his chest cavity.

We quickly palced a chest drain and flushes the cavity with sterile saline.

The wound was sutured together with strong dissolvable suture material.

Local anaestthic was infused downthe tube to reduce the pain along with 3 other types of pain releif.

Mylo needed intensive care for 48 hours, with his chest requiring regular drainage before the tube could be removed.

Many dressing changes and TLC later Mylo made his way home.

He is doing really well now and will definietly be trying to avoid dogs that are running of the lead.