Tragedy at Lunch Time

Today was going pretty well. My day started off with a "nursing visit" that ended up taking up an hour of my (aka doctor) time. 


I finally got to start surgery at 10:30am or so and there were not that many, so I was able to get an early and decent lunch break...or so I thought.


I was sitting outside enjoying the lovely day when I see a few people walk in with a dog in their arms. It looked like a puppy and they didn't seem to be in a hurry to get in.  


The other vet that was on today had to run out so she asked me if I could look at a dog that was attacked by other dogs. 


When I walked in the building, one of our healthcare team members had this dog brought down immediately, because she quickly and correctly recognized that this 4 mo old chihuahua puppy was not doing well at all! 


He was clearly in shock and fading fast! His gums were white, his BP was low and he was in respiratory distress. Despite our best efforts of nearly 45 minutes- IV fluids, steroids, oxygen and other drugs to help keep him going - he passed away. His traumatic chest injuries were simply too much for his little body to handle. 


This little dog had crawled into a neighbors yard, where her two dogs saw him as "prey" and grabbed and shook him violently. He had a tear in his chest wall, pneumothorax and subcutaneous emphysema (air under the skin from the compromised chest wall/lungs). 


The owner of the dogs felt bad and did pay his bill, though clearly she didn't do anything wrong by having HER dogs in HER yard. I understand how she felt though and would've done the same thing.


:( What else can I say??