On a frosty November morning, three large dogs took off across a field after an orange barn cat named Ernie. Too far from the safety of the barn loft to return, Ernie scampered down toward a nearby ditch, which was running full of icy Colorado runoff. Trapped at waters edge as the pack approached, Ernie plunged into the frigid waters, but the dogs followed. The three of them surrounded Ernie in the ditch, biting at his body and shaking it in turn, as Ernie desperately struggled to get free.
A neighbor spotted the fracas from their kitchen window, and rushed outside to run the dogs off. Ernie struggled to claw his way out of the ditch, using only his front legs to scrabble onto dry ground. There he collapsed, barely moving.
The cat I saw that was rushed into the treatment room of our emergency hospital appeared to be dead.. Barely breathing, frigid to the touch and hair coat soaked to the bone, he felt like a cold, wet rag. “How old is he?” I asked, surprised to find out he was only five. With his sunken eyes and battered face, he appeared to be closer to 15.
Ernie’s body temperature did not register on our thermometer, but probably was close to 85 degrees. Our nurses rushed to warm him up and treat him for shock. A surgical air warmer blew hot air into a blanket under his body. Warm bags of IV fluids were packed around his torso. An IV pump pushed another bag of warm saline into a catheter in his front legs. An IV drip of pain killer and antibiotics was started.
Four hours later, Ernie’s body temperature finally registered at 92 degrees F., still 10 degrees below normal. He finally raised his head and slowly looked around, as if saying to himself, “I’m still alive?” He may have considered himself in kitty heaven with warming air blanket and fluid bottles, along with the doting attention of the veterinary nurses.
Although Ernie had minimal use of his back legs, he gently kneaded his front toes when he was scratched along his back. At this point, I sensed he was going to be OK, despite his apparent rear leg paralysis and the large bite wound in his flank.
By the next morning, Ernie could walk, he was eating, and, although he was moving very slowly, he was ready to go home. With some TLC, pain meds and antibiotics, he would enjoy a week at home before returning to his mouse-hunting haunts in the barn.
In considering Ernie’s astounding recovery from the attack of three dogs in a freezing ditch of water, I suspect that the icy cold water created a hypothermic response that was protective. As his body systems slowed down, to a semi-hibernation state, blood flow to critical organs like his kidney and brain was preserved. Eventually, as he warmed up, his heart was gradually able to restore his circulation, giving him back use of his rear legs.
Cats like Ernie continue to amaze me at their ability to survive the most dire of circumstances. As veterinarians, we can provide the basic supportive care, but it is grit and tenacity, mostly, that carries these tough felines through.
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
Sunday, September 6, 2009
Make My Day: What Would You Do?
Many emergency veterinarians enjoy the challenge of gunshot wound cases, especially when we have a good outcome. It’s not very often, however, that a dog comes into our ER in critical condition from a gunshot wound, and survives, and the dog’s owner ends up dead from the very same thing. That is exactly what happened on the afternoon of November 2, 2003.
Mojo was a 3 year old Miniature Pinscher, but did not deserve the “land shark” label that many of these MinPins end up with, as he normally was affectionate and friendly. He did like to bark, however, and that tendency would end up leading to the demise of his master.
Just before Mojo arrived at our emergency room with his owners, Diane and Richard, he had been found collapsed in their yard, struggling to breath. His gums were pale, and he had a wound on the left side of his chest. As he got oxygen to help him breathe, a quick XRay showed two bullets lodged in his chest. One bullet was lodged right next to his spine in his chest cavity, and the other one was down near the bottom of his chest.
As soon as Richard, Mojo’s owner, realized what had happened, he left the emergency clinic and said he was going home. He appeared calm at the time, but his wife noted a look of determination in his eyes she had not seen before. After Richard left, our team of emergency vets and techs continued to work on Mojo, administering IV fluids, pain meds and more oxygen.
When Richard arrived back at his home in the rural town of Ault, Colorado, he grabbed a stick of lumber and immediately went next door to confront his neighbor. He knew immediately where the bullet had come from, because his neighbor sometimes complained about Mojo’s barking. The neighbor also ran a jewelry business out of his home, and bragged about the collection of guns he kept for security.
Richard’s neighbor was waiting for him, apparently sitting in a chair in his living room with a shotgun laying across his lap. When Richard knocked on the door, he shouted at the neighbor to come outside. Threats were yelled back and forth. When the neighbor refused to come outside, Richard broke the small view window in the top of the door.
A shotgun blast tore through the open window and hit Richard in the middle of his chest, and the wounds proved to be fatal. The shooter of Richard, and Mojo, was released from County Jail 9 days later under the Colorado “Make My Day” law, where deadly force can be used to protect one’s self, family and property if they are threatened. The issue of why he could shoot Mojo without penalty was never addressed.
Meanwhile, efforts to save Mojo continued, and proved successful. He was taken off of oxygen, moved out of intensive care, and started on oral pain meds and antibiotics. Our success in reviving him provided some solace to Diane, Richard’s widow.
Several months later, Diane moved with Mojo to another state to try and put their nightmare behind them. As far as I know, they are getting along OK.
Further investigation revealed that the second bullet in Mojo’s chest was from a previous gunshot, and multiple pellets were also found in the side of the house where Mojo used to roam the yard and bark. He had been used as target practice by the neighbor, whose intolerance of Mojo’s barking proved to test the limits of the law and human civility.
Mojo was a 3 year old Miniature Pinscher, but did not deserve the “land shark” label that many of these MinPins end up with, as he normally was affectionate and friendly. He did like to bark, however, and that tendency would end up leading to the demise of his master.
Just before Mojo arrived at our emergency room with his owners, Diane and Richard, he had been found collapsed in their yard, struggling to breath. His gums were pale, and he had a wound on the left side of his chest. As he got oxygen to help him breathe, a quick XRay showed two bullets lodged in his chest. One bullet was lodged right next to his spine in his chest cavity, and the other one was down near the bottom of his chest.
As soon as Richard, Mojo’s owner, realized what had happened, he left the emergency clinic and said he was going home. He appeared calm at the time, but his wife noted a look of determination in his eyes she had not seen before. After Richard left, our team of emergency vets and techs continued to work on Mojo, administering IV fluids, pain meds and more oxygen.
When Richard arrived back at his home in the rural town of Ault, Colorado, he grabbed a stick of lumber and immediately went next door to confront his neighbor. He knew immediately where the bullet had come from, because his neighbor sometimes complained about Mojo’s barking. The neighbor also ran a jewelry business out of his home, and bragged about the collection of guns he kept for security.
Richard’s neighbor was waiting for him, apparently sitting in a chair in his living room with a shotgun laying across his lap. When Richard knocked on the door, he shouted at the neighbor to come outside. Threats were yelled back and forth. When the neighbor refused to come outside, Richard broke the small view window in the top of the door.
A shotgun blast tore through the open window and hit Richard in the middle of his chest, and the wounds proved to be fatal. The shooter of Richard, and Mojo, was released from County Jail 9 days later under the Colorado “Make My Day” law, where deadly force can be used to protect one’s self, family and property if they are threatened. The issue of why he could shoot Mojo without penalty was never addressed.
Meanwhile, efforts to save Mojo continued, and proved successful. He was taken off of oxygen, moved out of intensive care, and started on oral pain meds and antibiotics. Our success in reviving him provided some solace to Diane, Richard’s widow.
Several months later, Diane moved with Mojo to another state to try and put their nightmare behind them. As far as I know, they are getting along OK.
Further investigation revealed that the second bullet in Mojo’s chest was from a previous gunshot, and multiple pellets were also found in the side of the house where Mojo used to roam the yard and bark. He had been used as target practice by the neighbor, whose intolerance of Mojo’s barking proved to test the limits of the law and human civility.
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