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Last week I was sitting at my computer wondering whether I should give an overview of this past year ‘with the vet’ as is typical of this time of year, when I recieved a phone call. A very anxious familiar voice at the other end of the line asked me whether I could see her dog urgently as it had just been run over by a car.

I immediately asked for a brief overview of what had happened. The dog had run out of the house and into the middle of the road where it was hit by a car and flung across the road. The caller was unsure about the extent of injury, so within a few minutes I met Marley and its owner at the clinic.

Road traffic accidents, or RTAs, are a common occurrence with dogs and cats in Malta. Marley, who is a 15-year-old, medium-sized, black and white, mixed-breed dog, had just become one of these unfortunate RTA statistics.

The damage sustained in an RTA can be of any extent and can affect any part of the body. If your dog has been involved in an RTA, or if you are attending to a dog that has been hit by a car, you should make an effort to keep calm, with your first priority being to make both the animal and yourself safe from oncoming traffic.

Remember even the most docile animal can react violently when in pain. A strip of cloth or bandage should be placed around a dog’s muzzle to protect yourself from being bitten. If you need to move the dog to the side of the road, you should do this as gently as possible and preferrably use some kind of makeshift stretcher.

You then need to check whether the dog is breathing. If you canot detect any breathing, try administering artificial respiration: carefully extend the neck and clear the dog’s mouth and nostrils of any dirt.

Then gently cup your hands around the mouth to prevent any egress of air, fill your lungs with good air and blow steadily through the dog’s nostrils about 20 times per minute, or once every three seconds, until your dog can once again breath unassisted.

It is important to check if there is any evidence of blood loss. Every effort should be made to curtail blood loss. This can be achieved by applying a tightly bound bandage or cloth.

Having administered emergency first aid, the next thing you should do is contact your vet, whose number should always be stored on your mobile phone.

Your vet will give you immediate advice on what best to do and whether they can attend to the dog, or whether you should contact the 24-hour emergency vet service.

An important thing to look out for is whether your dog pees after the accident. This is significant since, if the bladder is full when the accident occurs, the urinary bladder can sometimes rupture and if this goes unnoticed, it may give rise to internal intoxication. Your dog peeing is a sign that a rupture has not occurred. Inform the attending vet of everything that you note immediately after the accident occurs.

Well, Marley was lucky; his breathing was good and there were no signs of blood loss. He did have a very sore shoulder, but X-rays showed no sign of fracture.

Appropriate immediate medication was given, including painkillers. I will be seeing Marley for a follow-up visit.

Important emergency numbers are:

5250 2000 (call costs €5) is the Malta Veterinary Association’s 24-hour service. This would provide you with the possibility of takng your pet at any time of day or night to have it seen and treated by the roster vet on duty.

7940 4030 is a new veterinary emergeny helpline intended to give an immediate professional advise on how best to deal with emergency situations .

thisweekwiththevet@gmail.com

Dr Debattista is a veterinary surgeon.