"It will be better and less expensive for you to bring the dog to the Surgery, using a pet transport person," I advised. "Your dog may need stitching. Your place may be not suitable for surgery."
"Why not bring your surgical instruments and do a house call?"
"Sometimes the dog may not be so easy to handle at the house and there may be more than one house-call needed. So, it will be most costly for you. I can get a pet transport man to bring the dog in."
When the Husky arrived, he had a line of five holes curving upwards in the right side of his neck. Dark brown blood trickled down. Some greyish things moved and appeared to peek out of the wounds. Like alien eyes staring at me.
They were maggot wounds. As the dog had a high fever, no tranquiliser was used to remove the wounds.
How to do it?
Muzzle the dog. Put him onto the table so that you can do the removal easily.
How the experienced vet assistant did it?
"The Husky bit my hand," the vet assistant showed me his left hand as one would show the battle wounds like a badge of honour. The new vet assistant was bitten too and showed his hand. The bites were not serious as they removed around 30 5-cm long maggots.
"You did not muzzle the dog," I shook my head. "You removed the maggots at floor level. You lease the dog in a corner and he was not in a position to escape. Don't you know dog psychology? If the dog is cornered and felt the pain of maggot removal, he will bite."
Siberian Huskies seldom bite people, in my observation. So, there was complacency even though the experienced vet assistant had more than 15 years of small animal practice.
I always advise the adoption of a safety procedure using muzzle to prevent being bitten. Sometimes, with years of experience under his belt, a vet assistant will take short cuts by not muzzling the dog or letting the owner do the muzzling.
It seems to be part of their daring personality. So they get bitten out of their complacency as they misjudge the docile behaviour of the Siberian Husky.
1 comment:
I'm very interested to have found your blog. My rescue 18 month old Pyr just came back from being neutered at the vet. Not my regular vet but the rescue's vet.
My concern is the biting that can happen. The last 4 year old Pyr I rescued ended up being euthanized but his first bite with me was the vet tech. He was somewhat of a train wreck as it turns out although still a big goob. It was a sad case of bad breeder, bad previous owner.
So, onto my Lou. Brought into a shelter after he bit a policeman who broke through the window of his elderly persons home (she was ill so the police had to get in to help her). A court case was won to save him by the SPCA. The police are appealing.
He is now with me and a real sweetheart. Nothing like my Ben. I can walk this guy, take his collar, put his lead on, take his food away, walk over him etc. without fear of being bitten. I've had him less than a week. He was at a fosters before me for a wee.
Vet tech said he bared teeth at the vet. They muzzled him. Neutered him. Vet tech let him back to cage and he growled, lunged and snapped. I don't know if that was all directed at her but she has a one puncture on her hand.
I picked him up and he was quite happy to see me.
This vet tech was extremely negative about him and actually didn't seem happy in her job and had no compassion it seemed.
What are your thoughts about bites in your office?
Thank you.
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