Fragile ice – a dog in the water
First spring flowers appear, we go for walks more often to admire the awakening nature. Treacherous weather and jumps in temperature do not always go hand in hand with our predictions. Many of the bodies of water are still frozen and covered with ice, but it is no longer as thick and hard as people imagine.
A young golden retriever running on a walk in the woods found this out. His love of water could have been the cause of tragedy when he ran into the middle of an ice covered river and the weak ice broke under him. For a few moments the dog disappeared under the ice to its owners.
Panic began to rise as it became apparent that the dog could not be pulled out because it was impossible to get on the ice. The dog miraculously made it above the surface of the water, only to then struggle, crushing the ice piece by piece, to try to climb back onto the spool and to shore.
The help of the owners was necessary. Wet and freezing, he ended up on the shore. He was so happy and joyful, so his owners decided that probably nothing happened to him and calmly went home to dry him off. On the second day, the dog began to cough and a large amount of purulent discharge from the nose appeared. He became lethargic and didn’t even want to get up to eat, which was rare in his case. In such a state he came to our office. During the clinical examination it became clear that he must have choked on ice-cold river water, which led to a choking pneumonia.
Antibiotic therapy and supportive medication were administered. During the first three days there was a slight improvement, but the dog did not want to start eating at all. On the basis of the bacteriological tests obtained, it was decided to replace the antibiotic with a stronger one, as the previous one had proved too weak for such a severe condition. The treatment originally lasted over 2 weeks and due to continued sporadic coughing the antibiotic therapy was extended for another two weeks.
The dog is back to his old condition and temperamental life. Many people and animals die every year because of thoughtlessness on the ice. Are their lives really worth so little?
