This Sweet Dog Was Playing Fetch When A Freak Accident Happened And The Stick He Was Playing With Punctured His Throat
Portland, Oregon. 3-year-old Rusty was outside playing a regular game of fetch with his human, Asrune, when the wooden stick accidentally poked a hole in his throat.
Rusty had a tracheal tear or tracheal perforation. It happens more frequently than you would think.
A dog just doing what dogs do, Fido gulps down that rawhide, or accidentally swallows his bone, or in this case, stick, and boom! It scrapes, tears, or cuts a hole right in his throat.
The puncture typically leaves a souvenir, like a shard of bone or a splinter. The splinter then travels through the dog’s body, usually into the chest cavity, and the results can be deadly.
The splinter traveled to Rusty’s lungs. All the bacteria from the stick caused his lungs to fill with pus. He wound up with pyothorax and could not survive without emergency surgery.
If left alone, the pus collection could cause him to suffocate as it accumulated slowly, or the dog could get sepsis, a blood infection, and die.
Either way, Rusty needed help immediately, to the tune of $14,000 or more.
Asrune needed help and exhausted her search for financial assistance. On November 22nd, she turned to the internet and created a fundraiser to assist her in paying for the surgery. Her call for help paid off.
GoFundMe; pictured above is Rusty
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Two days later, on the 24th, the veterinary surgical team went in and performed open chest surgery on Rusty.
Unfortunately, his infection was far worse than they initially anticipated, causing more invasive surgery and intensive care recovery.
He had an 85 to 90% chance of full recovery. Each day he proved up to the challenge, and on the 26th, Rusty was able to come home.
He is still not out of the woods yet and has four to six weeks of calm, bed rest recovery, but his family keeps close watch over him and remains positive Rusty will survive and thrive. Go, Rusty!
If you would like to help support Rusty’s recovery, you can do that here.
More About:Animals
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