Written by Dr. David Owen, BVMS CertAVP (ECC) MRCVS, Lead ECC Vet
Reviewed by Dr Jill McMaster BVM&S MBA MRCVS, Veterinary Surgeon and in-house expert at BorrowMyDoggy on 8 Jun 2023
David Owen, a veterinary surgeon from VetsNow Manchester, explains what to do when your dog is dealing with trauma.
David answers the following questions:
- What are some precautions you must take?
- What should you do if your pet is showing signs of aggression?
- What else might you need to do in the event of an injury?
- What is the most important things to remember?
In an emergency we always recommend contacting your local or emergency veterinary surgery.
Transcript
Hello my name's David Owen, I'm a veterinary surgeon here at vets now pet emergency hospital in Manchester. One of the most common pet emergencies we treat is trauma and that can include things like a road traffic accident or maybe a fall. The first thing to do is stay calm. There's no point in panicking and the second thing to do is just to make sure that you take your pet away from a place where it could injure itself further. So take it to a safe place. If your pet's in a lot of pain it may be necessary to muzzle it. Even if it's not showing signs of aggression before, it may do now. It's important to make sure that you're safe as well as your pet. In this situation it might be necessary for you to perform some basic first-aid. We should always keep these animals flat because the amount of spinal injuries. We should be supporting any limbs that we think could be broken. Any areas that seem like they're bleeding you might need to apply some pressure to and maybe apply a rudimentary bandage to stop any further bleeding. As soon as you're in a safe position then the first thing you should do is call your emergency vet. Make sure you list any injuries that you've seen and get them there as soon as possible.
