Stressful Morning!

Karran

Karran

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I took Mrs Spaniel out as normal this morning only to find a dog an elderly staffy type in a heap at the top of my road.
He'd clearly been hit by a car, scuffed bleeding pads and dribbling blood from his mouth. He looked up on our arrival and wagged his tail at Mrs Spaniel.
Ran her down the road back indoors, grabbed my phone and ran back.
Emergency Vet told me that if he was conscious I should put him in my car and drive him the 6 miles to their hospital. I refused. What if I made him worse accidentally or in his pain he bit me?
I asked them to come to me. They refused as he was conscious and said to call the RSPCA and hung up on me.
RSPCA didn't open phone lines until 9am (was 7am when I found him) called PDSA, local council, Blue Cross, Battersea. No answer from anyone.
Sat by poor Doggy and he wagged his tail at me and tried to roll over but couldn't make it and couldnt get up when i tried to encourage him to where I was sitting.
Starting to get really panicky now about what to do with him!!!
Man came out to see what I was doing in his driveway. I explained and asked for help. He shrugged his shoulders and went back inside.
Googling more emergency numbers (now 7.45) managed to get hold of one in Victoria about 10 miles away in Central London. They took my details, and said that their ambulance started at 8am.
Several people walked past on way to work. One man coming back from gym asked if it was my dog. I said no "Oh I hope you get some help then" Walked away.
8am Sidcup Animal Hospital called. They had got the message from Victoria and they were on-route!
Meanwhile a lady over the road had seen me, and come over with a damp towel to keep flies off and Doggy covered. Sat on floor with Doggy giving him occasional pats and telling him he was a Good Boy and that I promised to look after him.
I'd rung my boss previously to tell her I would be late and explained situation. Suddenly shocked to see her and the cleaner whizz down past me in her little Mini.
As soon as they'd arrived so did Dog Ambulance.
All vitals fine, microchipped - Hurrah as he had no collar on!! - and they took him away at 8.40.

Been fretting about him all day
Just got the phone call that they managed to track down his owner and he would be ok and had been transferred to owners vets for follow up care.

(bit graphic photo in link)
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?....409052295050.375540.610900050&type=3&theater
 
Oh Well done OP, I'm so pleased it all worked out for the little dog but how horrid that the person who hit the dog didn't stop. I'm not suggesting the accident was in any way their fault, especially as the dog was straying but to leave it, seems very callous. Of course the dog could have run off from them and collapsed when it got as far as you.

I'm sorry to hear the vet surgery you spoke to weren't more forthcoming, however even if they had come out, it would be unlikely they would have done anything at the scene, other to check it over and put it in their vehicle to return to the clinic. They can't conduct full examinations or surgery by the road side as they don't have the equipment.

I'm guessing you rang the local RSPCA veterinary hospital? all though they do run out of hours telephone contact and the National RSPCA emegency telephone number is 24 hrs too and though I don't know your area, wonder which RSPCA you contacted.

I had a bit of an experience with an adult swan on the duel carriageway of the A46 around Lincoln yesterday afternoon, in rush hour. I spotted it was stood on the narrow grass verge, in front of the metal crash barrier, looking to walk straight onto the carriageway. I stopped and put my hazzards on and thankfully a couple behind me stopped too. Together we cornered the swan (which wasn't injured thank heavens) and I managed to grab it and secure its wings, then using one of the dog's towels from my car, wrapped it tightly so the other couple could carry it down a steep footpath leading to the river nearby for release. I think we caused a bit of a tail-back in both lanes but only for about 5 mins... I felt pretty pleased for myself and the swan, afterwards that I had done my good deed for the day and I bet you did too K Well done again :)
 
thank you for looking after that poor dog. I hope he recovers.

In our area the police have brought many injured animals to our out of hours hospital. Our vets would be unable to leave other critical animals in their care to attend a rta.
 
chillipup said:
Oh Well done OP, I'm so pleased it all worked out for the little dog but how horrid that the person who hit the dog didn't stop. I'm not suggesting the accident was in any way their fault, especially as the dog was straying but to leave it, seems very callous. Of course the dog could have run off from them and collapsed when it got as far as you.

I'm sorry to hear the vet surgery you spoke to weren't more forthcoming, however even if they had come out, it would be unlikely they would have done anything at the scene, other to check it over and put it in their vehicle to return to the clinic. They can't conduct full examinations or surgery by the road side as they don't have the equipment.

I'm guessing you rang the local RSPCA veterinary hospital? all though they do run out of hours telephone contact and the National RSPCA emegency telephone number is 24 hrs too and though I don't know your area, wonder which RSPCA you contacted.

I had a bit of an experience with an adult swan on the duel carriageway of the A46 around Lincoln yesterday afternoon, in rush hour. I spotted it was stood on the narrow grass verge, in front of the metal crash barrier, looking to walk straight onto the carriageway. I stopped and put my hazzards on and thankfully a couple behind me stopped too. Together we cornered the swan (which wasn't injured thank heavens) and I managed to grab it and secure its wings, then using one of the dog's towels from my car, wrapped it tightly so the other couple could carry it down a steep footpath leading to the river nearby for release. I think we caused a bit of a tail-back in both lanes but only for about 5 mins... I felt pretty pleased for myself and the swan, afterwards that I had done my good deed for the day and I bet you did too K Well done again :)
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I knew they couldnt do anything there i just felt it better as they would know how best to lift him etc. I couldnt have done it alone without possibly inflicting more injury and althpugh he seeemed an amiable enough guy if he's hurt and i made it worse he'd have been entitled to bite me.
 
Cahill said:
hope he will be ok.
you done a good job
xxx

how many people passed and never helped :(
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At least 4 people walked or drove past me having a good old look while i waited. Plus the man who's driveway he collapsed on.

When i got home tonight i noticed a trail of blood from one of the side streets all the way up to where he collapsed. :-(

God knows how long he was there before i found him
 
WorkingGSD said:
Well done for caring - and it is shocking so many people refused help. I really hope the dog is ok.
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If it had been Mrs Spaniel i'd have wanted someone there. I couldnt (much like most of us on here) have left an animal suffering.

I do hope he is at home now and recovering on a nice fluffy sofa! It'd be nice to get a follow up but vets didn't wanna say any more and i didnt want to pry. Main thing is that i found him and we found his owners
 
well done op - please call the first emergency vet back and demand an explanation and put in ac omplaint - that is disgraceful and vets have a duty of care! Glad you got hiim sorted, wonder would police call have been a good idea too - not sure how effective they are depending on area?
 
To be fair I don't know of any vets practice that would drop anything to pick up an injured dog, they just don't tend to be staffed for it. I think I would have muzzled him, put him in my car and taken him there. Equally I completely understand the OPs reluctance to do so.
 
TBH I am astonished that anyone would think twice - I would have picked the said dog up, popped it into my car and hot-footed it to the nearest vets...

ETA - seriously, you would call the police and an emergency vet out for something which could be more effectively and quickly resolved by putting the dog in your car and taking it yourself? Amazing....

I know that this being HHO I will get slated to the moon and back for my response, but I genuinely don't get why any dog lover would hesitate
 
Glad you got him sorted OP, have to say I think I would have risked a bite to ship him to the vets myself if I had access to a vehicle as very few have any form of transport. Have taken run over animals to the vet before and would certainly do so again.
 
It's all very well if you are fit, able, confident to lift a largeish dog in pain - easy to say but not everyone is that able and if someone gets a bad bite it can be life threatening - hence why there are professionals to deal with it.
 
SusieT said:
It's all very well if you are fit, able, confident to lift a largeish dog in pain - easy to say but not everyone is that able and if someone gets a bad bite it can be life threatening - hence why there are professionals to deal with it.
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Thanks to our current Government, and the policy of previous Governments of the same political party, the police services nationally are grossly underfunded and under resourced. They have a hell of a lot more important things to do with their time than picking up injured dogs. And any vet will prefer to deal with such an incident at an appropriately resourced and equipped vet practice rather than being able to do s*d all at the side of the road...
 
But there aren't really professionals to deal with it as the OP found out? and she had half a chance being in london and had a lot more options to call but still struggled to get help. Round here there wouldn't be anyone as very few vets have transport they can use for that sort of thing. I am sure if OP couldn't lift him herself (though we aren't talking malamute) and had specifically asked one of the passers by for assistance someone would have helped, people do if you have a specific request, I imagine many of them thought the OP had the situation under control. I couldn't have left the dog lying there with a serious injury for over an hour :(
 
ester said:
But there aren't really professionals to deal with it as the OP found out? and she had half a chance being in london and had a lot more options to call but still struggled to get help. Round here there wouldn't be anyone as very few vets have transport they can use for that sort of thing. I am sure if OP couldn't lift him herself (though we aren't talking malamute) and had specifically asked one of the passers by for assistance someone would have helped, people do if you have a specific request, I imagine many of them thought the OP had the situation under control. I couldn't have left the dog lying there with a serious injury for over an hour :(
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Exactly this.....
 
Vets have to provide a service and that means treating all injured animals - assuming op didn't call anyone 100 miles away... If they couldn't help they needed to direct to someone else not just hang up.
 
Well done OP for doing something, can't believe all the people that didn't help!

Most veterinary practices who are open 24 hours will not be able to come out on this sort of occasion. Most practices may only be staffed by one nurse and/or vet during OOH. They cannot drop everything and leave critical patients in their care unattended. I work OOH in a practice and under no circumstances am I allowed to leave the practice. I would have asked you to bring the dog in yourself too if safe to do so. However not really on for them to hang up on you.

The RSPCA have a 24 hour emergency line: 0300 1234 999
 
Yikes!
Firstly i did what i judged to be best under the circumstances.
Many, many first aid at work courses have drummed into me that unless the casualty is at risk of further injury you make comfortable and leave where they are for the experts to assess. Rightly or wrongly i followed that principle today.

Doggy was tail wagging, and could lift two limbs enough for me to rub his belly. Yes it was clearly serious. Yes he was a stocky staffie and i probably could have lifted him but i judged the risk of making the situation worse to be a factor hence why i didnt then stagger down the road with him.
I also assumed that (having never been in this situation but knowing pet hospitals and ambulances exist) that it would be a) easy to get one and b) that those coming would be able to move him with least risk of injury to him. I did not want to lift him, carry him to my car, take him 6 miles over speed bumps and downhill (i feared he may slide off my seat - your mind does funny things when stressed).
I made him as comfortable as i could. I wiped blood, i got a pillow for his head and he had a towel to keep warm.
I asked the man who's driveway he had collapsed in for help. He shrugged and shut the door on me.
I asked two people walking past for help. One apparently didnt hear me. The other just said 'i hope help comes soon' and walked off a little quicker.

Yes maybe i could have handled the situation better. I made the call to sit with him, talk to him and pet him and wait for help to come to us. If i hadn't managed to get through to the people at Victoria i would have probably have taken him in my car having at that point exhausted every other option i could think of.
I definitely didn't expect vets to leave other super sick animals to come here. I just genuinely assumed that, that was the point of animal ambulances and emergency vets. Lesson learned and hopefully i never have need to use them again but at least i will now know that no one is open until 8/9am for transport.

Sorry if this sounds a bit defensive - trying to do it on my phone and answer everyone valid points about why i acted as i did.
The most important thing in my mind though, is that Doggy will be ok and has no lasting damage. His owners found him and i hope that a little part of him understood i was trying to help as best i could rather than leave him as others must have done.
 
I had tried PDSA, Blue Cross, RSPCA, local council, local police and Battersea. All had rather long voicemail options to eventually tell me it wouldn't be staffed until 9am.

Park View Vets were the ones who came for him and i am very grateful! I dont think that rspca emergency number came up on my frantic googling. I will certainly save it on my phone now though just in case!
 
What a horrible situation! I would have picked him up and taken him to the vets myself and hoped I didnt get a chunk taken out of me, but thats just me. I tend towards being a bit rash! My OH would have done exactly what you did, as would lots of other people, so you didnt do anything wrong :)

I once found an old lab running around the park, clearly distressed. The dog was apparently invisible to everyone else there! I got hold of her and got her into the car and back to my house. When I rang the owners, from the details on the tag, she had been missing for THREE days! I cant imagine how many people saw her and ignored her in that time! :(
 
SusieT vets duty of care does not extend to going to pick up animals for care.
Its for animals presented to them and its the owners/person in charge of the dogs responsibilty to present their animal for treatment.

Most out of hours small animal vets cannot leave the hospital when on duty. As out of hours have minimal staffing levels and the priority has to be to the animals already under their care and for those coming through the doors for treatment. Smaller practices may do it as their out of hours tends to be quiet so dont have to abandon inhouse critical patients in order to drive and pick up animal... but they are not obliged to either way...

If you try and get an emergency pts done at home oohs it will be the same responce from most of the large emergency centres...need to come in..or they will give you a quote that involved pulling two staff members not scheduled to work in and paying them overtime to go do a house call... Which I'm told goes down very badly.

Personally I'd have told you to cover his head,(use a belt over the muzzle to close it to if you had one) pick him up and put him in the car rather then leave him in pain on the side of the road untreated.. Short term discomfort in order to get to treatment....but thats also because Ive never worked in an area where the likes of an animal ambulance exists...on a side noted I wonder who pays for that one? The drivers of an animal ambulance etc still need to be paid when they are working...I expect thats why they arent available ooh.it would be to expensive......remember most vets are private businesses.not charities.

OP you did the best you could under the circumstances and you got him the help he needed.
Glad to hear it turned into a happy ending.
 
Just thought I would explain how to put an emergency muzzle on a dog if anyone ever needs to in the future. Use a strip of fabric, a belt, tie etc. place the centre over the top of the nose, just below the eyes with the ends hanging down. Cross the ends below the chin and bring the remaining fabric up either side behind the ears. Tie a bow firmly just at the top of the neck.

The dog will still be able to breathe but unable to bite.
 
Only one of the many small practices I have known had an animal ambulance, despite the name it was only ever used for collecting and delivering animals of elderly clients who were unable to transport them themselves when they needed to come into hospital usually prebooked too and just driven by a nurse. They weren't there for RTAs of animals belonging to unknown people so I wonder if you have seen them around OP and got the wrong impression of what they usually do?

Just to clarify when I said about asking for help I did mean specific help with a plan. I just imagine if someone said to them you were waiting for an ambulance/trying to get someone to help they would think you had the situation under control. If you are specific in your requests ie would you stay with the dog while I fetch my car and help me lift it in/do you have car we can use to get this dog to a vet etc the response might have been different. People find a specific request harder to say no to or brush off.
 
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