A LUCKY ESCAPE
Golden Retriever Monty made a remarkable recovery after impaling himself on a garden ornament in a freak accident.
When Jayne O’Brien heard her two dogs barking in the garden late one afternoon in February, she assumed they were greeting the postman.
But when the noise failed to subside, the 64-year-old retired accountant decided she had better go and investigate.
As Jayne stepped outside into her two-acre garden, she initially thought her two Golden Retrievers, Montgomery (Monty) and Wellington (Welly), were playing. But as she got closer, she was met by an horrific sight.
“At first, I thought both dogs were barking, but it quickly became apparent that while Welly was barking, Monty was squealing in pain,” said Jayne, who lives near Petersfield in Hampshire.
“Monty was trying to drag himself across the garden towards me and as I rushed over, I could see that there was a long piece of metal, about the thickness of my thumb, sticking out of his body. He was clearly in a lot of pain and the noise he was making was awful.”
In total shock, Jayne’s first reaction was to try to get the stake out, but it wouldn’t budge.
“I told Monty to stay and, bless him, he did, while I rushed back into the house to get my mobile phone,” continued Jayne.
After ringing her local VetPartners practice, St Peter’s Vets — who said someone would come straight out — Jayne called her husband, Tim, who immediately left work. A neighbour, who had heard all the noise, came and stayed with her until they arrived.
“It felt like forever but it probably only
took them about 10 – 15 minutes to arrive,” continued Jayne, who tried to keep Monty calm by stroking and speaking to him softly.
“He was so stoical and just lay there.
There wasn’t any blood, and I couldn’t work out where the stake had come from and how it had speared him twice.”
Slowly, it dawned on Jayne that the spike had supported an old bird bath on the other side of the garden. She can only imagine that after a bit of rough and tumble, the dogs had bumped into it, exposing the spike, and carried it to another part of the garden, where Monty must have somehow jumped or fallen on it.
Expecting to find a dog with a small piece of metal piercing his skin, vet Chloe
Graham and veterinary nurse Georgie
Marie were shocked to see the extent of Monty’s injuries when they arrived.
The 2ft long spike had passed in and out of Monty’s groin area before spearing his hind leg. It proved too thick even for Tim’s bolt cutters, and Chloe knew she wouldn’t be able to remove it on site.
So, after sedating the four-year-old retriever, setting up a drip in the brambles where he lay, and giving him pain relief, the four of them carefully carried 37kg Monty to the pet ambulance.
Back at the clinic, Chloe took X-rays straight away to establish the exact position of the pole and work out a strategy to remove it. It was one of the most horrific injuries she’d ever seen.
Despite the seriousness of the situation though, it transpired that Monty was very lucky; the spike had not only missed all his major organs, nerves, and arteries, none of his bones were broken either.
DEBRIS IN THE WOUND
After studying the X-rays, Chloe decided that the best course of action was to enlarge both the entrance and exit wounds and gently slide out the pole.
Although this plan worked, with the pole coming out fairly easily, Chloe was concerned about the debris left behind. Litres of fluid were needed to flush out as much rust and dirt as possible, to avoid infection.
Due to COVID-19 restrictions, Jayne and Tim waited nervously at home while Monty underwent three hours of surgery.
“I really thought we were going to lose him,” said Jayne. “But we knew he was in the best hands. I can’t praise the whole team enough — Chloe was so calm and collected. We finally got a call at 8pm to say he was out of theatre, the spike had been successfully removed and he hadn’t done any major damage, although they were concerned about infection from all the bits of rust. We were totally relieved — he was such a lucky boy.”
Jayne was “flabbergasted” to be told she could pick Monty up the next day. Despite being dopey, he seemed fine, and after some initial restlessness, he eventually settled down for the night.
But at 3am, Jayne was woken by Monty moaning. She noticed blood trickling from one of his four drains, and knew something wasn’t right. “I called St Peter’s out-of-hours clinic and took him straight in,” continued Jayne. Monty remained there for a further five days while staff monitored his medication and some digestive issues.
“By Saturday, Monty was much more himself and was desperate to come home, although he had made a lot of friends at the vet’s!”
Following two further check-ups and the removal of his stitches a fortnight later, Monty’s injuries started to heal without further incident, but he still had another, equally painful, hurdle to overcome.
It’s thought that in an effort to alleviate his pain, Monty had tried to chew through the metal pole, fracturing some of his teeth in the process.
He needed specialist dental treatment at Anderson Moores Veterinary Specialists near Winchester, where veterinary dentist Matthew Oxford removed two of his teeth — one of which had turned purple and died due to the trauma — and he underwent root canal surgery. Again, the retriever was lucky and the dental damage wasn’t as bad as vets first feared.
According to Jayne, her lovely natured dog is now “110 per cent” and back to his usual lively and happy self.
“I am so grateful to everyone at St Peter’s for going above and beyond,” said Jayne. “They did an amazing job, calling me two or three times every day with an update.”
At first, Jayne admitted to feeling nervous about letting her dogs out in the garden, but the day after the accident, she and Tim patrolled every inch of their outside space and removed any object they thought might pose a risk — even posts holding up plants.
“It has really made me think how many similar ornaments people have in their gardens,” added Jayne. “I’d urge all pet owners to be extra vigilant and keep any hazardous objects safely out of the way.
“Wander round your garden and look at things with a different eye. Something you may think is innocuous will not be if your dog jumps or falls on it. It’s taken a long time to get the noise Monty was making out of my head. I would hate another dog to suffer like he did.”
“I could see a long piece of metal sticking out of his body...”