Cobra survives his under carriage being impaled

Meet Cobra; a larger that life character with lots of energy to burn. He lives the dream on a semi rural property. Late one afternoon, he decided that it was a great idea to play with the horse. This did not go so well. While playing, he jumped over a tree log and a 20 cm stick impaled his undercarriage. The stick went in behind his penis and right out the other side.

His family decided to bring him in as it looked quite serious and an unexpected injury. As soon as he arrived the veterinarians gave him an injection to relieve the pain. Once he was in less pain,  the vets and nurses organised for Cobra to have some x-rays. These were necessary to understand the extent of his injuries and how best to care for him while in hospital.  With an injury to that region of the body, there is an increased risk of damage to  body parts such as the colon, bladder and penis. Thankfully x-rays showed there was no internal damage. With much relief, his family agreed to the emergency surgery that night to safely remove the stick.

The vet surgeon flushed the wound to remove all the debris and put in a drain put in so that fluid didn’t build up. Cobra quickly woke up from surgery and was transitioned to the recovery ward.  His recovery went very well and his family picked him up the next day.  Within three weeks Cobra was back to his usual activities.

The take home message is that if your pet has a penetrating injury leave the weapon in place and head to your nearest vet hospital.  Trying to take it out has been known to cause even more damage.