I received an e-mail from Brenda in Chichester, West Sussex.  Her 7-month old Goldie pup Amber had a very nasty experience with a stick and she wanted to warn others of the dangers that sticks pose even when they aren't being thrown.

Amber before the accident"We were out for our usual morning walk with Amber our 7 month Golden Retriever and her big brother Paddy aged 3.   Having been let off lead Amber did her usual round of the bushes while we walked on ahead.   

Sudeenly we heard what I can only describe as a scream from behind us and turned around to see Amber lying on the ground next to a broken stick.    Not really sure what had happened, we attempted to look into her mouth, whereupon she became very distressed and completely refused to open her jaws.    As she was obviously very distressed and in pain, we decided to take her to the out of hours vet (it happened on a Sunday).  This vet could not get Amber to open her jaws either, so gave her a slight sedation to have a quick look.   He said she had lacerated her soft palate and, after giving her some antibiotics and a painkilling shot, instructed us to see our own vet the following morning, who would anaesthetise Amber and have a good look.

We duly took Amber along to our own vet the next morning, and he gave her a general anaesthetic, cleaned the area and giving us some further supplies of antibiotics and painkilling medication, said that she thought it looked clean and would probably heal over ok. 

Two weeks later, Amber seemed better, so went on a planned holiday to Austria while Amber and Paddy went into kennels.   On the day before we were due to fly home, the kennels phoned to say that they had taken Amber to the vet, as she had developed a lump on the underside of her jaw and down into her neck.   When we arrived home the next day, we were horrified to see that the lump was the size of a tennis ball and rock hard.   We again visited our vet on two further occasions and after 2 weeks of antibiotics, the lump had gone down to marble size.   

The vet suggested we have a trial period with no antibiotics to see what happened.  She said if there was a foreign body (ie a splinter) in her neck, then the most likely scenario would be that the lump would return.   Sure enough 2 days later the lump was tennis ball size once more.

At this stage the vet said there was no other course than to explore the lump surgically and warned that this was quite a big operation.  She also warned that it was possible that she may not find the splinter and that sometimes they can migrate and it becomes a longstanding problem requiring several operative procedures.

Amber showing her 8-inch incision and one of the drainsAmber went in for the op, and we were all very pleased when the vet discovered the cause of the problem.   A splinter about 1-inch long and quite thick.   It had become buried deep in the muscle tissue of her neck.   

She needed an 8-inch incision and 2 drains in the wound.  The incision drained pus, blood and serum for 3 days.  

Following the operation to remove the splinter from Amber's neck, she had the drains removed.  However the next day a large swelling - the size of a small melon appeared at the operation site.   

A trip to the vets revealed that she had developed a seroma.  This is a condition arises when a quantity of tissue has been removed, and the body tries to fill the remaining space by producing fluid.  This can continue for some time, until the body realises that this is not needed.   I had to take Amber to the vet every day to have the fluid drained off, until eventually the vet taught me how to do it myself.  It was not a pleasant procedure to carry out, but fortunately Amber was very good and did not protest.   After about 10 days of draining the fluid, it slowly resolved and now almost 5 weeks after the operation she is almost back to normal.  She has a small gristly swelling over the operation site, but this apparently will go over time.  
 
All in all this was a most distressing event for all of us, not to mention costly in terms of vet fees (£1,300).   I would urge everybody to discourage their dogs from picking up sticks by whatever means they can.  Certainly Amber will no longer be taken for walks where she can disappear into the undergrowth and come out with a stick in her mouth!!  

This has been an awful experience for Amber at her young age, and at present she has now developed a vet phobia which was not present before this incident.   

This has been an upsetting and very expensive experience for us, but the most important thing is it has been just terrible for a puppy of 7 months old.  

 Amber & Paddy

We are hoping that within the next few weeks, our boisterous bundle of fun will be back again".