16 March 2013

Car harness saves dog from severe injury

Mrs Carter rehomed Meg from our Snetterton centre last May and took one decision which probably saved the little Westie’s life; she bought a Dogs Trust car harness. For the small price of £11.99 Meg was always secure in the car. Less than three months later it proved its worth. Driving in a 40 mph zone Mrs Carter suddenly found herself face to face with a car coming in the other direction and nowhere else to go. The shock of the crash was immense. Mrs Carter’s VW Polo was written off and she had to be cut out by the fire service. The emergency services called the vet to come and collect Meg. Poor Mrs Carter suffered multiple spinal fractures and broken ribs.

Four days after the crash Mrs Carter’s son, Bob, collected Meg from the vet who’d taken her from the crash scene. She couldn’t walk as her spine had been concertina’ed in the crash, all the discs and vertebrae squashed together and all the swelling meant she had neither the strength nor the nerve response to stand up. Bob tells us, “After six days she could sit up, after ten days she could stand and take tentative steps. I took her to my vet for an examination, and all was going well.”

After four weeks Mrs Carter came home from hospital and she and Meg were reunited. As Bob tells Wag, “And my vet’s reaction after I told him what had happened? Wearing that harness saved her life.””

To purchase one of these harnesses visit www.dogstrustgifts.com or call 0844 3248521. (Thanks to Bob Carter for the story.)

Reproduced by permission of Dogs Trust.