Distressed Dog Collapses After Hit And Run | Bondi Vet Double Episode

Six-year-old Willow has just dragged herself into an exclusive fashion boutique. We were just having some champagne with some clients and serving some customers and this dog just ran in through my back door and just pretty much collapsed at my feet. Owner Rebecca was letting Willow out of the car when her husky cross ran off. I didn't hear a screeching of tyres or anything like that, I just sort of heard her screeching. Willow can no longer move her back legs and is lashing out at everyone trying to help her. She turned around and got me by the hand so she's got a couple of teeth right through my thumb there. Actually she's got the black running through here as well. So I'd say she has actually been been hit by a car looking at that. Okay she's got some deep pain sensation. So she can actually sense that there which is good. For me what I'm feeling the most is around her pelvis. I bend up her femur on her left side, I bend that up, it feels fine. It's just when I start to really move that joint around around her pelvis that's when she responds. She's very loving and she is very bossy but she's amazing, I love her to bits. Hey Willow, I know buddy. A combination of anti-inflammatories and pain relief is helping stabilise the traumatised dog. Willow's not a savage dog, she's just snapping because she's in so much pain. The cruel part is that I've got to get her up just to get her back to the clinic so we can x-ray her. It's going to hurt the most, I know Willow, it's all right. She's not going to like it, I don't want to put her through that, but we just have to work out what's happened when that car hit her. Now a dead possum has been brought in, can you look at it for me? Oh it looks like it's been dead for a while. At the Bondi Referral Hospital SASH, a ringtail possum has been brought in after being found by a roadside. Now this possum is dead but what I need to do is check if it's a female, if there's a baby in the pouch because that's the most important thing we can do for now. Oh little guy, come on. Oh no, it makes me so upset to see this because he's just desperate for his mum and it's really important that we're going to keep him warm, get some food into him and just keep our fingers crossed that he makes it. What I need to do is weigh him and then that can give us a good indication of how old he is and whether he's going to be able to survive. About 45, 46 grams, he's right on the borderline of a safe weight. Lisa must now act fast to get vital nutrients into the young possum's system. Can't go in my pocket. This is basically a milk supplement that we use for orphaned animals. It's got glucose in it, it gives them fluid. This is replacing his mother's milk so if he doesn't get it he's not going to survive. Okay so we'll give her this stronger pain relief and then hopefully that'll then relax to the point where we actually x-ray her. It appears Willow has been hit by a car and lost the function of her back legs. It's going to hurt a little bit. I'm sorry about to put her through that but just to get the answers we need there's just no other way. You can see this spinal area is okay but when we get to here there is an issue. She's got fractured ribs. Fractured ribs are extremely painful but we don't go in and operate on those. They will actually heal themselves. The x-rays are trying to tell me there are no fractures in those hips or those back legs but I'm just not convinced. My every instinct is saying that Willow is so sore because there is something seriously wrong here. Big mystery is working out what it is and and I, jeez, I would have had my money on a broken leg or a fractured pelvis. Willow will have to stay at the clinic for observation overnight. I think when I get home I'll probably need a stiff drink and then I think I'll probably get a good night's sleep because I know that she's in good hands. Oh my god, she's everything to me, you know, she's my best friend. Look, I'd love to think that tomorrow morning she's going to be much improved, more relaxed, more comfortable and more mobile but I've got a sinking feeling that's not going to be the case. Oh, it's okay, it's okay, there you go. See you, Willow. It's a girl, boy. I think it's a girl. Hey girl, boy, all right, all right, all right. Have a drink and then you can go into a warm bed. Lisa's trying to tempt the orphaned ringtail possum with some much-needed milk supplement. This little girl's chances of survival are pretty slim but she's arrived on our doorstep and she's got hair and let's give it a go. Why not? She deserves a chance, doesn't she? Hey, and you like your milk, you do. There you go, he's taking it. You're so tiny. Our goal is with her to get her off to a wildlife carer because they're equipped to look after these little guys 24 hours a day and that's going to be her best chance. Come on, have a little bit more. Specialist wildlife carer Beverly has just arrived and is waiting to take custody of the orphan. Oh, she's so adorable. I must say I'm getting a bit attached. Well, I think we'll have to call her Lisa. Little Lisa. Lisa the possum is adorable and it is sad to say goodbye to her and it was difficult when I was putting her back in the pouch and the little tail was holding onto my finger. There you go. They've lost mum, they've lost all the immunity that they would get from mum and they really struggle, yeah, so we just hope for the best. Thank you very much, good luck. Thank you. Little Lisa will be up in a tree looking down on us all and hopefully not causing too much havoc. Wow, it's really... All of the body is recovering apart from that one area, that one very critical area, which are these back legs. The next day, car accident victim Willow still can't walk. Oh, you're really trying, aren't you? I couldn't imagine my life without her actually. Just a couple shots, girl. 12 hours on from the impact, Chris is hoping a fresh set of x-rays will provide more answers. X-ray. Let's have a look. Oh, no. So, she's got a fractured pelvis. You can see it there, that bone's lifting right off. Now, that's the old one there taken on the day of the accident with just no sign of any fracture at all. But what's probably happened is she's had a hairline crack here and then the muscles have just forced it apart and leave it open just like that. So, this is going to be an extremely tricky fracture to fix. Willow is going to need to go and see Andrew Marchevski at SASH. It's an extremely painful procedure, especially when she's already been through so much. I'm just really worried, you know, being sort of feeling guilty and sad, angry, you know. That's what's sort of worrying me, that she's not going to be able to run with her dog mates and trying to be strong for both of us. Hi. It's going to be fine, OK? You be brave. And you be brave too. Thanks, Chris. I really appreciate it. Thank you. Bye. See you later. See you, Willow. Say bye, Willow. The operation to restore Willow's mobility will be long and difficult. Specialist surgeon Andrew Marchevski is cautious about the outcome. I have got my concerns for her nerve function. I know she's got some and it's pretty good, but we don't know how much damage has been done to the nerve and how much improvement she'll get. There is a risk that we may do some more damage, but the chances of her not being able to walk again are much greater if we do nothing. Good girl. Bye, Willow. Meanwhile, Chris has just been called out to a very different emergency. Normally, a trip like this to see a snake would be to the Australian Reptile Park, only this time it's to a suburban swimming pool. We don't know what type of snake. All we know is that it's six foot long and it's been in the pool overnight. It's going to be crazy. How are you going? Hi, Chris. Must be Pam. It is Pam. Thank you so much for coming. I'd really like you to have a look and see if that snake is still there. I've got to say I'm looking forward to seeing it myself. A snake was discovered when Pam was having a swim with her grandchildren. Just as we're about to leave, Sophia looked over and just near the skimmer box there, she said, Nana, what's that thing? And I looked over and I thought, oh, that looks like a frog. Then I looked closer and I thought, no, no, it's a snake's head. Why would he come in the water? Good question. First of all, it's quite hot, so he could be quite dehydrated. The other thing is that he could be trying to shed his skin. Right. If it looks like I'm really taking my time here, I am. And there's a very good reason for that. I'm still not convinced as to what sort of snake we're dealing with here. There are two main possibilities. First of all, a diamond python, which is what I'm hoping for. The second possibility is a broad-headed snake. They're venomous. They look very similar. They're a little bit shorter. But people have died through confusing a broad-headed snake for a diamond python. I don't really want to be one of them. I'm going to grab it here. And then I'll move my hand in there. I'm going to get control of the snake's head there. OK, and then you can use that bag as protection if you like. It'll go in there and then away. All right. It might move a little bit more than that. Let's go. Gotta be brave. Chris and Pam now need to determine whether the reptile that's taken up residence in the pool is a non-venomous python or a deadly broad-headed snake. Is it looking more like a python? Yeah, it looks more like a python to me. Going on the markings and the length, he's got to be a diamond python. It's good news. Don't get me wrong. But there's a lot of snake here to deal with. Oh, Chris. Wow. Can you grab it by your prong? Chris the vet, you've got to win here. It's part of my deal. But the one thing I do have on my side is Pam's support in my ear from a good metre away. I'm brave here. Do you need me for anything? Oh, there he is. Quick, can you grab him? Come on. Geez, he's fast too. Let's try and get a grip of him. His bag won't stay open. I just can't believe how big he is. He's just slippery. There you go, Shook. Now you can tell us. Car accident victim Willow is having a CT scan before the operation on her badly fractured pelvis. So this is a 3D reconstruction of the CT scan. What's interesting is that this is the fracture going up through there. And so this part is fractured away from that. That's the other side. And that's quite normal. That'll be our challenge for today. We'll sweat over this one, getting it back in the right spot. Andrew will insert a combination of screws and metal plates. If the screw's a little high, you can end up in the spinal canal and damage the nerves that go through there. And if it's too low, you don't get enough bone and it's not secure enough. I'll just come the other side. I'm not at all surprised that this is being problematic. She's a really big dog and has a lot of swelling. And they're just tough fractures. Slippery, that's the thing, isn't it? It's the brawl. Stay there. Stay still. Had him too. Well done, Pam. I thought that'd be easier. I really did. I was wondering when you were going to fall in the pool, actually. Oh goodness, look at that. The reason he's in your pool is because he's trying to soften up his skin to lose it. Well, I didn't think we'd have to go to the point where you had to hold the bag. No, I did. You did it very well. I did it. I have something to tell my grandchildren. I think they're going to be very impressed. All right, well, we're going to hit the road. All right. Did you want a little kiss before? Oh, I'd love it. No, no, I'd rather have a kiss of music, really. Not the snake. You can take the snake away. So you find it a good home? I will, don't worry. It's bloody hard. One half of Willow's fracture has been repaired, but the other side is a much bigger challenge. That one, we only needed to get two screws in and that was hard enough. This one, we're going to have to get eight or nine. Got him, right on, bang on. Oh, well, we've got all the screws in. I'm just doing a last minute tighten to make sure they're all nice and tight. After five hours, the surgery is finally over. It was difficult to get the fractures back together. Ultimately, we got it really nice, but it took a long time. Pretty sure she got rear-ended. She just got smacked up the arse. And yet when she came running back to me, I thought that she'd got into a fight with a cat because she had a graze across her. Only. A jaguar is the only cat that's dealt with her, I think. I was just like freaking out. I mean, you don't want to think the worst, but at the same time, you can't help it. You know, you just think, well, what's taking so long? This should have been over, you know. We've got her through this part of it, but there's a long recuperative period. If this is a human, you'd be in a wheelchair for six or eight weeks and doing physio. So Bec's going to have to do a lot of hard work now as well. Oh, man, a week ago, someone had told me that this is what I'd be going through. I'd never have believed it. She's been so brave, haven't you, darling? Chris has found a new home with a feisty python he captured in a swimming pool after a titanic struggle. Hello. Oh, can we talk about this? I think he's trying to tell me it's probably time. The skin's just sliding off. It looks good. Are you going to be a good girl? Yes, your mummy's here. A week after the surgery that's made it possible for her to walk again, Willow is able to go home. Getting her home. How am I going to cope? That's a good dog. Oh, here she comes. Look at you. Is that your mum? Hi, sweetie. Look at that. Hello, my girl. For the next two weeks, a towel is your friend. OK. I don't want her walking anywhere without it. No running or jumping for you, though. I think she's ready to come home. She misses her mum. Yes, I miss her. Oh, sweetheart. As for Lisa, the ringtail possum, she fought hard for several weeks. But despite round-the-clock attention from wildlife carers, sadly, the orphan didn't survive. Cheers, Willow. Cheers. Two months after the accident, Willow is the guest of honour at a special party to celebrate her recovery. Willow, look at you go. Wow. Yes, we've been through hell, but it's OK. I can't believe this is the same doggy. It's just an incredible difference from where she was on that awful day where she was in such serious pain to now where she's walking beautifully. That's really impressive for you. These are the sort of endings that I do my job for. Girl. Good boy. How long has he had it on there for? It's been about an hour. Harry the parrot is making an after-hours visit to the Bondi Clinic. Somehow, he's managed to get a gold belt wedged onto his beak. So you've been trying to get it off? We tried, yeah. We tried it on me and my other half, but to no avail. But helping a stressed-out bird with a bling problem is not going to be easy. The hardest aspect of getting this bell off is the fact that Harry doesn't like being held. Come on. How do you get a bell off a beak from a bird that doesn't like being touched? That's a challenge. He likes the two beads, so we're getting like a bag of beads and I think the bell was in there. All right, so I'm gonna have to find a way here of basically catching him with my hands, but securing that beak because that beak is quite powerful even though it's got the bell on it. I mean, you know about it when it gets you. The more Harry flies around, the more stress he puts on his whole system and the more difficult it becomes for me. If we're going to get that bell off, it has to be quick. Otherwise, stress can kill Harry. This will be a tricky operation. Once the bell is dislodged, Harry could easily swallow it and choke. You can start by trying to lift up these little birds here on the bell. Harry, don't swallow it. Don't swallow it. Oh, that's great. Oh, good boy. I'm just going to swallow that for a second. I consider myself a lover of all animals. See, Harry's not a lover of all vets. That was very clear. It's a good result, but the friendship, was there ever one? There you go, partner. There you go, mate. Go get your own now. You're all done. I think if he could talk now, he'd probably be swearing. Swearing at anyone in particular, do you think? Definitely gentlemen dressed in blue, I think. Call Chris. Can I show you these tricks? Tricks? Go on. Impress me. While we're quiet. Over at the Bondi Referral Hospital SASH, it's unusually slow in the ER. So vets Darren and Lisa are amusing themselves, comparing the IQs of their pets. Can you drop? Good boy. Ready? Do the high five. Good boy. Another high five. Good boy. Well, Stanley's the best dog in the world, so he's much better than Nelson. He's much cleverer than Nelson. Nelson, you want to share the stick? Give it to Nelson. You don't like sticks. But clever Stanley's big stick is about to bring him unstuck. Yeah, Stanley doesn't quite understand dimensions. So he really understands that the bigger is better. Well, bring it. Bring it then. Come on, see how smart you are. Bring it. Let's just scratch all the walls. Suddenly, the fun and games are over. A two-year-old Jack Russell has arrived with suspicious marks on her neck. I picked her up off her bed, and she's really wobbly on her back legs. And then she just peed red blood, like dark red blood. And I thought, no, something's really wrong now. Bobby is rushed to Lisa for examination. A snake bite appears to be the most likely cause. But this is not a straightforward case. People think that snake bites are always obvious. You know, dogs foaming at the mouth, collapsing. But sometimes the signs are a lot more vague. And they can take hours, even up to days, before you notice that something's wrong. If you live in an area that is known to have snakes, you should never rule out a snake bite if your dog is unwell. Somebody did say that they saw a snake around our area, which I've never seen before. Yeah, and they described it as a black snake. Tanya is a foster carer for homeless dogs. Little Bobby has been waiting for more than a year for a family. She's had a hard life. It's just not fair that this has happened to her. She's such a lovely girl. When a snake bites a dog, the venom is injected, goes into the dog's bloodstream. And depending on the type of venom it is, it can have neurological effects. It can have effects on the red blood cells, can have effects on the muscles. Within a matter of minutes, a dog can die. Now, I'm not going to give her the anti-venom until I'm 100% sure, because there is a risk of an allergic reaction. I'm hoping that blood tests will give me the answer. Chris has been dragged out of bed for the second time tonight. Hi, Jeanette. How are you? Where's our girl? Upstairs. OK. He doesn't know it yet. Thank you. But this emergency is going to be one of the longest, toughest tests he's ever faced. Come through, Chris. OK, thanks. Jeanette is worried about her Norwich Terrier, Bindi, who's having problems with her first litter of pups. Oh, here it comes. Even though she's five and a half, and I guess in the dog world, a mature mother, it's to be expected that she's just not too sure about the whole thing. Did you get a bite there? I did. You OK? Yeah, it's very nice to bite. This breed is notorious for difficult births because of their small pelvis. So I do actually have a puppy coming through now. You see it? Yeah. Come on, girl. Good girl. Head's through, but we've got to wait for the shoulders to come through. And this is where we're stuck at the moment. Come on, Bindi. Come on, good girl. Good. It's 1am and Bindi is still trying to push out her first puppy. Give me a push, girl. Come on, Bindi. Come on, Bindi, give me one really good push. Yeah, good girl. Good girl. Yeah. So we just have to get air into these lungs. The puppy's out, but he's not breathing. Which is critical. We start sucking in air. Is he all right? I'm getting movement, but just not a lot of breathing. Yeah, puppy. A snake bite is possible. We need to run some blood tests and see. That's good, sweetie pie. Lisa is hoping these blood tests will confirm whether rescue dog Bobby has been bitten by a snake. So the preliminary results from Bobby's tests show that the muscle enzyme is extremely elevated. It's so elevated that the machine is not actually reading it. Now, this is Bobby's urine. It's bright red coloured. Now, her laboratory results and the swelling on her neck and red urine like this is undoubtedly a snake bite. The venom is actually causing her red blood cells to break down and it's causing her muscle to break down. So that's what those results show. What we need to do is give her the anti-venom straight away. And then keep her on a drip because her urine is that red colour. That can be toxic to her kidneys. So until her urine is clear, I need her to stay on a drip. So we really don't want to wait. Exactly. Good kid, Bobby. Good kid. I don't think I can even begin to tell you what's going through my mind right now. You know, one minute she's healthy and happy and the next minute she's sick and in here. She's also very close to my heart because I love her very much. Tanya is obviously devastated about the prospect of losing Bobby. Bobby is one of her foster dogs that she's really got a special connection to. And now Bobby's been bitten by a snake. Her life is in the balance and poor Tanya's left to pick up the pieces. Physicality of the whole thing, how vigorous I'm being is very deliberate. I'm trying to tell it that, hey, it's time to wake up. It's time to get going. You've got to breathe. And I'll do that any way possible. A little bit more movement. Mum knows best and she'll stimulate a movement as well. It's moving. At last, Bindi's first puppet is showing signs of life. God, he's real. Oh, you little squeaker. Look Bindi, a little boy. Relieved because I must say I didn't think that little pup was alive. Oh, and you got kissed by me. Sucked in. Chris, that's fantastic. Thank you. That was hard work. It was, wasn't it? That was hard and I admit it. Hey, admit it? Yes. I admit it. Bindi's contractions have started again and there are more complications. The second puppy is in a dangerous breech position. It's sort of the position that Vets dread. It has horrible connotations and when you've got a head coming through, you can grab the head and pull that with the shoulders. But with this, you're grabbing hold of slippery toes and that's it. It just makes a nightmare. I can feel that the hips and the shoulders trying to force their way through that pelvis and they're just too big for it. Bindi's breech birth is not going well. This is agony. It's awful, isn't it? Agony. And one more. Baby, darling. It's okay. Got it? Yep. And when the puppy arrives, once again, there is no response. You can do it. I need to surprise all of us, huh? Any movement? No. No, it doesn't look good. Do you want that? Nope. Sorry, girl. Sorry about that. Probably certainly tried. My God, it's been a hard, a hard night, hasn't it? It's not over. Oh my God, what can we do anymore? I don't know whether Bindi could take anymore. She needs a rest, but I guess whether her body's going to let her have a rest is another thing. Chris faces a dilemma. There is at least one more puppy to come and Bindi is now too exhausted to push. Didn't work out the way we wanted it to, did it? Yeah? Being such a brave girl. Two-year-old snake bite victim Bobby is about to receive the anti-venom that will hopefully save her life. What a brave girl you are. If we don't treat Bobby tonight, she will deteriorate further. The major complication is that A, her red blood cells can break down and she can become anemic and B, is that the product of the muscle breakdown is toxic to her kidneys and she can go into kidney failure. So it is essential that we treat her right away. Our biggest concern now is if Bobby reacts to the anti-venom, there is a chance that that's going to happen. But what we need to do is monitor her very closely throughout the anti-venom just to make sure that she doesn't react. You mustn't fight the snakes. You can't fight those snakes because they bite you first. You're a good girl. You have a good sleep now. Round one goes to the snake. Bobby's now fighting for her life and she needs to win the battle from now on. No, it just hasn't moved. No, okay, let's go. Good try. Let's do it. Yep. Bindi has been in labour for six hours and Chris has decided her health is now at risk. She just has nothing to go on with yet she's still got at least one pup inside her. Leave it any longer, we risk that pup. I just think it is worth now going to Caesarean. The emergency surgery will be performed back at the Bondi Clinic. Just through the back edge. I'm just getting a bit of a second wind now at 4am. Is that what it is? 4am almost. The first puppy is stable and is being fed some much-needed milk. Bindi up, Chris discovers there is one puppy remaining. But the little girl is lifeless. After eight hours of labour, Chris is fighting desperately to save Bindi's last puppy. And finally, the sound Chris has been waiting for. Doing pretty well now, breathing on her own now. Great, great, all right. Fingers crossed those signs continue to improve. Now, let's get the soil back up and wake her up. Bindi's waking up from the anaesthetic and is recovering well from her marathon ordeal. That was hectic. Hey mum, do you want this one? Do you want this one? You know you actually can't get out of this one. We do have video footage to prove this is actually yours. Now, Jeanette, you've met your little boy before. Yes. But you haven't met your little girl before. That's good news. Is Bindi okay? Yeah, yeah, she's fine. She's just coming out of anaesthetic now. How sweet. Beautiful. How sweet. Noisy and beautiful. She looks a bit bigger than him. Yeah, she is. Yeah, oh my gosh, what a night. What a night. Was that hard, that last bit? Yeah, it was. Yeah. They are just so adorable, my gosh. You're clever. When Jeanette checks on Bindi, Chris can finally raise a delicate subject. Jeanette, this is a bit embarrassing. We've come all this way, yet they don't look like purebred Norwich Terriers. What? Who's dad? He's a Jack Russell. Jack Russell, Chris, is he? That explains a lot. The only name we had was for the boy, a little bone, a little bony. Bindi's mother was called Juliet. We thought we should name a girl after the mother. So she might be Juliet. If you've got bone and Juliet, it's not too much of a stretch to have Bonio and Juliet. Oh! Thank you. It might be 6.30 in the morning, but I'm still functioning. That's good. Yeah, see? Crazy times. Oh, yes. Bindi will stay at the clinic with her two puppies for overnight observation. That's one of the longest nights I've ever had. Highly stressful. We lost one. That's sad, but we got two living pups, which is great. A good result. What's this? Is that Dave? I'm going home. Four days after receiving the antivenom, snakebite victim Bobby is making a remarkable recovery. How are you feeling today, sweetie pie? It's just a gradual process with these snakebites. I mean, on the first day, you treat them with everything you've got, and you just hope they survive. And then after that, it's just a matter of waiting and waiting for their bodies to heal on their own with our support. Let's have a look. Oh, that looks a lot better. It's a bit red. All Bobby's blood tests have come back clear now. Her urine is also clear, so she's on the road to recovery. She just needs to have strict rest for the next couple of weeks while her muscles heal, and then she'll be right as rain. Where is she? There's so much going on. Look who's there. Bobby. Baby. Come on, my little girl. It's OK, sweetie pie. Bet you didn't expect to get her back this soon. I know. I'm so happy. Thank you so much. It's my pleasure. I can't say enough about the care you've given her. Well, I do tend to hang on to some of them. They're my children, you see. I suppose I treat dogs the way other people think of their kids, or better, you know? I mean, they can have anything, you know? They get the best of everything. Bye-bye, little chicken. No more snakes, OK? No more snakes, I promise, Aunty Lisa. And you're going to find a new home and not fight any more snakes, OK? Bye. See you later. Tanya is the best medicine for Bobby, and I think in the end it might be better off for everyone if Tanya just keeps her. Hey, look at that. Sunshine. Good girl. Bindi's puppies are now six weeks old, and Jeanette is besotted. Very, very cute. It's a hard one, but I think we're going to keep them.