My year old lab was hit my a 1 ton pickup on Saturday. It broke up her back leg real bad. One piece of the femur (thigh bone) poked out forward and below her hip. Another piece of the femur cut through the inside of her leg and cut a major artery (a peripheral branch of the femoral artery). Luckily I saw it happen. After being hit, she jumped up and started spinning in circles trying to get at whatever was hurting her leg. I saw blood spraying everywhere. I ran over and grabbed her and held her down and put pressure on the bleeder (it was spraying a stream of blood as big around as my pinky finger about 4 inches out of her leg with every heart beat). By buddy ran for the truck as my wife called the vet. I laid on top of her in the back of the truck keeping pressure on the bleeder, while my buddy broke a new Idaho speed record on the way to the vet clinic (only about a mile from the house). The vet was waiting as we slid into the parking lot. There was a stream of blood from my truck, through the waiting room, and into the surgery room. We got the bleeding stopped, started IV's to try and restore some blood volume and worked on treating her for shock. She had stabalized by Sat evening, and went under the knife Monday to rebuild that leg. She came home Tuesday afternoon with a stainless steel rod and some stainless steel wire holding her femur together. She was putting weight on it before I even brought her home. As long as I can keep her calmed down for a several weeks to let the bone heal, and as long as she does not develop an infection, the vet is expecting a full recovery. It sure is going to put her out of hunting mode untill late in the season though.
