Watching Sparky run around the backyard, it’s hard to imagine that five days earlier he was at death’s door.
|||Cape Town - Watching Sparky run around the backyard, it’s hard to imagine that five days earlier he was at death’s door.
On Saturday, October 20, the seven-year-old fox terrier was hurtling through Silvermine, chasing other dogs. But the canine caper was interrupted by a loud hiss.
“Sparky never backs down from a fight,” said Craig Doonan. “He will confidently take on bigger dogs.”
Or in this case - snakes. Despite the fox terrier’s best efforts, scales beat fur and the puff adder bit the pooch on the cheek.
It was a mad dash towards Doonan’s car as he carried the bleeding dog to safety.
By the time Sparky arrived at the vet, his tongue was so swollen he could barely breathe. The vet was forced to perform an emergency tracheotomy, inserting a tube into Sparky’s neck.
“The prognosis wasn’t good,” said Doonan. “He wasn’t stable and even if he survived the vet warned that he would lose his tongue… And I would’ve had to make a difficult decision.”
Sparky had to spend the night in ICU, fighting for his life as the anti-venom and his body banded together to flush out the adder’s toxins. “He looked like he was at death’s door,” said Doonan.
The next day, it seemed, at first, that nothing had changed. Sparky’s head was still completely swollen.
“But then as I moved around I saw that his tongue had gone back to normal and he was able to open and close his mouth,” said Doonan.
It was a quick recovery for the fox terrier. On Friday, he was already chasing balls around the garden. The “king of the neighbourhood” was back to sit on his throne.
“It was a miracle,” said Doonan. “Even the vet and the nurses said it was a miracle.”
kieran.legg@inl.co.za
Cadet News Agency
Cape Argus