When a small dog who is three kilos like Shiver
has been picked up by a twenty plus kilo dog,
shaken around by the neck,
there's potential for some massive, crushing injuries.
"So you can see his puncture wounds are just all over here."
So it's a big dog's jaw that's just gone right around him.
It was horrible.
"We might just be dealing with the tip of the iceberg."
Layla and Stuart have arrived
at the Bondi referral Hospital, SASH, with six year old Shiver.
The little Pomeranian is in extreme pain
after being mauled by two large dogs at a local park.
It was horrible.
He screams as soon as you put him down or pick him up or,
you know, touch him in a new place, he screams.
"So we don't really know what's going on with him."
All right. Pop him down on the table. We'll have a look at him.
Hey, Shiver.
One dog picked him up...
"And the other bit him when he tried to run off."
Okay.
When a small dog who's three kilos like Shiver,
has been picked up by a twenty plus kilo dog,
shaken around by the neck,
there's potential for some massive, crushing injuries.
Some massive, internal injuries that we don't even see from the outside.
Just checking for a broken jaw. Anything like that.
So that feels good.
Mouth looks okay.
Good thing is he's moving air really nicely
through his chest, which is very, very good.
Just a bit shocked as well, I think.
Okay honey, you're all right.
You look at Shiver and he doesn't look too bad,
but you touch him and he screams.
This little dog is absolutely terrified and in a lot of pain.
Pop him on the ground and see what he can...
Shiver. Shiver.
I gotta pick you up.
I don't deal with the animal being in pain very well at all.
"I'm a big wuss, like that. Big, big wuss."
There's a bit of bruising there, you see?
And then you can see over here it's much redder.
So, I think we should shave him.
"What we'll do today is weâ€™ll start off with"
just some blood tests to make sure everything's okay,
there's no major internal bleeding,
and then taking some X-rays of him and see what we can see.
Oh he's so sore.
What really bothers me is that he's in a lot of pain,
and we might just be dealing
"with the tip of the iceberg when we look at his skin."
So that's already more bruised than it was in the consultations.
It's already getting,
already getting worse, and it's just been a few hours.
"So I think that's just the surface of things."
I think he's had some massive internal bruising as well, and I hope
not too much internal injuries.
The Pomeranianâ€™s blood is being taken
to check for internal bleeding
"and signs of kidney and liver damage."
Such a brave little man.
I've seen so many dog attacks.
It's one of the most common things we see in the emergency room.
I've seen some animals that come in, they seem fine,
and then a few days later... Bang. They go pear shaped,
and it's a disaster.
So brave.
While the bloods are sent to the lab for testing, Lisa is hoping
X-rays will give her some answers to the extent of Shiver's injuries.
Shiver's looking pretty lucky at the moment.
There's no obvious broken ribs,
there's no broken bones that I can see,
there's no sign of lung collapse,
no sign of bleeding, which would show up as patchy white areas.
It could have been a lot worse.
Even though the X-rays are all clear, it's not the end of it.
Shiver's got puncture wounds,
he's got bacteria under his skin,
he could develop a really nasty infection.
Poor little thing.
That has got to hurt.
"No wonder his screams every time we touch his chest."
"So you can see his puncture wounds are just all over here."
So, it's a big dog's jaw that's just gone right around him.
All right, so we're just going to give him some antibiotics.
Done. It's all done.
It's done. It's nothing compared to your bruising sweetie pie.
Hey,
you're brave like a lion.
Look at that. You've got a mane.
Because we haven't got anything firmly wrong with him,
"besides bruising and puncture wounds,"
all we can do is monitor him
"and treat him with antibiotics and pain relief."
"I really, really hope that he doesn't develop"
any really deep infections and hope that he doesn't deteriorate.
Have a good little rest, all right?
Good boy.
Sorry.
Shiver, want to stand up?
Dog attack victim, Shiver, is now having an ultrasound
"after blood tests showed an abnormal reading."
Oh, sweetheart, I know.
So one of Shiver's liver enzymes is increased.
So that can mean that he's had some trauma to his liver.
So we're doing an abdominal ultrasound
"just to check all the organs inside his abdomen."
"Here's the liver. It's looking really good."
There are no blood clots,
there are no areas of abnormality, very healthy.
Wonderful. He's a lucky boy.
I can't believe that that's all he's got.
Skin bruising.
Shiver's got a little bit of bruising in his liver, but not even enough
that we can see on an ultrasound.
Just enough that we can see on a blood test.
And that's about it.
He's a lucky boy.
Do you want to go home?
Hey? Let's go.
You're going to see your buddy?
Layla and Stuart have arrived with Shiver's best mate, Bandit.
I'm excited and nervous,
and all these emotions,
"the ones that I don't know what to feel."
Bandit's been so sad and just,
just seems lost.
Last time we Shiv he was dying, pretty much.
So he doesn't know what's happened to him.
You won't believe who's around the corner.
Look who's there!
Thanks.
That was such a sweet reunion.
As soon as he saw Layla,
he knew it was mum, and he's licking her all over her face.
It was gorgeous.
He's really doing well,
so my advice is just get back out there.
Definitely.
You know, it's always hard for owners who have seen attacks
and our own pets injured that
we tend to want to wrap them in cotton wool,
and every time a dog comes up to him, you might start to panic.
But the best thing you can do is try and be as normal as possible.
Yeah, yep.
Thank you so much.
No problem at all.
"It's been three weeks since Shiver was attacked"
by two large dogs at the local park.
Let's go say hi.
With the tiny Pomeranian's confidence restored,
Owner Layla has resumed his daily walks
to the park with his best mate, Bandit.
"The first time I took the dogs back to the park,"
"I knew they'd take their cue from me,"
"so I try to be as confident and happy as possible,"
and it worked.
Shiver was back to his old self pretty much straight away.
Physically healed within four days,
he didn't have a single bruise left on him.
"You can still see some of the puncture wounds,"
but you wouldn't know that he was ever attacked by another dog.
"I couldn't imagine a life without Shiv."
He's my baby.