Wednesday, June 07, 2006

Stabbed dog in stable condition

After more than three hours in surgery for two deep stab wounds, Edge (Ed) the Hastings police dog is in a stable condition in intensive care at Massey University’s veterinary hospital in Palmerston North.

Veterinary surgeon Barbara Kirby says Edge is a very lucky dog, after finding in an exploratory operation that one of the stabs had penetrated his chest cavity and missed his heart by one millimetre. The other stabbing also penetrated the chest and pierced his liver.

Ms Kirby, a soft tissue specialist, was in theatre for more than three hours with the 26 month-old male Alsatian from the Hawke’s Bay police dog unit. Edge received a blood transfusion (greyhound blood) from the hospital’s blood bank, and will be treated with antibiotics to prevent infection. He will be monitored closely over the next couple of days, and is expected to recover. Ms Kirby says he is a very fit and healthy young dog.

Edge was attacked when sent in to stop a man with a knife in a police stand-off yesterday and was transported to the University by a Hastings rescue helicopter. Edge’s handler, senior constable Dave Whyte, accompanied the dog to Palmerston North with paramedics on a Hawke’s Bay rescue helicopter. Hawke’s Bay dog sergeant Al McRae says the dog was stabilised at the scene before being transported to the veterinary hospital.

ENDS

© Scoop Media