While Out on a Walk

​One of the scariest things that can happen while out on a walk with your best furry friend is to suddenly discover they are bleeding profusely. I know this from first-hand experience, because it happened to Amber (past content contributor).
During our walks, Amber loved to wander in and out of the creek behind our house. On this particular Sunday she came out of the creek limping, and immediately sat down. I wasn’t too concerned at first, and walked over to her thinking that she must have stepped on a stone. But to my horror, blood gushed out as soon as I lifted her paw. We were quite a distance from home so Vaughan ran to a neighbour’s for help while I stayed with Amber. I didn’t know pet first aid back then, but it was obvious that something needed to be done immediately to stop the bleeding – and I later learned that a dog (or cat) can bleed out from a serious wound in their paw!
​I ripped off my t-shirt (fortunately I was wearing a jacket) and wrapped it around Amber’s paw while waiting for our neighbour, who arrived a few minutes later and rushed us to the Emergency Clinic. Amber needed 7 stitches and almost lost her outside toe. The vet thought that she had probably stepped on a piece of broken glass in the creek, but I later realized that this type of injury could just as easily have happened on the grass or sidewalk. Amber looks very sad in this picture, but she was a very, very lucky girl.

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