Brainerd Dispatch: News | Brainerd, Minnesota |... -
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Published on: 5/6/2005
Last Visited: 5/7/2005
"He's so friendly, I think he's going to find a home fast," said Walker Brown, a veterinarian with Animal Care Center in Baxter.
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could for the stray dog," said Brown."She has a wonderful heart trying to help this stray dog."
When Brown first began examining the dog, he thought the male shepherd cross had been injured by a stick or maybe had been in a fight with another dog.But after clipping away at the dog's fur around the wounds, he discovered entrance and exit wounds that looked like perfect three-pronged stars, an injury consistent with a hunting arrow.The arrow appeared to have entered on the left side of the dog's neck, traveled underneath his back muscle and then hit the underside of the dog's shoulder blade as it exited out the right side of the dog's back.The arrow caused major soft tissue damage to the dog but miraculously did not strike any major arteries or organs.
"If it would have been an inch lower it would have hit the spine," said Brown, of the arrow.
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Brown named the lucky dog Bow.He's been caring for the dog for the past week at his Baxter clinic.Bow has been on antibiotics and is now being slowly weaned off pain medications.Brown said he stitched the wounds closed except for a small temporary plastic drainage tube that runs the length of the arrow wound, sticking out both ends.This will allow the wound to heal so blood clots and infections won't pool inside Bow's body.
Brown, who is a board member of Heartland Animal Rescue Team, said that $200 from the Abby Fund at HART was used to help pay for Bow's medical care while the Animal Care Center paid for the rest of Bow's care.The Abby Fund on a case-by-case basis will pay for veterinary diagnosis and initial medication for an injured stray or abandoned dog for whom no one is responsible.The fund requires the dog to become a HART animal and adopted out through the shelter.
Bow, who is estimated to be about 1-1/2 to 2 years old, will soon be available for adoption through HART.Brown said Bow will be moved to HART Friday but there may be a 10-day waiting period until he can be adopted.
Brown said he and the rest of the staff at the animal clinic have fallen in love with Bow.They all volunteer to take him outside three times a day, playing with him in the grass.
"He's trained, he sits and stays," said Brown, of Bow."He loves to lick your face.He's wonderful."
Brown said Bow is expected to make a complete recovery.He said he hopes this situation will remind pet owners to keep their pets safe in their home or yard so other animals won't have to suffer like Bow.
"It's rewarding in cases like this to help a stray dog and work with the animal shelter and have a happy ending to a scary situation," said Brown.
McPherson's daughter joked that Bow must be able to read.The dog must have read the McPherson's ranch sign before he ran into their yard.