When your Dog gets Hit by a Car

It is a warm summer evening, and nothing could be better than a walk with your best friend, Sadie. As you step out the door, you realize you forgot her leash. But that should be okay—she always listens to you. Besides, what could happen? So, she chases Mrs. Piddleton’s poodle again. What does it matter? The only one who gets upset over that is Mrs. Piddleton, and she’s a drama queen—maybe one of the original drama queens, considering her age and disposition. You step off your front porch, snickering to yourself, and call to Sadie to follow.

You’re relaxed, and Sadie is behaving beautifully—so well, in fact, that you wonder why you bother putting her on a leash at all. Then, a mile from your house, an unwary cat saunters into the middle of its driveway, and before you can even react, Sadie is off. You hear a screech of brakes, followed by a heart-wrenching thud, and before you’re aware of it, your legs are carrying you out into traffic after your beloved dog.

It’s always said to approach an injured animal with caution, but guaranteed, when it’s your pet lying on the road, you will forget that caution and rush to their side. We all would. The number of injuries caused by animals in distress is not as bad as one might imagine. However, if you approach Sadie and she is growling or snapping, you’ll need to figure out how to make a quick muzzle.

Making a Muzzle in an Emergency

In veterinary first aid kits, you will often find a pair of women’s pantyhose with the panty part cut off, because the stretchy fabric is perfect for a makeshift muzzle. What do you have on you that has some stretch to it? Your t-shirt is a likely candidate, and ripping a one-inch strip off the bottom is easier than you might think. You need it to be one long strip, so now tear the one-inch strip at a likely spot. Next, hold both ends and loop one end through on itself to make a loose half-hitch. Loop that half-hitch over your dog’s muzzle and gently cinch it down. Now, loop the ends around the back of their head and tie it snugly. You now have a muzzle, and although she may still be able to nip, she won’t be able to do any real damage.

It’s also possible to use a leash, a shoelace, a scarf, or even a cargo tie-down if you’re desperate. Anything long enough to tie and firm enough that she won’t be able to break it should work in a pinch.

Next step: Assess the damage and, if she has not moved off on her own, get her off the road.

Assessing the damage can be difficult. Unless lights are broken, blood is actually rare when a dog is hit by a car, so it’s often hard to tell where an injury may be. With any accident, you must assume there’s been some damage, because internal injuries are often the most serious. Even if the dog immediately gets up and runs around, it’s necessary to have a vet check them over.

In human accidents, someone calls 911, and the ambulance promptly arrives to treat the victim. In animal accidents, you have to play the role of the paramedic and transport your dog to the hospital yourself. Since you’re a mile away from home, you may need to ask for help from the driver of the car or from nearby houses. Most of the time, people are quick to assist.

Dogs are different from humans in that she will have already moved about as much as she is capable of, meaning there is not much point in trying to immobilize her head and back. Keeping her as still as possible is good, but strapping her to a board like we do with humans would send her into a state of panic and probably cause more damage than leaving her loose. Encouraging her to stay still is usually all that’s required.

Time is of the essence, so although you must handle her gently and attempt to support her back, neck, and limbs, getting her into the vehicle quickly is also important.

Small dogs that can be picked up by one person should be wrapped in a towel, blanket, jacket, or sweater to keep warm. Have the person who is going to hold the dog get in the car and fasten their seatbelt. Now, gently hand them the dog. For a medium-sized dog or larger, the best way to transport the injured animal is by using a blanket as a stretcher. Lay the blanket on the ground beside her, and have two people gently lift her into the middle of it. Now, each person should take a side and lift her into the car this way. SUVs are the easiest, as you can put her in the back. But if you’re in a sedan, have one person crawl in backward with the blanket in front, so there is as little jostling as possible. Once at the hospital, the staff will use the same blanket to remove her, so keep it in place.

If someone has a cell phone, ask them to call your vet clinic or an emergency vet hospital for further instructions. Many small clinics have someone on call, so it’s necessary for them to get to the clinic to treat your pet. Since minutes count, you’ll want them on their way and waiting for you to arrive.

Part Two – The Pet Hospital

When you arrive at the hospital, have the driver or yourself run inside to get help. Hospitals always have gurneys, just like human hospitals, to aid in transporting patients. It’s better for your pet to be placed on one directly than to try to carry them into the building.

If it’s a large hospital with both doctors and staff, they will wheel your pet into the back room to begin assessing and treating their injuries. They will want you to stay at reception and provide your pet’s information, as well as an account of the accident, to one of the staff. Once the doctor has performed an initial assessment, he or she will come out and talk to you about your pet.

In a small clinic, where the doctor may be alone, he will need your help. Listen to his instructions carefully and try not to ask questions about what he thinks could be wrong. There will be time for that once your pet is stable.

The vet will begin by looking at the dog’s gums and checking their CRT Capillary Refill Time. In humans, you squeeze their fingernail and count how many seconds go by before healthy pink returns. Because dogs have furry toes, it’s hard to see, so the next best spot is their gums. Normal CRT is one to two seconds, and the gums are usually a healthy pink color. In times of shock or injury, gums can be gray, and CRT can take up to a few seconds or not occur at all. This quick diagnostic tool takes only a few seconds but can tell the vet volumes about what’s going on inside your dog.

From there, the exam moves to the eyes, ears, neck, back, and abdomen. If the CRT was slow and the gums gray, the vet may spend a few long moments palpating the abdomen. If the pupils are dilated or there’s blood in the ears, the vet may focus more on the head and neck area. His final check will involve running his hands down the legs and tail.

There are several avenues at this point. Whether you’re helping with the assessment or waiting in the room, the vet will talk to you about what he has found so far. If he feels your dog can’t wait for treatment, he may ask your permission without going into detail about your pet’s condition. Vets know when seconds and minutes count, so if he seems offhand or sends a staff member to get permission from you to perform diagnostics or begin treatment, give him what he needs quickly and without hesitation.

If he feels the dog is in shock and/or pain, he will have a catheter placed in a leg, IV fluids introduced, and some type of analgesic or painkiller administered. If he wants a quick X-ray or two, he may do that before the IV is placed because not having the bag of fluids to deal with speeds up the process. Many vets will have staff heat warming bags, as dogs in shock lose heat quickly. Heat is comforting to both canines and humans alike.

The truth about animals hit by cars is not good. In suburbia, where traffic is slower, dogs stand a better chance of surviving. But at higher speeds, the survival rates drop significantly. Large dogs also have a higher survival rate. Vets know that if an animal makes it to the vet hospital, there is a good chance of survival because the vital time between the accident and arriving at the vet hospital will have proven fatal for most critical injuries. The biggest killer in animals hit by cars is a ruptured spleen, and in most cases, death is almost immediate. The second biggest killer is shock, so if an animal makes it to the vet hospital alive, that’s often the first thing treated because the other injuries are probably not fatal if the dog has made it as far as the clinic.

Once the dog is stable, the vet will give you his diagnosis and suggested course of treatment. Most large hospitals will print out an estimate of costs associated with the injury, so you know what you’re facing financially. He will discuss how many days your beloved pet will be in the hospital, whether surgery is required, and what to expect during the recovery period, as well as the long-term prognosis. It’s all difficult to take in, and an emotional rollercoaster.

What happened to that companionable walk on a summer evening? It was gone in the flip of a cat’s tail, and now you’re faced with difficult and unexpected decisions about your pet’s health and well-being. There’s no need to explain the moral of the story, but remember it next time you step off your front porch to take your dog for a walk, and you forget to grab that leash. Take a second to go back and grab it—you might regret it otherwise.