CAUGHT OUT - A FISHING EXPERIENCE
Kai has to be one of the most accident-prone dogs in the world – he has had to have three surgeries so far this year ! ( Touchwood there won ’ t be any more .)
We regularly visit the vet , at least twice a month if not more . Kai has ripped his dewclaws , scraped his belly jumping over things , and eaten chocolate and a week ’ s worth of antiinflammatories in one go . He got a 3-centimetre hole in his side just from walking on the beach ( I ’ ve no idea how he did that !). He ’ s reacted to sutures when stitched up . Honestly , it ’ s an evergrowing list . Luckily , he loves the vets !
Out of all his ‘ Kai moments ’, the worst and scariest by far was when he swallowed a fish hook . We were fishing at Muriwai , and had taken the four-wheel drive half an hour up the beach .
We have taken the dogs fishing before and there are strict rules that we follow to ensure there are no accidents : one , any time the hooks are not in the water or inside the box the dogs are tied up so they have zero access to the tempting bait or hooks ; and , two , as the hooks are taken off the line they are counted to ensure they have all been collected .
mouth . On closer inspection , I realised it was a tracer with fishing line going down his throat , and I knew exactly what was at the other end of that line : a hook ! Although we thought we had got all the hooks , it turns out we had missed one since we never knew how many to collect .
This is where my PET First Aid training came into its own . When you see a trace hanging out the corner of your dog ’ s mouth it is very tempting to try and pull it out . But being trained in pet first aid I knew that this was the WORST thing I could do .
I couldn ’ t see the fish hook . I didn ’ t know if it had gone straight to his stomach or whether it was hooked somewhere internally . If I had pulled the line to get it out I could have done a LOT of damage ! We had to get Kai to the vet as quickly as possible .
A quick call to Nick and he was on his way back . While the others packed up our gear – I ’ ve never seen people move so quickly – I held Kai still so that he didn ’ t swallow the trace or encourage the fish hook to do more damage .
It was then a half hour trip back down the beach and another 20 minutes down forest roads to the main highway , followed by another 20 minutes to the emergency vet – the only vets open on a Sunday . The whole time I had to keep Kai still and calm , and kept checking him for any blood or signs of shock .
At the vet , an X-ray showed that the hook had passed straight through to his stomach and not caught on anything on the way .
Anyway , it was an amazing day and we had our spot all to ourselves . The sun was shining , the dogs were running around the dunes and then into the water to cool off . It was a picture-perfect kind of day .
But even on beautiful days and with rules in place something can go wrong . And it did . While reeling in the long line it got caught on something and snapped . We could see the end sitting on the bar . Nick , my partner , drove to the neighbouring fisherman to see if they had a kayak we could use to get it back , while we collected all the hooks that we had managed to reel in . The dogs were then untied so they could go for a wander while we waited .
But disaster struck . When I looked at Kai I could see something hanging out the side of his
Luckily , the bait had provided soft cushioning to prevent the hook from catching on Kai ’ s stomach on its way down , although if the bait hadn ’ t been on the hook he probably wouldn ’ t have bothered with it in the first place . The hook was surgically removed and he was able to come home with us late that evening .
Accidents do happen but it is important that we do what we can to keep our pets away from fish hooks , as they can be very dangerous . When walking your dog at the beach , keep an eye out for any hooks that may have washed up or been left behind . Also , at home , make sure you keep those fish hooks out of reach just in case any lingering bait smells tempt your pets .
Story by Laura Purkis Kai ’ s owner and director of PET First Aid & Training ( NZ ) Ltd