Dog with 9 lives: Impaled by rod, TN stray lives to tell the ‘tail’

CHENNAI: On Friday evening, Snoozy had yet another tryst with a life-threatening moment. The seven-month-old mongrel, the lone survivor among all her siblings who died days after their birth has become the darling of this Tambaram neighbourhood, where she gets lots of playtime, love and good food.
But on Friday, community caretaker Shameem came home to find Snoozy hanging upside down from a gate, with a spoke piercing through her body."She was on the terrace and probably fell down and landed on the gate while she was peeping out," sayssaid Shameem.
But as she has in the past, Snoozy survived an almost impossible brush with death, following a complex surgery at Besant Memorial Animal Dispensary (BMAD). "We tried to lift her through the rod, but since it was unevenly shaped, it was impossible. We called some construction workers from nearby to cut the piece of the grill that had pierced through her body," says Shameem. "With a part of the metal still impaling her body, Snoozy survived the long drive from Tambaram to BMAD, where the doctors immediately took her in," says Shameem.
Chief veterinarian at BMAD, Dr Josika Navukkarasu who performed the surgery, says by the time the dog arrived at the clinic, she had already suffered significant blood loss. "Her left hind leg was pierced though by the spoke, which had lodged into her muscles. She was writhing in pain, so we gave her a strong dose of effective painkillers and fluids," says Dr Josika.
The X-ray revealed complete fracture of the femur bone and pelvis region, but the ultrasound showed no internal damage of the organs. "Her hind limb and thigh muscles had ruptured in half, but luckily for her, her major arteries and veins were intact," says Dr Josika.
Snoozy is now dressed up, and on painkillers and fluids. She's eating two meals a day and apparently even gaining the strength to bark at other dogs at BMAD. For now, everyone who's gotten to know her is praying that she pulls through, is back on her feet again, and finds a home she can call her own.