Dog to return home after surgery on gun injuries
Vet John Garrahy, who saved the badly wounded dog during two long operations, said: “I have never come across a case like this in all years practising. The unfortunate animal had shotgun wounds to the face and numerous lacerations.”
The two-year-old German Shepherd bitch was shot and badly wounded in the early hours of Monday when a gunman fired into the back garden of a house in Garryowen.
The family pet, named Tess, was bleeding to death as her frantic owners tried to get help.
With the help of gardaí they contacted Mr Garrahy, who runs the Treaty Veterinary Clinic in Thomondgate and was the on-call vet in the city that night.
“I got an urgent call at around 3am and contacted my nurse, Caroline McClure,” said Mr Garrahy.
“The owners brought the dog to the clinic and she was bleeding heavily and in great pain and the owners were very distressed.
We worked on her for over two hours while she was under full anaesthetic and during surgery I stemmed the flow of blood from a large wound to the side of her face.
“Thankfully we managed to stabilise her condition. I controlled her pain and prevented infection and worked on the wound. She had also wounds on the neck and a lot of skin lacerations.”
He carried out more major surgery on Tess at his clinic on Tuesday.
“I gave her a full anaesthetic and repaired her mandible (jaw) bone which was badly damaged by the shotgun blast,” he said.
“We hope to be able to send her back to her owners today and I am confident she will make a full recovery.”
Garda Inspector John O’Reilly of Henry Street, who is investigating the gun attack, said the dog was shot in the back garden of a house where she was kept by a family.
Insp O’Reilly said: “We are treating this as a very serious incident as a shot was discharged in a built-up area posing a great threat.”
Gardaí believe Tess was deliberately targeted and are trying to find a motive.
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