Traumatic injuries are a common reason for emergency room visits and it is the second leading cause of death in both juvenile and adult dogs. In this seminar, the current state of veterinary trauma i.e how it is defined, what types of injuries we are seeing, and the utility of scoring systems in veterinary trauma patients will be presented. An overview of a general approach to stabilization of animals with traumatic injuries will be discussed highlighting that there are still unanswered questions regarding how to maximize outcome in canine trauma. Finally, the creation of veterinary trauma centers and what this means for our trauma patients will be discussed. In the first, we see a dog being walked toward the camera when a large, black trash bag falls down unexpectedly in front of it. The dog’s initial reaction is to startle and retreat, followed by a lot of nervous activation involving slightly crouched posture, tail-wagging, tongue-flicking/lip-licking, paw-lifting, and visual referencing toward the handler. On the second walk past the bag, we again see anxious tongue-flicking and repeated glances toward the handler. In the second sequence, we see a slightly anxious, submissive dog undergoing a somewhat invasive physical examination. It’s stress levels are indicated by the tense body posture, tucked tail position, drawn back “smiling” lips, drawn back ear position, half closed eyes, and lip-licking.

Sponsor:Tawzer Dog LLC
Speaker(s):Erica Reineke, VMD, DACVECC

Contact: Scott Pruett
 Email: ceu@tawzerdog.com
 Phone: 208-639-1321
 Web: http://www.tawzerdog.com/