Out the window
I was driving southbound on CA101 north of Santa Barbara Friday Jun 28, and thought I saw fragments from a tire blowout. A truck and 5th wheel were ahead of me, and I was prepared to navigate around t...
Forum Discussion
These types of stories make me shudder.
During my 40 years of practice I saw several cases involved with animals and vehicles. The worst was a dog who had a leash on and jumped/fell out of the vehicle and was dragged for about a block before the driver noticed. The dog survived but had a severe "road rash" on the rear legs/feet where he tried to keep up.
Pets sitting on the driver's lap and dogs with head out the window are pet peeves of mine. Think about an air bag inflating with your dog on your lap or compression between you and the steering wheel with the dog in between.
Re: dog's head out the window... I had a case of chronic conjunctivitis (eye infection) that I couldn't clear up. Finally figured out that the dog rode everywhere with his head out the window. This was early in my career and made a lasting impression and helped with future diagnoses.
Best case is that the high wind dries out the cornea leaving it susceptible to ulcers and infection. Worst case is that the blink reflex isn't fast enough to prevent a foreign object from doing severe damage.
OK, off my soapbox.
Doug, DVM
During my 40 years of practice I saw several cases involved with animals and vehicles. The worst was a dog who had a leash on and jumped/fell out of the vehicle and was dragged for about a block before the driver noticed. The dog survived but had a severe "road rash" on the rear legs/feet where he tried to keep up.
Pets sitting on the driver's lap and dogs with head out the window are pet peeves of mine. Think about an air bag inflating with your dog on your lap or compression between you and the steering wheel with the dog in between.
Re: dog's head out the window... I had a case of chronic conjunctivitis (eye infection) that I couldn't clear up. Finally figured out that the dog rode everywhere with his head out the window. This was early in my career and made a lasting impression and helped with future diagnoses.
Best case is that the high wind dries out the cornea leaving it susceptible to ulcers and infection. Worst case is that the blink reflex isn't fast enough to prevent a foreign object from doing severe damage.
OK, off my soapbox.
Doug, DVM
