'Brave' dog recovers from semi-crash burns at Winnipeg Humane Society
Snowflake, the standard poodle injured in a semi crash and fire last week, is headed back into surgery Thursday.
The two-year-old dog has been recovering from severe burns sustained in the Aug. 19 accident at the Winnipeg Humane Society (WHS), said Erika Anseeuw, the society's director of animal health.
Two dogs were in the truck at the time of the crash.
"The first dog got out rather quickly, but Snowflake was scared and didn't want to get out of the truck," Anseeuw said Thursday.
Snowflake's most severe burns were on the back of her legs, she also has superficial burns on her chest and back and will lose part of her left ear when dead tissue is being removed in surgery Thursday.
The superficial burns are causing Snowflake more pain because deeper burns kill nerves entirely, Anseeuw explained.
"She's just the most amazing dog. She's so sweet. The day after she came here, we had her full head-to-toe in bandages and she was wagging her tail at us. She is just such a strong, brave dog ... It's just really moved all of us to do everything we can for her," Anseeuw said.
Snowflake's treatment includes daily hydrotherapy, pain medication and being constantly covered in honey bandages.
"She's been a honey mummy in bandages since she came in and that's going to continue for several weeks or maybe even months until she's healed," Anseeuw said.
Snowflake's owner is still in hospital and surrendered the dog to the humane society after the accident, so the WHS is covering all costs involved in the dog's treatment.
"We haven't been accounting what it's been costing us, but for the first week, it was anesthesia every day to do the wound treatments because they were so painful," Anseeuw said.
"We're doing this because it's the right thing to do and our donors are supporting us to do that."
Humane treatment
Anseeuw said she always considers whether or not treatment is the humane course of action in situations like this one, but she said how the animal acts is a huge factor in how she proceeds.
"It's up to the patient a lot of the time and she's been amazing," Anseeuw said.
A fundraiser has been started to help cover Snowflake's medical costs.
