Dog survives after 30-inch arrow lodges in skull
http://www.pennlive.com/newsflash/to...storylist=penn
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — A beloved pooch who had an arrow lodged in her skull had successful follow-up surgery Friday to remove part of the razor-sharp tip.
Alice, a shaggy, mixed-breed pet with green eyes, was romping around a 100-acre farm last month when she went missing.
Owner Charlotte Williamson, who was visiting a friend's York County farm Nov. 12 from her Washington, D.C., apartment, found her wounded and whimpering under a porch a half-hour later, blood matting her hair and what looked like a pencil protruding from her nose.
A local veterinarian sent the animal to the University of Pennsylvania's veterinary hospital in Philadelphia, where Dr. John Lewis removed much of the arrow the next day in a difficult operation.
The 30-inch fiberglass arrow, with a tip that held three razor-blade barbs, missed Alice's brain by half an inch. It fractured her temporomandibular joint, which connects the upper and lower jaws, and left her blind in one eye.
"She made it through amazingly well. Another half an inch in one direction or another and she could have bled out right there," said Lewis, who specializes in veterinary dentistry and oral surgery. "Or she could have had brain damage and died right there."
The trauma may also leave Alice, who is expected to go home Sunday, with chronic nasal infections.
The source of the arrow remains a mystery. But Williamson, a 24-year-old restaurant hostess known to dote on her dog, is just glad she's alive.
"I just want to believe it was unintentional. Negligent, yes, but not intentional," she said.
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