Vet Removes Arrow Shaft in Dog's Chest

[January 15, 2008]  NORTON SHORES, Mich. (AP) -- It was obvious to Scott and Kelly Cornelisse that their 2-year-old chocolate Labrador retriever, Remington, wasn't feeling well. What they didn't know was that their dog, for as long as they had owned him, had been living with part of an arrow lodged in his chest.

The animal is recovering after a Norton Shores veterinarian volunteered to surgically remove the 8.5-inch aluminum arrow shaft last week.

"This was a unique case because of how long the arrow had been in there," Steven Harden of Clarke Animal Hospital told The Muskegon Chronicle for a story published Monday. "Animals are amazing, and this dog is proof of that."

It was Jan. 7, about six months after adopting the 100-pound dog from an acquaintance, when the Cornelisses, who live in Norton Shores, noticed that Remington was acting as if he didn't want to play - or even move.

When Scott Cornelisse went to pick up Remington around the chest, he felt a lump.

"I thought it was a broken rib," Cornelisse said.

He took Remington to the vet's office the next morning, where an X-ray revealed that the lump was part of an arrow that had entered the animal's body sometime ago under his left armpit, just missing his heart. The arrow shaft probably moved around the chest cavity the previous day, causing discomfort to the dog.

Cornelisse said he could not afford to pay for an operation to remove the arrow shaft, but Harden was willing to donate his services.

"There are still Good Samaritans out there who are willing to go the extra mile," the dog's owner said.

The surgery was relatively simple and took only "about three minutes," said Harden, who was more concerned about the possibility of complications setting in afterward. But the dog underwent surgery Jan. 8 and appears to be doing fine.

"I don't want this story to be about me," Harden said. Remington "was in great shape. He's the all-star here."

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Information from: The Muskegon Chronicle, http://www.mlive.com/chronicle/

[Associated Press; By ANGELA K. BROWN]

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