Doune family's pet dog has eyesight saved after getting stick embedded in eye socket

A lucky family pet from Doune is back to full health after vets removed a large stick from her eye socket following a freak accident.

Collie Mia had the five centimetre twig removed by veterinary ophthalmologists from Edinburgh University thanks to specialist scans that allowed them to see where the stick was lodged.

Remarkably, it was carefully removed leaving Mia with only a small scratch to show for the injury.

Mia’s owners had initially feared their six-year-old pet had lost her eye after she was playing in a hedge and emerged with the branch poking from her eye socket.

She was quickly rushed to a local vet who soon referred her to the specialist ophthalmology service at the university’s Hospital for Small Animals at the Royal School for Veterinary Studies.

Once there, expert vets performed a CT scan to locate exactly where the stick was and how much damage had been caused to Mia’s eye.

Specialist scans that allowed vets to see the exactly where the stick was (University of Edinburgh)

Images revealed that the branch was still in one piece and lodged just above the eye.

Pictures from the CT scan then allowed the vets to carefully remove the object without the need for an invasive operation, leaving Mia with only a superficial scratch on her eye.

After flushing the area with fluids to make sure there were no remaining fragments, Mia was able to walk out of the clinic unaided and has suffered no long term damage to her sight, leaving the vets who treated her delighted at her recovery.

The stick that was lodged in Mia’s face (University of Edinburgh)

Mia’s owner, Paul McGlynn, said: “We can’t believe that Mia has escaped with just a scratch, we were convinced she would have to lose her eye. We are grateful to the team who treated her and so pleased to have her home as happy as ever.”

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Ben Blacklock, a vet specialist ophthalmologist who led the team at the University of Edinburgh, said: “This was an unusual situation for us and we are really pleased to see Mia back to full health and enjoying life.

“We are lucky to have such an amazing group of people here, including specialists in anaesthesia and radiology, and a highly skilled and compassionate nursing team who could make Mia’s treatment and recovery go as smoothly as possible.”