The Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies
Royal Dick School of Veterinary Studies Bicentenary

Collie home with barely a scratch after sticky situation

A twig was removed from a dog’s eye socket by a Hospital team, after the animal had an unusual accident while playing outdoors.

A lucky dog named Mia is back to full health after vets removed a large stick from her eye socket following a freak accident.

The collie had the 5-centimetre twig removed by veterinary ophthalmologists thanks to specialist scans that allowed them to see the stick’s placement.

Remarkably, the stick was carefully removed, leaving Mia with only a small scratch.

Mia is fully recovered from her accident.
Mia is fully recovered from her accident.

Play injury

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

She was quickly referred by her local vet in Doune to the specialist ophthalmology service at the Hospital for Small Animals.

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

Thankfully, the scan images revealed that the stick was still in one piece and lodged just above the eye.

Pictures from the CT scan 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.

The vets who treated Mia are delighted with her recovery.

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.

Ben BlacklockVet Specialist Ophthalmologist

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.

Paul McGlynnMia’s owner

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About the Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies

The Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies is a one-of-a-kind centre of excellence in clinical activity, teaching and research. Our purpose-built campus, set against the backdrop of the beautiful Pentland Hills Regional Park, is home to more than eight hundred staff and almost fourteen hundred students, all of whom contribute to our exceptional community ethos.

The School comprises:

The Roslin Institute

The Global Academy of Agriculture and Food Security

The Roslin Innovation Centre

The Hospital for Small Animals

Equine Veterinary Services

Farm Animal Services

Easter Bush Pathology

The Jeanne Marchig International Centre for Animal Welfare Education

We represent the largest concentration of animal science related expertise in Europe, impacting local, regional, national and international communities in terms of economic growth, the provision of clinical services and the advancement of scientific knowledge.