Vets recount 'emotional' day treating seven dogs rescued from a house fire in Lincolnshire

The incident began for Sutterton Veterinary Hospital’s overnight team when they received a call from police at 3.30am asking for urgent assistance at a house fire in the south of the county.

A vet and a nurse from hospital, run by South Lincs Vet Group Ltd, headed straight out to the location, apprehensive about what devastating sight they may be faced with.

“The blaze was out when they arrived, and the efforts of the fire service and police were incredible,” a spokesperson for the vet group explained:

"Four fire crews had attended, and eight dogs had been recovered from the fire, three had been unconscious. The fire crews carry special pet masks to administer oxygen and all dogs had been wrapped in blankets and treated with oxygen. This prompt treatment undoubtedly saved the lives of several of these dogs.”

The veterinary duo quickly determined all but one would need treatment at the hospital.

“Injuries from smoke inhalation and burns can develop over the first 24 hours so access to intensive monitoring is important,” the spokesperson explained. “Due to personal circumstances, the seven dogs were signed over to our care, some were in a critical condition and required intensive nursing.”

Back at the hospital, the critical dogs were placed on oxygen, fluid therapy, and medications.

The spokesperson went on: “Four were stable and a team of nurses were getting their observations regularly whilst the vets were battling to save the three critical patients.

"Devastatingly, after hours of trying to stabilise them, two of the dogs sadly died. Needless to say there were a lot of tears from all of the staff involved. The pain of losing these beautiful dogs after hours of nursing and treatment will stick with us for a long time.”

Then three of the dogs that were originally stable began deteriorating from smoke inhalation, an were in need of intensive nursing.

"We now had four tables in our prep area being used for critical nursing, battling to save these poor dogs,” the spokesperson said.

Luckily by early evening the remaining five were showing signs of improvement.

"The mixture of emotions was intense, tears of joy, but also tears of sadness,” they said. “There was exhaustion of those who had battled extremely hard to save these beautiful dogs. But it was lovely to see at the end of a difficult day these five dogs wagging their tails and eating their dinners as if nothing had happened.”

They added: “The dogs are still receiving treatment for their burns but are doing very well. They have now been taken on by a rescue and are getting lots of TLC."

• The fire began in the early hours of March 2. A fire service spokesperson said it “resulted in severe damage to 50% of a domestic property”, adding: “A man and a number of dogs were treated for smoke inhalation. The cause was identified as an electrical fault in a tumble dryer.”

• A crowdfunding appeal has been set up by vet Nina to help the rescue with some of the costs. Visit https://gofund.me/73c3e244