A California family recently found themselves faced with a pet owner’s worst nightmare: A drowning accident, feared to be fatal.
Three-year-old Yorkshire terrier/poodle mix, Whitney, was found unresponsive in the swimming pool of its owners, Andy and Kim Brocchini. It was apparent the pooch had accidentally been knocked into the water by four dogs belonging to Andy and Kim’s son, Will.
“We’ve had to intervene for her safety before, so we usually don’t allow Whitney to mingle with the larger dogs without supervision,” Andy shares in a statement released by the University of California, Davis (UC Davis), School of Veterinary Medicine. “We thought she was indoors, but she managed to slip outside unnoticed.”
Will was first to discover the scene and leaped into the pool to rescue Whitney. Andy, having served as an EMT/firefighter with the City of Sacramento for nearly three decades, administered cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) to their pet. Coincidentally, Andy had done research on pet CPR a few months prior, as another one of their dogs had experienced breathing difficulties due to a collapsed trachea.
“When Will pulled her from the water, Whitney had no pulse, wasn’t breathing, and her eyes remained open and unresponsive,” Andy says.
For 10 minutes, Andy and Will performed CPR on Whitney before the dog finally took a breath. The pet was taken to the nearest veterinary clinic, where it was diagnosed with noncardiogenic pulmonary edema (fluid in the lungs) and aspiration pneumonia/pneumonitis. While the clinic managed to stabilize Whitney initially, the extent of lung damage prompted continued intensive care and hospitalization, leading to her transfer to UC Davis.
Whitney was admitted to the intensive care unit under the care of Karl Jandrey, DVM, a board-certified critical care specialist, along with a 24/7 team of technicians and veterinarians within the Emergency and Critical Care Service. Upon initial evaluation, the dog was found to be in severe respiratory distress, but did not require mechanical ventilation. X-rays revealed substantial inflammation and bruising in her lungs, common after both drowning and receiving CPR.
To aid in lung recovery, Whitney remained in an oxygen-rich environment for six days. Over the course of the week, the dog’s condition gradually improved. Follow-up X-rays showed an approximately 80 percent improvement, and an arterial blood gas analysis indicated that lung function had nearly returned to 95 percent. This progress allowed the dog to be gradually weaned off oxygen support and transitioned to breathing room air.
At a five-week recheck examination, the Brocchinis reported that Whitney’s activity level and appetite had gradually returned to near-normal levels.
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