Air gun pellet injuries

RE: Air gun pellet injuries

Sal the 1st — Sat, 03 Sep 2016 19:56:40 GMT

1 or 2 a year where I am now (rural) but when I worked in charity (some years ago now)at least that every month (town). I think the cases being seen now are in line with the number of cases being seen 20- 30 years ago as far as I am concerned, I have not seen an appreciable increase. However over the same period I would say that I have seen a steady increase in the number of shotgun (very different from a pellet wound), knife, and crossbow injuries

RE: Air gun pellet injuries

Alison Clare Hickman — Sat, 03 Sep 2016 19:20:10 GMT

North Yorkshire

In the last 9 or so years I reckon I've witnessed around 18-20 cases. More so in the rural areas than city / town areas. Worryingly, the latest case was a cat that came in with a 'skin mass' the owner had noticed only recently. Under further examination it was found to be a sub-cut air rifle pellet. Clearly an old FB that had migrated. We Xrayed the poor creature and found he was peppered all over. No signs of wounds, cat was not presented as ill or injured and was quite a happy chappie; so we had to assume it was an old event that he had recovered from. He had been a stray and the owners had adopted him from a cat shelter some years previously. Lord knows what a life he had led. Poor lad in one way, lucky lad in another!

Sorry I haven't got hard data for you, just an educated guesstimate.

Hope it helps.

Ali h

RE: Air gun pellet injuries

Nicola Smith — Fri, 02 Sep 2016 19:57:59 GMT

We've seen a fair few over the years. 1 fatal that caused spinal damage. 3 required surgery - 2 for kidney damage and 1 for perforated intestines.

RE: Air gun pellet injuries

enigmaticat-uk — Fri, 02 Sep 2016 16:58:17 GMT

http://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/562428/Worrying-Rise-Horror-Air-Gun-Attacks-On-Animals-in-Britain-UK

might be helpful. I work in a city centre practice so to be honest we rarely see air gun injuries and tend to just occasionally find one on a random xray by chance.