YOUR AD HERE »

Injured dog on the trail to a healthy recovery

Mary Thompson

With a bruised heart, damaged spleen, torn bladder and a ruptured bowel, 2-year-old Jezebel’s recovery has been slow but successful.

Jezebel, a black Labrador retriever, was wounded May 26 in a boating accident on Lake Tahoe. The accident happened about a half-mile from Tahoe Keys when the boat that she and Lisa O’Daly, her owner, were drifting in was hit by another vessel traveling about 30 mph. Of the five people on the moving boat and the three people and two dogs in the drifting boat, only Jezebel was injured.

O’Daly, a resident of South Lake Tahoe, said she wasn’t sure what exactly hit Jezebel during the accident.



“After it happened, she tried to jump off the boat,” she said. “And then I noticed that she was having trouble breathing.”

O’Daly said that El Dorado County Animal Control officer David Pyle was waiting at the Ski Run Marina for the injured Lab to come in.



“There were no visible broken bones or punctures,” Pyle said. “But obviously she was having labored breathing.”

Jez went to the Alpine Animal Hospital where she was then referred to a specialist at the Carson-Tahoe Veterinarian Hospital.

“Once they saw the ultrasound (at Alpine Animal Hospital), it became apparent that this was pretty serious,” Pyle said.

Dr. David Swalander, of Carson-Tahoe Veterinarian Hospital, agreed.

“If we hadn’t gone into surgery within 12 to 18 hours she would have died,” he said.

After nine days in the hospital and two surgeries, Jezebel was able to come home last week.

“She was very sick and it’s hard for me to talk about, because she’s my baby” O’Daly said. “But now, she’s doing great. She’s eating and is on rest for the next two weeks before she gets her stitches out.

“We’re just so happy to have our girl back.”

Dr. Swalander expects Jezebel to recover 100 percent and be back to her usual Labrador tricks – fetching and swimming – within a month or two.


Support Local Journalism

Support Local Journalism

Readers around the Lake Tahoe Basin and beyond make the Tahoe Tribune's work possible. Your financial contribution supports our efforts to deliver quality, locally relevant journalism.

Now more than ever, your support is critical to help us keep our community informed about the evolving coronavirus pandemic and the impact it is having locally. Every contribution, however large or small, will make a difference.

Your donation will help us continue to cover COVID-19 and our other vital local news.