Last winter we still had 3 huskies. In the spring our oldest dog, Tommy - who was a mixed breed husky, died of a failed liver with complications. He was our first family dog so it was very traumatic. A couple of months later I was driving home from school with our daughter and my husband called to say Kody (our male Siberian husky) had been struck by lightning and it didn’t look good. We were only a mile from home but it felt like an eternity before we got there. I was very upset at the idea of losing another dog. The storm had been so quick. The lightning struck a tree in our yard and Kody was in the house directly under that tree. My husband heard the loud crack of the lightning hitting the tree. He ran to the back window and Kody was on his back convulsing. He dragged himself to the high grass and my husband thought he was going to die there.

By the time we reached our house Kody had walked himself over to the back door. He was having trouble getting around, but was standing. We rushed him to our vet (Chestnut Ridge Animal Hospital) who gave him a cortisone shot to shrink his blood vessels. Apparently the lung sacks filling up is the greatest risk. His eyes were red, his breath smelled of smoke, and his lungs sounded raspy as if they had been compromised. It was a very tense 24 hours. We took him back to the vet the next day and she was absolutely amazed, she said he looked almost normal and his lungs sounded much better. She didn’t know what long-term effects he could suffer from but it looked good. She gave me cortisone tablets to give him for 3 more days.

It has now been about 9 months and Kody is still with us. He sometimes seems to have neurological/muscular issues but nothing that keeps him from living life as a normal Siberian Husky. They truly are amazing!

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