Injury severity and anatomic patterns in canine occupants involved in vehicular crashes: application of the veterinary abbreviated injury scale

Objective The Veterinary Abbreviated Injury Scale (V-AIS) was created to mirror the human AIS and address a critical gap in retrospective veterinary trauma analysis. Dogs struck by a vehicle or injured inside a vehicle have the highest mortality rates among cases presenting to Veterinary Trauma Centers (VTC). Improved understanding of injury mechanisms, patterns, and severity in canine vehicular trauma is necessary to inform development of scientifically validated restraint systems and other vehicle safety features for canine occupants.Methods The Veterinary Committee on Trauma (VetCOT) Registry was queried for canine patients injured while inside a vehicle between 2013 and 2024, yielding 268 cases. Descriptive statistics for patient demographics were performed on all registry cases. Available medical records were further abstracted for a subset of 19 cases, in which all injuries were coded using V-AIS v1.0. Case details were extracted when available, noting canine position in the vehicle and crash specifics. Additional descriptive statistics for injury characteristics, anatomic region, severity, and outcome were performed for the subset.Results Among 268 registry cases, 91% of dogs (n = 244) survived to hospital discharge, with euthanasia accounting for 83.3% of the 24 non-survivors. Patient weight class was not significantly associated with overall survival (p = 0.48). Non-survivors presented with significantly higher median Animal Trauma Triage (ATT) scores (6.0) compared to survivors (1.0) (p < 0.001). In a 19-case subset coded with V-AIS (63 total injuries), anatomical injury distribution varied significantly by weight class (p < 0.001). Large dogs (>30kg) sustained primarily appendicular trauma (75.8%), medium dogs (10.1-30kg) sustained predominantly central body trauma (61.5%), and small dogs (≤10kg) sustained a mixture of central (47.1%) and axial (47.1%) trauma. Clinically significant injuries (V-AIS Severity ≥3) were exclusively confined to the abdomen (p = 0.02), and all fatalities occurred in dogs with internal organ trauma.Conclusions Application of V-AIS enables detailed characterization of canine injury severity, anatomic distribution, and mechanism of injury in vehicle crashes. Preliminary findings suggest that dog size influences injury pattern, while internal organ injury is strongly associated with adverse outcomes. Expanded application of V-AIS within veterinary trauma registries will provide the automotive industry with actionable, severity-stratified data necessary to support development of evidence-based canine restraint systems and vehicle safety measures, improving injury prevention for canine occupants.