He is really getting spoiled with his home cooked chicken and rice! heck I don't even cook for me. He will eat kibble only if he has to! Silly boy. He walks so well on a leash too for being so young. Walks right beside and really watches to make sure he's right beside. He will trot ahead but it's rare. Some of the Halloween yard decorations scared him so we
Update 10-27-11 8am: Kate: He's loving his chicken and rice I cooked for him. Will try to run home at noon again and check on him to make sure it stayed down. He threw a hissy fit with the fluids this morning so we were not successful but he is drinking and eating so not too worried.
At this point, his medical needs are covered. It looks like he is on the road to recovery. Kate, with instructions from her vet, did an amazing job of treating this guy in her home to keep the vet costs down. If Bueno would have stayed in an animal hospital his medical costs would have been as high as we initially thought they might. I have updated the chipin to show that we are no longer in need of additional funds. Any excess funds are going to cover his neuter, vaccination, microchip and the rest will be donated to Kate's non profit rescue. Even though we have covered Bueno's expenses and then some, several folks have decided to donate to the chipin fund knowing that it will not likely go to cover Bueno's needs but to Katie's Roadside Rescue. We would like to thank everyone who donated and will continue to bring you updates.
Update 10-26-11 10pm:
Update 10-26-11 Noon - From Katie on her lunch break: he came out to greet me. Gave him 4 cc of pedialite. Does look like he vomited a big amount this morning. Hes wagging his tail a bit more now that he is getting to know me. OMG!!! Hes eating some dry dog food. He doesn't like canned. Woo hoo! hope it stays down.
Update 10-26-11 11am - From Katie: I am grabbing a stethoscope and heading home at noon to check on him and give him more pedialite and paste. Will stop and get a jar of baby food on the way and see if he likes that better. He tolerated the fluids this morning but not without a whimper and squirming. He is so stinking cute. We snuggled last night for a while.
I just spoke with Dr. Henry, a family friend and long time vet that has been dealing with parvo since 1980. He says that once you get past the first 72 hours the puppy has a good chance of recovery. He did warn that sometimes after about 48 hours the dogs health will "crash" and take a turn for the worse that will be unlikely to recover from. He also confirmed Dr. Maria Williams suggestion that it is possible for Bueno to have built up some "street immunity." Kate is treating Bueno at home to help keep the cost down and is keeping a close eye on his condition.
Original Story
For those of you who didn't see my posts on Facebook last week, I picked up a little stray dog while at a fire scene on Buena Vista and named him Bueno. This friendly little guy was jumping on the fire captain's feet and running around the patrol officer that was maintaining the road block. In my line of work I see dozens of strays each week. Normally, I don't take strays home but this energetic guy was so friendly and looked like a pure bred dachshund in the dark. I figured that with the help of a rescue he would be adopted fairly quickly. The patrol officer saw me call the dog over and told me to take him with me. I looked around to see if he belonged to anyone but only emergency responders were around. He didn't have a collar on so I put him in the truck and took him with me.
The next morning I snapped a few pictures of Bueno and posted him on my Facebook page. Several people, including my work, reposted his photo on their facebook page. I soon received several offers to take him. Meanwhile I had already contacted an area dachshund rescue who referred me to another rescue, www.krrtx.org. Katie agreed to sponsor him (have him neutered, microchiped and handle adoption applications) and Shannon and I will foster him until a suitable adopter is found. I took him to the vet to check for a micro chip. Just as I suspected, he didn't have one.
Saturday evening we noticed he wasn't eating but thought maybe he was being a finicky eater. He was still acting normal on Monday. I crumbled some meat treats in his food to entice him to eat. He ate his food and I went to bed. Tuesday morning when I woke up I discovered Bueno had thrown up several times and was acting lethargic. I emailed Katie and she immediately called and had me take him to the vet. Little Bueno was diagnosed with Parvo this afternoon (10/25/11). Parvo, a deadly disease that only affects animals, will kill dogs in a few days if not treated. Parvo treatment typically costs between $1500 and $2000.Katie talked to the vet and later told me the vet thinks Bueno can survive. The vet says the results from the blood work show rather high numbers and that Bueno should be in much worse condition than he is. The vets only possible explanation is that either Bueno has been vaccinated before or he has a high tolerance from being on the streets.
The vet is working with the rescue on the price and the rescue, Shannon and I are putting up some money to cover vet costs but we don't have enough. Instead of just putting him down with out a chance, I've turned to internet pan handling to try to help him. We are trying to find 200 people to donate $10.
In an attempt to be fully transparent, one person who has spent many years in animal rescue tells me that it is in the best interest of the dog to just put him to sleep now and not let him suffer. Katie and I have discussed this option. I have also reached out to a vet that is a family friend. I'm told that Parvo is survivable. In the event that Bueno's condition deteriorates, Katie will use her best judgement in making the call on continuing costly treatment or putting him to sleep. We don't want to be wasteful with the funds that were generously donated to help Bueno and we certainly don't want to keep him suffering. Again, we DO NOT want it to come to that and wouldn't go through all the effort of nursing him and of raising money if we did, but I want to be totally honest about the possibilities.
Please help if you can and share with as many people as you can.
In the event more money is collected than is needed or if he doesn't make it, excess funds will be donated to the www.krrtx.org to help rescue other dogs in San Antonio. All donations are tax deductible.
