Gus here

beardiedawg

Forums Regular
I'm starting to feel like if you put Rogue and Blaze together you get my Gus.

Gus is my foster failure that I've had since August. He is approximately 10 years old, hypothyroid, bone spurs on spine, arthritic and chronic bronchitis. For the most part, we have gotten these issues under control and he's turned out great.

I had recently started him on Flovent for his cough, hoping to get him off steroids. On March 26 overnight, his cough got worse. It started to sound like he had picked up kennel cough. I called the vet and picked up doxycycline and cough tabs for him and he got his first dose around 11:00 on Friday. By 2:00, I knew something was seriously wrong and rushed him to the vet. They took him in back to stabilize him and when I went back to see him, he was on ice packs with a temp of 106 and on oxygen. Somehow he had developed pneumonia seemingly overnight. Since they didn't have an actual oxygen tent, I brought him over to the emergency clinic.

Over at the e-clinic, he was on an IV drip and had constant oxygen. After 24 hours there and $2,000 later, I decided to bring him home even though they wanted him there another 24-48 hours with no guarantee of surviving. His discharge papers said his temp was not regulating and even on oxygen, his levels were still low and if he got worse, he either needed to be rehospitalized or euthanized.

At home, Gus was on three different antibiotics, his flovent inhaler, and nebulized three times a day. Saturday and Sunday I hand fed him tiny amounts of canned food.

By Monday, his appetite started to return and he started eating his dry food once again. We just had our second recheck and he is staying on the antibiotics for another two weeks. Other than still breathing a bit heavier than normal, he is acting like himself again. In his case, I believe he was stressed out at the e-clinic and needed some mommy love.

Here he is a couple days ago reclaiming the stairs. He has the Blaze poodle look going on.

 
Pneumonia can develop and become deadly incredibly fast...thank heavens your Gus pulled through with intensive medical care both at the emergency hospital and then following up with you at home. A happy ending to a really frightening event! :smile2:

Trini
 
Poor Gus!

What a traumatic series of events! Thank God you took him home.

My Chance is also a rescue and has arthritis and bone spurs too and I know how painful they can be.

Hang in there Gus... Mom has your back!

Thanks for being such a great sheltie mom!
 
My goodness, just look at that sweet little gorgeous senior face. Thank you for being a foster failure, I know Gus appreciates that far more than we can begin to know. I wish a full and speedy recover for your sweet little Gus, I will keep you both in my thoughts and prayers. Please keep us updated on Gus' progress. :fl :smile2: :smile2: :hugs Just trying to send as much support as I can for you and Gus.
 
Here is Gus's rescue picture. He kind of looks like an armadillo with the fat pockets all around.



Here he is a few months later starting to look and act like a dog.



And here he is getting his sheltie fur in.



Looking back, he looks so much older in his shelter pictures. Losing the weight and exercise has definitely brought him back to life.
 
Wow, that illness came on FAST! I can't imagine how scary it must have been for both of you. So glad he's on the mend now and has reclaimed his proper spot on the stairs where he can keep an eye on his home and family.
 
Yep. These dog's illnesses seem to come out of nowhere. Scary. Glad Gus is doing better.

But oh my that picture--shaved leg ending with a "poodle poof". Say we have a matched set--senior and junior poodle poofs! New style? Frankly I hope our dog/pups hair grows out REAL fast, so that we can say it was all just a bad dream.

Yeah, I know, a rather expensive bad dream, but if it helps our loves feel better, it was worth it.
 
And I don't think I could give that little guy up if I was fostering. I'm not a good foster mom. I'm a keeper mom.

And I'm off to give Max his dose of Magic Med (Torbutrol) because he's trying to hack up a lung. He has collapsed trachea syndrome.
 
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