Rocky Mountain Great Dane Rescue, Inc.

Sally was found as a stray and taken to Pikes Peak Humane Society. She was extremely scared in the kennels, so they contacted us for assistance and she was transported to Denver the next day.

August 1, 2007

When Sally came into rescue she was very lethargic and did not appear to feel well. This morning, she had very labored breathing, so Dr. Winton took some x-rays and confirmed that sweet Sally has full blown Pneumonia!

I took her over to Alameda East immediately since they have the facilities to isolate her and she needed to get on IV antibiotics and fluids and oxygen immediately. She actually collapsed on the floor in the room and I had to go get them to get a stretcher so that we could take her back to ICU immediately.

Dr. McLucas fully examined her and she is in good hands! They are doing nebulization and cupage and she is now on heavy antibiotics and IV fluids.

She will be hospitalized for a minimum of 3 days, maybe more depending on how she responds to treatment.

August 2, 2007

Sally is not exactly improving, but she isn't worse. Dr. Steen was on-call today and said they have had her on oxygen most of the time because she continues to struggle to breath. Her pulse ox is 93 without oxygen still.

She has absolutely no interest in food yet and doesn't even lift her head when they come in the room. She is a sick puppy!

There is a lot of drainage from her nose, so they continue to do cupage and nebulization to try and break up the congestion.

The plan is to continue with treatment as they have been and hopefully the antibiotics and fluids will start to kick in and she'll have a little more pep in her step tomorrow!

Keep her in your thoughts and prayers!

August 4, 2007

Today Sally seems a bit brighter! She actually lifted her head for Dr. Steen and ate a little bit of dinner. Her breathing is still labored and they haven't been able to take her off the oxygen yet, but they are slightly encouraged. Yesterday, we were all pretty concerned, so it is a relief to see some signs of improvement.

August 5, 2007

Sally accidentally knocked off her nasal O2 and unfortunately she was pretty winded when the doctors found her. They decided that she isn't ready to breath on her own and are hoping maybe tomorrow they can start to wean her if she does okay through the night. She ate again this morning, but not as much as they would like her to. She is definitely moving in the right direction now, but progress is slow and she still has a ton of discharge. Dr. McLucas thinks that she'll probably need at least another day in ICU before she will be ready to go home.

Sally's medical bills are now over $2500, so donations are greatly appreciated!

August 6, 2007

Sally remains pretty much status quo and her case has really been frustrating to the doctors at Alameda East. Dr. Steinheimer suggested we repeat the chest films to see where she is at now in comparison to when she came in and her pneumonia is actually getting worse instead of better! She still has an increased respiratory rate and is not eating consistently. Dr. McLucas has decided to add on some new antibiotics and she will now be receiving Doxycycline as well as Metronidazol in hopes that the change will result in improvement.

August 7, 2007

Sally is "like a whole new dog" this morning according to Dr. McLucas! She is standing up, wagging her tail, and chowing down on food with gusto. She is still huffing and puffing quite a bit during nebulization, but they are going to try and wean her off of oxygen today and see how it goes. She is definitely feeling much better and we are hopeful that she will be ready to leave the hospital soon and finish her recovery in a home environment!

Sally was officially released from ICU this afternoon and is now safely recovering in her foster home. She has an arsenal of drugs including 4 different antiobiotics and will need cupage and a steam treatment 2-3 times a day. She will remain in isolation until she stops coughing, just as a precautionary measure since we still don't know what caused the pneumonia for sure. She has her very own room and was safely resting in her crate and awaiting dinner time when I left.

As you can see in the photos, she was happy to have some fresh air and relieved to be on the road to recovery after a very tough battle for 8 days at the hospital!

Sally's medical bills were upwards of $4500. We are very low on funding with so many major medical cases lately, so please consider sponsoring sweet Sally and make a donation today!

August 15, 2007

Sally is improving daily in her foster home! She still has a moist cough with almost any exertion, but she is starting to feel really good.

She has discovered a squeaky football that is now her favorite toy and is starting to act like a normal puppy at last. She does fetch and will even drop it on occasion, but she can only go after it once or twice before she's worn out.

House training continues to be a completely novel exercise for her. She does well in her crate and her foster mom is working hard to help her understand that when they go outside it is "potty time" and not "play time".

Her eye looks considerably better after switching medications. We don't think there was actually infection in the eye, just inflammation, so she is now on pred acetate. The swelling is going down finally.

We will redo x-rays of her chest once she's done with all of her medications to make sure that she has fully recovered from the pneumonia. At that point, we will also do some labwork on her and get her scheduled for her spay surgery.

She is a very sweet girl and we are so happy that she is feeling better finally!

August 21, 2007

Sally is beginning to get the gist of house training. Her cough still lingers, but is becoming productive and she is getting all the crud out of her lungs finally. She is playful and active and no longer gets winded when romping in the yard. Her appetite is great and her food aggression with the other dogs is gone now that she has realized that there is plenty of food to go around. She is extremely submissive with other dogs and plays well with them. She does chew if she gets bored, but she is completely crate trained and does well in her crate when left alone. Sally is very puppy-like despite the fact that she has obviously been a mom at some point too! All in all, she is a very loving girl and we are very pleased with her recovery so far.

Thursday, August 23

We did repeat radiographs on Sally today and they were a bit disappointing, as they showed some residual pneumonia in both lungs, but far less than was there originally. The good news is she feels great! She romps and plays with the other dogs, chases her squeaky football around the yard, and is a typical puppy who loves to chew and get into trouble. We'll continue the Doxycycline for another two weeks and re-evaluate then. Hopefully she will be ready for her spay surgery then so that she can go to a forever family soon!

Friday, September 7th

Sally underwent her spay and gastropexy surgery today and everything went very well! The doctor believes that there is just a little scar tissue in her lungs from the pneumonia which is why her last x-rays didn't look as well as we would have hoped. She was able to go home the same day since her foster mom is a vet and everyone was happy to see her when she returned. Once she recovers, she will be ready to go to her forever home when the right family comes along!