Saving Bear

On Monday, our beloved dog, Bear was found fighting

      On Monday, our beloved dog, Bear was found fighting for his life in a canal 10 blocks from our house. With proper care, doctors think Bear will make a full recovery. Bear is at an emergency facility and will need long term care for surgeries to repair his back paws and legs and still fighting Sepsis. My expenses are running high.

 
     My love story for my dog started 7 years ago.  I met "Bear" at Paw Depot a pet supply store in the Kmart Shopping Center in Boca Raton. The owners of Paw Depot rescued him and they named him "Teddy Bear". The county animal shelter had plans to euthanize him within two hours so they had rescued him.  My son and I were passing by the Paw Depot and we noticed this dog in front of their store. My son was immediately drawn to him and began playing with him and it was truly love at first sight.  The last seven years have been filled with fun, protection and he has given us his unconditional love as we have to him.

      This past week on Friday, March 9, I came home about 10:30 PM and Bear was missing! I panicked & ransacked the house as well as my backyard and there was no sign of Bear. I got in my car and drove around the neighborhood and called out for him, "Bear, Bear, where are you?".  My neighbors soon joined in the search for him. We never found him. The following day my neighbor and I posted on multiple websites and social media. I called every animal rescue, animal hospital, police station and searched the neighborhood as well as friends and neighbors and I placed flyers around the neighborhood. I had tremendous help from all my neighbors and friends and appreciate all of them especially, Jackie and Rebecca. On Monday approximately 6:30 PM I got a phone call from my neighbor Jackie stating that another neighbor had rescued a dog from a canal and she found us on nextdoor.com. They were heading to Calusa’s Animal hospital and I got in my car and was heading down there. Bear was stuck in the canal proximately 10 blocks from my house and was unable to get out and he was in there for approximately three days. They called the police and they dragged him out of the canal and he was unable to stand or walk.  I found Bear in a traumatic state shivering with a fever and he was full of parasites and leeches and the back part of his paw and legs the skin was ripped off and his bones exposed. Upon bringing him to the animal hospital they stated that he was in a septic state and full of infection from the dirty canal. He would have not lasted another day.  They gave him a bath and cleaned him up and started running multiple antibiotics. He was bleeding from the stomach and intestines and excessive edema throughout his body inside and out and through his blood stream, so they started blood transfusions with plasma and platelets. He also swallowed a piece of wire that is still embedded in his stomach. As I write this story, he fever has broken and is much more alert and recovering but headed for surgery tomorrow to cut off the necrotic skin tissue around his paw & leg. These types of injuries, much like humans, will take months to recover. They require visits 3 times a week for an hour and half to clean infected areas and cover then physical therapy. There is a possibility he could lose his back paws and his back legs if they don’t heal correctly. He is a fighter and he seemed to be on his way back after I saw him today. He was alert and even tried to follow me using only his front paws. He was kissing me and the tears streaming down my face and I gave him steak. He hadn’t eaten in five days. He’s a survivor!   I am asking for some help and I can't believe I find myself doing this but these bills are mounting and it's just friends helping friends. We have no idea what lies ahead. Please help us save our precious dog. Anything helps. Thank you so much!

 

Sincerely,

 Lenny Silvestri