Help Save Linus, the Deaf Akita

4 years ago, almost to the day, Loren saw a post for a sweet, beautiful, deaf akita named Linus who was looking for his pack and forever home. Linus had a rough life, being separated by his family twice, only to be found by his breeder through  a microchip search, abandoned again by his last owner. After a few phone calls, we were on our way to Oriental, NC to meet him, and again a few day later to pick him up and bring him home. After a rough start, he was warmly accepted into the family by Basil and Asuka, and has been our goofy, deaf boy ever since. Well, on Sunday, after a typical morning and breakfast, normal routine, normal barking at the neighbors...something went terribly wrong. Linus was starting to feel lethargic, salivating a lot, pacing, and just looked like he was in overall discomfort. The big red flag was when I noticed his abdomen bulge. We rushed him to the emergency veterinarian, BluePearl, who had treated our big bear before. After a few minutes, we received the worst news possible; bloat by gastric dilation and volvulus. For people with big dogs, we all know of the dangers and warnings of GVD bloat. For people who don't know, it essentially means his stomach twisted around on itself, building up gas, crushing and pushing vital organs and not being able to move his GI tract. It happens very rapidly, with no real signs. He received the surgery to untwist his stomach and start taking pressure out of it and his surrounding organs, while also tacking his stomach in so this cannot occur again. Thankfully, only his spleen had to be removed and his stomach lining went to pink quickly. A little heart arrhythmia, but all in all, a successful surgery. We had hoped to get him home soon
However, things quickly turned, as his GI tract motility isn't where it needs to be. Fluid is sitting in his distended stomach, and his body isn't getting rid of it. Vitals were watched carefully, and now his blood pressure and protein levels are dropping as a consequence of not getting any nutrition. After sedating him and passing a tube down his throat to drain the fluid, the next step is to get some nutrition in him to hopefully coax his GI tract to move. 
The next step is several doggie blood plasma transfusions to try to stabilize his blood pressure and protein levels. This is going to require, at the least, a few more days of overnight care at the emergency vet. After that, they have to figure out why his back legs have become incredibly weak, to the point that he doesn't want to walk on his own. After the initial prognosis, it seemed manageable. However, with the the procedures becoming more complicated and numerous, it's quickly snowballing out of our control. Carecards are already maxed, and we are running out of options. With my restaurant shut down, it's going to quickly extend out of manageable range for one RPS teachers' salary. We understand that times are tough, but we are only asking if you are able to during these times to help get Linus back on his feet and home. All we want is our boy home, healthy, happy, and goofy as ever. All donations will go directly to Linus' care. Any outstanding balance will be donated to various animal rescues, such as GARD, Rakku-Inu Shelter, etc. Thank you for your time in reading this, we'll update as we know more.

If you would like to donate directly to his bill, please contact us or BluePearl Emergency Vet. It would bypass the transaction fees. Thank you, again.