Donation protected
Meet Kodi.

We don't know how old he is and we don't know what breed he is. But about a month ago, we found him on the side of a busy road. My name is Edward Armellino and just a little bit about me, I am a Public Defender in Broward County, Florida. My girlfriend and I found Kodi, with no collar, on the side of the street and brought him some food. He nibbled at it a bit and then he started to run. He took me on a wild goose chase across a busy road, and I had to run into oncoming traffic waving my arms to get cars to stop. Kodi kept running. I finally tracked him down and lured him into my car. Our goal was to do something, maybe find his owner. So we took him home for a bit but he wasn't able to stay overnight. We didn't want to take him to a shelter, so we stopped by a local vet to have him scanned for a microchip. He didn't have one. At this point, is almost 4:00 PM, and we were calling Humane Societies and trying to find somewhere Kodi could go in case someone was looking for him. We obtained a list of places online and called them all, to no avail. Running out of time we had to bring Kodi to the shelter, as he couldn't stay at our residence that night because we have five dogs. At this time, I was in between residences and staying with my girlfriend on weekends and a friend during the week because it was closer to work. I wanted so badly to keep him but just wasn't in a position to do so. So we brought him to the pound.

Once there, I walked Kodi in and started to tear up. Before we got inside, however, his body stiffened up, and he moved towards the grass. I thought he might have been scared, but he started convulsing and foaming at the mouth. I didn't know what to do, so I just hugged him and started crying. I thought he was going to die.
Luckily, a woman (like an angel) came out of nowhere and offered her assistance. She rescues dogs and finds them foster homes and told us she would help us if we helped her find him a home. Obviously, we agreed. So Kodi didn't go to the pound that day. He was about 500 feet away from being left there. And if he had that seizure in their custody, he likely would have been euthanized. Instead, Kodi stayed the next 3 nights at an Animal Hospital, where he was vaccinated and observed by doctors. Unfortunately, he is heartworm positive.

After his lengthy stay at the Animal Hospital, Kodi went to a temporary foster home, as I was unable to foster him until May 1. The woman who helped us continued to help, as she lined up a foster home immediately and paid for the entire stay at the hospital. I was touched by her incredible generosity, and still can't believe that we randomly bumped into her. I'll let her reveal her identity if she wants to!
There were a few problems with the foster home. The fences in the yard were very short and Kodi was trying to jump them. He couldn't stay inside often - didn't like his doghouse - and was not amenable to crating. As a result, he was moved from the foster home to a Kennel in Pompano until I could take him in. This lasted about 10 days. I am unsure of the total bill but my mom was kind enough to donate some money so I used that towards the bill. On Sunday, April 30, I picked Kodi up and took him home.

He was so happy to see me, and once he got home he explored the entire house. He didn't adjust very well at first, as the first night he kept me up until 2:00 AM walking around, panting, trying to look out the window. He was stepping all over me, jumping on and off the bed. He was clearly anxious. He wanted nothing to do with the dog bed I picked up for him. He wanted to be right next to me - and not to sleep. It was a long night. The second night was a bit better. He fell asleep around 12 in my bed, but woke up around 2 and wanted to leave the room. He slept outside my room, but was whimpering for a good portion of the night.

He finally went to his own bed, but he only does so on his own accord. Look at those ears....a few days after he came to stay at his new home, he started sneezing and coughing. He had a lot of mucous coming out of his nose and he was limping around on one leg.
As you can see, I needed to take him to the vet ASAP. I took him to the vet, and the recommendations involved a number of things. Some of which I could not afford to do. He needed X-rays, blood work again, a topical spray for his paw, an elizabethan cone, and antibiotics for his upper respiratory infection, as he had secondary damage to his lungs. The vet looked at the paperwork from the Animal Hospital and determined that we needed to do blood work a second time, even though it was just done, because his liver values were extremely high.

If you look at that picture, you will see "SGPT (ALT) = 190 iu/l." That is his liver values on the day he went to the Animal Hospital. That number should have been between 3-50, as shown in the Reference Range to the right. As a result, it was unknown if Kodi would be able to withstand any heartworm treatment, which contains injections of arsenic. So a few hundred dollars later, we left.

Kodi was diagnosed with dermatitis in his paw, and I have to apply a topical spray twice daily and rub it in between his toes. He was also diagnosed with spinal arthritis and hip dysplasia, as well as what the doctor hopes was an upper respiratory infection. The vet told me that the secondary damage to his lungs may be the result of the heartworms, and if it is, that the damage would be permanent.
Kodi left with his big cone, which he hated.

But he handled it well. I have now taken the cone off, and he has stopped licking his paws, which is good. At least he doesn't do it in my presence. I gave him his pill for the upper respiratory infection twice daily, and have ran out, and I'm happy to report that he is no longer discharging mucous from his nose. This gives me hope that the damage to his lungs was not caused by the heartworm disease.

Heartworm disease is deadly and he needs to be treated as soon as possible. Unfortunately, the vet has provided an estimate of five total visits over the next 6-8 months that will cost $1200. Everywhere I am looking, heartworm treatment varies from $600-$1400. On average, the cost nationwide is $1800. Heartworm Treatment
As for the seizures, Kodi has had two more since he's been here with me May 1. I am unsure if he has had any seizures while I have not been home. I hope not. The vet said the seizures could be epilepsy, or could be something much, much worse. His seizures last between 5 and 10 minutes and peak for about 2-3 minutes. He looks very panicked when they happen, but I held him both times and tried to breathe calmly and reassure him he will be okay. Just last night he had a seizure in my bed at about 12:30 AM that lasted between 5-10 minutes. It is unknown why he is seizing, but I can only hope that it is something treatable and minor. I probably need to get an X-ray of his brain as to this issue. The vet suggested he go on an anti-convulsant medication.
If you noticed from the pictures, another concern was the weight loss. When we found Kodi, he was weighed at the Animal Hospital at 70 pounds. When I took him to the vet, he was weighed at 59.8 pounds. That's a rapid weight loss. At first, Kodi was not eating much. It was my understanding from researching this issue that rescued dogs take time to adjust and many times do not eat a lot. Now, I mix in wet food AND beef/chicken broth into his dry food and he devours two full bowls a day. He looks much better and hopefully is putting some weight on! Plus he eats a ton of pepperoni, meatballs, and treats....

Kodi is a friendly, lovable dog that needs a lot of medical attention. I want to keep him and help save his life and I am hoping that there are people out there who can help me make that happen. Rescuing dogs who are likely abandoned is not easy. Kodi suffers from separation anxiety. When he is around me, he is fine, but he follows me everywhere. When I'm not home, he knocks stuff over. He can't be trapped in one area because he will just knock the gate over, LOL. I am asking anyone and everyone out there, whether it is $1, $10, $20, or whatever you can afford, to please help me help him. I promise to provide updates of his condition and treatment. Update #1: He is calmly sleeping on the floor in the kitchen while I create this page.
In advance, Kodi thanks you!

And so do I!
-Ed
We don't know how old he is and we don't know what breed he is. But about a month ago, we found him on the side of a busy road. My name is Edward Armellino and just a little bit about me, I am a Public Defender in Broward County, Florida. My girlfriend and I found Kodi, with no collar, on the side of the street and brought him some food. He nibbled at it a bit and then he started to run. He took me on a wild goose chase across a busy road, and I had to run into oncoming traffic waving my arms to get cars to stop. Kodi kept running. I finally tracked him down and lured him into my car. Our goal was to do something, maybe find his owner. So we took him home for a bit but he wasn't able to stay overnight. We didn't want to take him to a shelter, so we stopped by a local vet to have him scanned for a microchip. He didn't have one. At this point, is almost 4:00 PM, and we were calling Humane Societies and trying to find somewhere Kodi could go in case someone was looking for him. We obtained a list of places online and called them all, to no avail. Running out of time we had to bring Kodi to the shelter, as he couldn't stay at our residence that night because we have five dogs. At this time, I was in between residences and staying with my girlfriend on weekends and a friend during the week because it was closer to work. I wanted so badly to keep him but just wasn't in a position to do so. So we brought him to the pound.
Once there, I walked Kodi in and started to tear up. Before we got inside, however, his body stiffened up, and he moved towards the grass. I thought he might have been scared, but he started convulsing and foaming at the mouth. I didn't know what to do, so I just hugged him and started crying. I thought he was going to die.
Luckily, a woman (like an angel) came out of nowhere and offered her assistance. She rescues dogs and finds them foster homes and told us she would help us if we helped her find him a home. Obviously, we agreed. So Kodi didn't go to the pound that day. He was about 500 feet away from being left there. And if he had that seizure in their custody, he likely would have been euthanized. Instead, Kodi stayed the next 3 nights at an Animal Hospital, where he was vaccinated and observed by doctors. Unfortunately, he is heartworm positive.
After his lengthy stay at the Animal Hospital, Kodi went to a temporary foster home, as I was unable to foster him until May 1. The woman who helped us continued to help, as she lined up a foster home immediately and paid for the entire stay at the hospital. I was touched by her incredible generosity, and still can't believe that we randomly bumped into her. I'll let her reveal her identity if she wants to!
There were a few problems with the foster home. The fences in the yard were very short and Kodi was trying to jump them. He couldn't stay inside often - didn't like his doghouse - and was not amenable to crating. As a result, he was moved from the foster home to a Kennel in Pompano until I could take him in. This lasted about 10 days. I am unsure of the total bill but my mom was kind enough to donate some money so I used that towards the bill. On Sunday, April 30, I picked Kodi up and took him home.
He was so happy to see me, and once he got home he explored the entire house. He didn't adjust very well at first, as the first night he kept me up until 2:00 AM walking around, panting, trying to look out the window. He was stepping all over me, jumping on and off the bed. He was clearly anxious. He wanted nothing to do with the dog bed I picked up for him. He wanted to be right next to me - and not to sleep. It was a long night. The second night was a bit better. He fell asleep around 12 in my bed, but woke up around 2 and wanted to leave the room. He slept outside my room, but was whimpering for a good portion of the night.
He finally went to his own bed, but he only does so on his own accord. Look at those ears....a few days after he came to stay at his new home, he started sneezing and coughing. He had a lot of mucous coming out of his nose and he was limping around on one leg.
As you can see, I needed to take him to the vet ASAP. I took him to the vet, and the recommendations involved a number of things. Some of which I could not afford to do. He needed X-rays, blood work again, a topical spray for his paw, an elizabethan cone, and antibiotics for his upper respiratory infection, as he had secondary damage to his lungs. The vet looked at the paperwork from the Animal Hospital and determined that we needed to do blood work a second time, even though it was just done, because his liver values were extremely high.
If you look at that picture, you will see "SGPT (ALT) = 190 iu/l." That is his liver values on the day he went to the Animal Hospital. That number should have been between 3-50, as shown in the Reference Range to the right. As a result, it was unknown if Kodi would be able to withstand any heartworm treatment, which contains injections of arsenic. So a few hundred dollars later, we left.
Kodi was diagnosed with dermatitis in his paw, and I have to apply a topical spray twice daily and rub it in between his toes. He was also diagnosed with spinal arthritis and hip dysplasia, as well as what the doctor hopes was an upper respiratory infection. The vet told me that the secondary damage to his lungs may be the result of the heartworms, and if it is, that the damage would be permanent.
Kodi left with his big cone, which he hated.
But he handled it well. I have now taken the cone off, and he has stopped licking his paws, which is good. At least he doesn't do it in my presence. I gave him his pill for the upper respiratory infection twice daily, and have ran out, and I'm happy to report that he is no longer discharging mucous from his nose. This gives me hope that the damage to his lungs was not caused by the heartworm disease.
Heartworm disease is deadly and he needs to be treated as soon as possible. Unfortunately, the vet has provided an estimate of five total visits over the next 6-8 months that will cost $1200. Everywhere I am looking, heartworm treatment varies from $600-$1400. On average, the cost nationwide is $1800. Heartworm Treatment
As for the seizures, Kodi has had two more since he's been here with me May 1. I am unsure if he has had any seizures while I have not been home. I hope not. The vet said the seizures could be epilepsy, or could be something much, much worse. His seizures last between 5 and 10 minutes and peak for about 2-3 minutes. He looks very panicked when they happen, but I held him both times and tried to breathe calmly and reassure him he will be okay. Just last night he had a seizure in my bed at about 12:30 AM that lasted between 5-10 minutes. It is unknown why he is seizing, but I can only hope that it is something treatable and minor. I probably need to get an X-ray of his brain as to this issue. The vet suggested he go on an anti-convulsant medication.
If you noticed from the pictures, another concern was the weight loss. When we found Kodi, he was weighed at the Animal Hospital at 70 pounds. When I took him to the vet, he was weighed at 59.8 pounds. That's a rapid weight loss. At first, Kodi was not eating much. It was my understanding from researching this issue that rescued dogs take time to adjust and many times do not eat a lot. Now, I mix in wet food AND beef/chicken broth into his dry food and he devours two full bowls a day. He looks much better and hopefully is putting some weight on! Plus he eats a ton of pepperoni, meatballs, and treats....
Kodi is a friendly, lovable dog that needs a lot of medical attention. I want to keep him and help save his life and I am hoping that there are people out there who can help me make that happen. Rescuing dogs who are likely abandoned is not easy. Kodi suffers from separation anxiety. When he is around me, he is fine, but he follows me everywhere. When I'm not home, he knocks stuff over. He can't be trapped in one area because he will just knock the gate over, LOL. I am asking anyone and everyone out there, whether it is $1, $10, $20, or whatever you can afford, to please help me help him. I promise to provide updates of his condition and treatment. Update #1: He is calmly sleeping on the floor in the kitchen while I create this page.
In advance, Kodi thanks you!
And so do I!
-Ed
Organiser
Edward Armellino
Organiser
Fort Lauderdale, FL