A few weeks ago, Releashed Rescue introduced you all to an adorable 8 month old puppy, named Ruger. He was very popular. Unfortunately, we discovered very quickly that Ruger had some serious health issues. After some testing, it was found that Ruger has a liver shunt. This means that his circulatory system bi-passes his liver. When blood is shunted around the liver rather than to and through it, the liver is not able to perform its many important tasks and therefore, metabolic wastes such as ammonia, reach unhealthy levels in the animal and threaten the dog's life. All liver shunts, whether mild or severe, are considered serious. Even dogs with mild liver shunts exhibit greater symptoms as they increase in body size. The larger the puppy grows, the more metabolic wastes are produced, and therefore, the more the liver is needed. Most affected dogs will not live a normal life expectancy unless the abnormality is corrected.

Luckily, we have been able to stabilize Ruger through diet and medication. We took him to the University of Georgia veterinary teaching hospital and they have one of the few doctors that can treat this kind of shunt. The surgery is very expensive estimated at 8 to $10,000. When we take a dog into our program we make a commitment to getting them as healthy as possible. We need your help to keep Ruger alive and healthy. The only way we will be able to save Ruger and many other dogs is through donations. We will not be able to take more dogs in until we are able to pay for the treatment of the sick dogs we currently have.

The video is of Ruger having a neurological episode. It may be difficult for some to watch (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rq-H91HJR7Y&t=4s) These happen when the ammonia and metabolic waste levels get too high and effect his brain. He becomes very confused and disoriented. He walks until he hits something and turns and continues until he hits something else. He foams at the mouth and is clumsy. His last episode lasted a couple of days and then was followed up with a couple days of non-stop sleep.

When stable, Ruger is a happy playful puppy who LOVES wrestling around with his foster siblings and cuddling his foster parents. Ruger deserves a chance at a normal life and we’re looking to our amazing supporters to help us achieve that. Please, consider donating for Ruger.  We can’t do it without the help of all of you! ♥️


Ruger Fundraising update 12/1/2018!! Currently our followers have donated $1423 on Ruger's GoFundMe, we received an anonnymous donation of $2000, a golf tournament was held to raise money for Ruger raised $1165, and $210 was donated on #GivingTuesday! We are already OVER HALF WAY to reaching our goal to help Ruger! We only need to raise another $3,202!!!! We are so grateful to everyone that's donated and taken the time to fundraise for Ruger. Please continue to share Ruger's story.