Donations for medical costs and care for Dusty

Good day,

My name is Paul and I’m a disabled veteran trying to raise money for my furball buddy, Dusty.

Dusty was a stray dog that has been wandering around my neighborhood for the last year since I moved back to my hometown of San Antonio. He has always been a mellow and chill dog roaming with his other stray buddies.

Last week, however, I hadn’t seen him for a week and then on Thursday, March 15th, he arrived limping down the middle of the street and a piece of skin from his neck hanging down. After going out to see what was going on, found that his neck had been ripped open and he had puncture wounds in his chest from what looked like a dog attack.

I was unable to do anything for him that night since it was well into the evening and no veterinarians or hospitals close to the neighborhood were open. I did go to post on the Nextdoor app and saw that another neighbor had already posted about how rough he looked so we started a neighborhood conversation about him to where I shared the pictures of his up-close injuries. The neighbor across the street was able to give him some food and water but unable to care for his injuries.

Later as the night went on, I kept watching him go from one corner to the other corner where the different strays were laying and he was unable to get some comfort and rest since he couldn’t find a spot, do few circles then keep walking to the next stray buddy that was laying down and try again.

It did rain in the night and by the morning, Friday, March 16th, he and the other dogs had left the area. I decided that if I saw him again, I would call the Bexar county animal control and local animal hospitals to see about payment plans and what services they would be able to offer for his needs and my circumstances. Local hospitals were only able to offer me a military discount, but no payment plans but did recommend a few different credit card companies.

The day went on and there was no sign of Dusty until around 3pm and once I saw him it became a matter of catching him and getting him into the vehicle and taking him to one of the animal hospitals. With timing, a different neighbor saw him as he was driving by and was kind enough to come over to help me try and catch Dusty. Due to his injuries and two guys trying to catch him with some towels he became defensive and started limping and running away. After cutting off his escape route and trying to grab him, and him biting at us, we resulted in tossing the towel over him which he got tangled up in and submitted to laying on the ground.

I then called Bexar county animal control and explained the situation and what I was trying to do, which was get this injured stray dog some help and then takeover ownership and care of him and that I needed help getting Dusty into the car and take him to the animal hospital since he was biting at me. They said it would be either after hours or the next day before they could help since the available officers were on another call and unable to respond. Then I received a phone call back from the animal hospital and was told that they were full but recommended me to go to BluePearl Pet Hospital. I called BluePearl and explained the situation and they said to go ahead and bring Dusty in when I could. A few minutes later after sending some texts and video to Jesse at Bexar county animal control, wrote back to me and said they would be at my location in a little over a half hour. My only concern was Dusty getting up and trying to take off somewhere else into the surrounding neighborhood.

I decided to coerce him into the back yard with some food to keep him from getting away till Jesse arrived.

Jesse arrived around 4pm with a fellow animal control officer and was able to get a muzzle on his face for his injury defensive biting he was doing and then wrapping him up in a towel and was able to put him into the car. I was also informed that they could take him but the veterinarian they use wouldn’t be available till the following week and they don’t have the facilities to care for Dusty’s injuries so they would more than likely have to euthanize him, but they were ecstatic that I was willing to take ownership of Dusty and help take a stray off the streets and said that when he was all better that I could bring him to their veterinarian and they would cover the cost of vaccinations, neutering, and some of the medications if needed.

Then drove Dusty to BluePearl Pet Hospital where they looked over his injuries and checked his health status.

They recommend Dusty get a rabies shot and some deworming medicine to help with the infections they found. They said they would have to keep him overnight to run blood test, take X-rays, sedate him to get the injury sites cleaned and bandaged, and to make sure that no seepage was occurring after the bandage placement. Before leaving I had to put down a deposit of $3900, for the care he would be receiving.

After getting home, I checked the Nextdoor app and saw that the original poster was looking for Dusty, because she had someone that wanted to take a look at him and would also need help catching him, while another individual was concerned and wanted a update on him. I wrote and explained what had happened and what was going on and they were very glad and thankful for Dusty getting care.

I got a few phone calls throughout the night after his surgery to remove the hanging skin and the doctor said he had all stages of maggots festering in his chest wounds so it had been at least a few days that he had been wandering around like that as well as he was covered in ticks and fleas, but they had removed all that they had found and he had already been given medication for it and was being a total sweetheart.

Dusty was very dehydrated, malnourished, and his red blood count was very low, leading to him being anemic, and that his protein levels were also very low but would have to see how the recovery goes to see if his levels returned due to the injuries and parasites that were removing blood from his system. At midnight I received a phone call explaining that the chest x-rays showed fluid on the outside of his lungs, and they were going to test it for any bacteria but did not see that it had been from a puncture wound but could have been caused by damage received from the attack and possibly being thrown around or chest crushing when bit on his chest.

The next day, went to pick up Dusty and the doctor had said that there were no bacteria in the fluid around his lungs, and it was not restricting his breathing so they said it should be absorbed back into his body over the coming weeks. Also, that due to the infections, and open wounds, that Dusty needed to be brought back in for the next few days for daily bandage changing to ensure proper healing was occurring and no infection was trapped so they could next due surgery to close the neck wound. The total cost for the overnight stay/services $3,455.29 after my military discount and adjusted services.

After getting him home and giving him his nightly meds and sleeping some, at around 3am, March 17th, due to his shaking of his head and the soft neck collar in place, the bandage came off prompting an emergency trip back to BluePearl Pet Hospital instead of in a few hours for his daily bandage change. Once there asked the doctor if there was a way to do a wraparound of his neck, like his chest wound was, but due to the location that was not advised, and the doctor would try and make it a tighter securing as well as put on a plastic neck cone. An hour and half later they brought Dusty back out all festive with a Green Clover drawn on his chest bandage for the day and a tighter bandage with the plastic neck collar to keep from him knocking the bandage off. The total cost for this visit was $93.15 after my military discount.

Monday, March 18th, took Dusty back for his daily bandage change and to see if the infection was gone and the possibility of doing the surgery to close his neck wound.

The doctor informed me that the surgeon recommended that they only do the outsides first and then I would have to bring him in for another appointment due to behind Dusty’s ear not having enough skin and it could create an undue stress and pull on it if closing the whole wound at once. I agreed and they said to come back later as this would take some time for them to complete it.

Later in the afternoon, around 4pm, I received a call saying that the Doctor was able to stitch the entire wound and that after getting Dusty sedated, she was able to manipulate the skin a little more and had enough skin to complete the surgery in one appointment. Then I went and picked Dusty up and was told he would need to have his stitches removed in a couple weeks and that his chest bandage would need to be removed by wither my local veterinarian since it would probably be cheaper or to come back to BluePearl if that was not possible so that the status of his chest wound could be evaluated for any possible infection and proper healing was occurring. The total cost for this visit was $840.50 after my military discount.

The medications Dusty has/is taking are: Fenbendazol (Panacur) which was once a day for the first three days with food, Clavamox Chewable (amoxicillin and clavulanate potassium) twice a day after food for two weeks, and Craprofen (Rimadyl) twice day for pain for 10 days.

I also was not prepared for Dusty to be at home, so while he was in the hospital, I ordered him a new bed, a couple of exercise pens to link together for room to stretch his legs. I also stopped and got him a new collar, leash, a couple of toys, a dental chew bone, and some treats to enjoy as well as some cans of gastrointestinal low fat, Royal Canin food, which is what the hospital was feeding him, and I will continue to feed him until his system is better. The total cost for these items was $323.67.

Altogether the money spent for Dusty’s care so far is $4,712.61.

I’m asking for any donations to help with cost and any assistance is greatly and fully-heartedly appreciated.

Update 3/23

Got Dusty into the China Grove Veterinarian Clinic yesterday March 22nd, and they removed his chest bandage and took a look at his sutures. They both looked good and felt his chest bandage was no longer needed so just have to keep an eye on his scratching and possible get a small t-shirt to help detour the impact of his scratching directly onto the wounds.

The vet drew more blood again since she didn't like his pale skin and found out his was anemic aka low red blood cell count, which they had found at BluePearl Pet Hosiptal as well, and it is super low in the 20's and she suggested an increase of food intake, a B12 shot, and some liquid iron as well. Then on the 1st of April he gets his stiches out and they will reevaluate him and his progress then. The total cost for the veterinarian visit was $230.40 with no military discount.

Bringing the total money spent for Dusty’s care so far to $4,943.01

Dusty is active a little more each day and is starting to wag his tail instead of leaving it down. He even rolled completely on to his back and let out a big bark when he wanted someone around since no one was is the room for a few minutes.