Zeus’s recovery from Salmon Poisoning Disease

Hey guys, as some of you know I’ve lived in Oregon for about 3 years now with my 2 rescue dogs Dannicus (Husky) & Zeus (German Shepard) and they’ve been in my life ever since I was about 15 years old. We came from Las Vegas, NV to escape the dirt and constant heat. Up until last week we’ve had the best time of our lives here until disaster hit when my dogs got Salmon Poisoning Disease. My Husky suddenly became sick to the point where even getting him to the ER was too late after a couple of days trying to figure out what was wrong with him. We unfortunately had to help him cross the rainbow bridge so he was no longer suffering due to his old age and weakness. The next day I decided to take the day off from work to collect myself and grieve over the sudden loss of my sweet Danny boy. Zeus’s mood suddenly changed as we anticipated after he just lost his best friend. We know he’s grieving as well but the fact that he was not eating the last couple of days prior to Dannicus passing we just thought he knew it was time. He suddenly got mucus in his nose, he still did not eat even giving him chicken/rice, wet food, a burger from McDonald’s the next couple of days just to peak his interest, we tried everything and he would not eat anything just would drink water. My husband and I began monitoring him more closely as his nose started getting worse by becoming inflamed to the point where we thought he had an upper respiratory infection and it was getting hard for him to breathe out his nose from it being irritated and runny, but, on top of that my husband noticed his stool getting a little bit more diarrhea like. We both decided to take him to the vet so that Friday I decided to bring him to work because it was 15 minutes away and I wanted to see if he would feel better being surrounded by other people because at this point we had no idea what was going on.

We arrived at the vet and I had given them the symptoms that Zeus was experiencing the last few days, they could not pinpoint an exact diagnosis but concluded that he could have the k9 influenza or possibly contracting some type of parasite due to his loose watery stool and vomiting. That visit cost us about $473, so we took Zeus home hoping we could treat him, but eventually decided to bring him back that Sunday morning when his symptoms would not subside and got worse. As soon as we got there they wanted to do blood work, ultrasound, fecal sample, the whole 9 yards and hospitalization because of his severe condition. All the while he was being checked they did come back with the fecal sample and told us that they found a fluke which is a type of parasite known for carrying the bacteria responsible for Salmon Poisoning Disease. Now, the Dr. explained that this doesn’t necessarily mean he got this disease from eating a fish but could have been easily passed on from slugs, snails and salamanders and they also said this could have been the issue Danny was having as well but because of his age he wouldn’t of made it. We were relieved to finally have a diagnosis but now it came down to the estimates which cost us a minimum of $3,427 and maximum of $4,413. This covers hospitalization for 36 hours, antibiotics, various medications, intubation (for draining fluid built up in his stomach and colon), dewormer, and constant cycle of IV fluids. To maintain current level of care the vet recommends at least another 24 hours at the hospital. At this point we have reached the point where we cannot keep up with the medical bill which is why we are reaching out to all of you. After the loss of my sweet Danny boy a week ago from this terrible sickness, I can’t stand to lose my Zeusy man too. Please, any dollar amount would help us out tremendously!