Sweet Otto had trouble breathing and had to be rushed to the ER in Charleston, SC.  He has been in the hospital for a week while they have been doing test after test to determine what has caused his lethargy and breathing difficulty.  As everyone knows, Otto is a victim of Dog-Fighting.  He has been with us for years recovering from all the abuse he endured and has had numerous reconstructive surgeries to repair his Nasal Cavity.  Most of Otto's upper part of his jaw had to be removed along with his nasal area.  A small hole was made for him to breathe out of, but the bulk of his air comes from his mouth.  

Otto lives at our new Rehab Facility where he is as happy as can be while we look for the perfect home for him.  He LOVES people and can now tolerate other dogs being in the room with him but is never allowed to be free with them because of his history.   The good news is that he is so comfortable with us that he will lay on his bed and sleep without a care in the World.

Last week I noticed him gagging on something and immediately went to see what was going on.   I could not determine any cause of his discomfort and decided to get him to the ER to ease my mind.   I had also noticed that he had become very quiet over the last two weeks and wanted to sleep a lot.  None of this was like our dear boy that was usually very animated and excited about playing with his balls.

The ER Team decided to do bloodwork, and it was determined he had something going on that did not relate to his breathing.   Extensive tests were done to determine if he had laryngeal paralysis or if he was struggling with his small opening in his nasal area.   The tests showed he was getting plenty of air.  His sinus opening could be made larger, but that was not a possibility at this time based on his anemic, lethargic state.  

I decided we needed to keep Otto in the ER until all of the tests were back, and we had a clear plan of action to get him feeling better.   Otto's Tick Panel came back that he has a Blood Parasite similar to Babesia called Hemotrophic Mycoplasmosis that is the result of infection of the red blood cells by the mycoplasma parasite M. haemocanis.    Otto's spleen showed that he was fighting a terrible infection which it turns out he was.    The good news is that he has been started on antibiotics which he will have to be on for several months until he comes back clear for the parasite.   Let's keep our fingers crossed that our sweet boy will bounce back from this.

We need all the Donations we can get to cover his week long stay in the ER and his battery of tests and scans that were done.  Otto's lucky we caught this in time before it did more damage to his body.  We have lost several pups over the years that had blood parasites that no one caught in time.  We stepped up for the pups to save them only to find out what the problem was but they were too far gone by then.  Please, help us with this wonderful dog's Medical Bills so he can get well and move on to finding a Home he can call his own.