The Vet confirmed that BHRR’s Ava Marie does have pneumonia as I had suspected and why I had made the ’emerg’ appointment to bring her in today. I felt she was quite feverish and her temp was 40.2C when her Vet took it. X-Rays and bw were also done. Her bw is normal and her left lung is more affected than her right. I have now given her 1.5 x 100 mg of Deramaxx for her fever and per her Vet, she can have this for the next 3 days to bring her temp down. Her weight was 69.50 KGS(152.90 pounds) and so a bit on the thin side at this time. Ava Marie is also on 5 x 100mg of Doxycycline BID that I picked up from the Pharmasave near KAH and will be in on this for the next 28 days minimum. This means that any 2nd cruciate surgery that she would have had in July will now be postponed. As to ‘how’ or ‘why’ she got pneumonia, that is not something that we might ever know. She was completely fine at the BHRR ‘EXPERIENCE’ Mini Open House on Saturday and then went up to my relatives cottage and until last night was ‘appearing’ to be normal. The first sign that indicated that she was not feeling well was her not wanting to eat her supper last night. I asked the Vet, can pneumonia come on that fast and I was told yes. I told the Vet that all the dogs except one on Saturday at the BHRR Mini Open House were ours and as far as I was aware, that other dog visiting was healthy. I will send them an email asking if their dog had been recently ill etc. My relative told me when I asked if Ava Marie had been coughing at all and they said no, not until this AM. As I told them when they called last night; if Ava Marie is off her food, she needs to come home NOW and most likely seen by a Vet as that means something is very wrong. Today, she drank some water at home and I also asked my relative if she had been more quiet than normal and I was told everything was ‘good’ until last night and then she was more quiet; which has also been the case today. I could clearly see that she was having some difficulty breathing when she arrived home and was wanting to just rest and not being her normal active, outgoing friendly self plus was feverish and still was not overly interested in food. I am glad my relative re-arranged their schedule so quickly to get her to me ASAP so that I could then quickly assess her myself and determine if she should go in, which I did; to see a Vet immediately. Pneumonia is caused by bacterial, viral, fungal or parasitic infections. In case of dogs, pneumonia is mainly due to bacterial infection. Inhalation is typically a route of transmission of infection. All of our other dogs are fine to date, eating, drinking, going to the bathroom normally as is our recent new arrival to BHRR; Moose. Some things will always remain a mystery yet I am always the ‘why’ person and seek to be proactive and preventative yet I also realise that some factors/variables cannot be controlled and she has been taken out by approved Volunteers for daytrips, play dates to lots of public venues crowded with other dogs. She also had a recent HWT back in March, so there was no need to repeat that test so soon for sometimes a heartworm test and bronchoscopy are also performed to diagnose pneumonia in dogs. Keep her in your thoughts. Her Vet and Pharmacy Bills today were over $1,000 and if any of her supporters wish to help her along with best wishes and some financial assistance, you can contact Kanata Animal Hospital directly (613) 836-2848  to pay by Debit, Credit Card or Visa/Mastercard or AMEX or PayPal funds to the account of gwen@birchhaven.org or email transfer funds to gwen@birchhaven.org OR you can mail a check to:

Birch Haven Rescue & Rehabilitation Services
C/O Gwendilin Boers
2425 Totem Ranch Road West
RR#1 Oxford Station, Ontario
K0G 1T0