Beaver
Adoption Status: Accepting Adoption Interest
Gender: Male
Breed: Shepherd Mix
Age: Est DOB: 10/2017
Weight: 76 lbs
Dog Friendly: Yes
Cat Friendly: Unknown
Kid Friendly: Unknown
House Trained: on a routine
History: We recently welcomed a group of deserving dogs who needed our help from an unfortunate situation. They arrived to rescue seeking a second chance and are looking forward to finding their forever homes soon!
Beaver was brought to our veterinary clinic in late June when he had stopped eating and seemed lethargic. He was found to have a fever and a very suspicious pattern of pneumonia in his lungs. He was tested for and turned out to be positive for a disease called Blastomycosis.
Blastomycosis is a fungal disease that is fairly commonly seen in dogs in the midwest. It is contracted from inhaling spores that live in the ground, typically near a body of water. The organism generally enters the respiratory tract and causes inflammation and swelling in the lungs. In some cases, the spores can travel through the bloodstream into other organ systems, mainly, the eyes or skin. In Beaver’s case, he did develop a lesion in his eye.
Blastomycosis can take months to fully cure, and Beaver we anticipate that he will need to stay on the antifungal medication Itraconazole for at least 8-10 months. He will require rechecks every few months to assess his eye, his lungs, and to re-run a urine test for blastomycosis antigen. Once that urine test is at zero, he will be considered cured.
Beaver was started on an antifungal medication to fight the disease, and has been improving fairly well since then. He had a recheck of chest X rays in October and is already showing improvement. He does still have occasional bouts of coughing but overall is doing very well. His lungs may have some scarring for life due to the severe inflammation this organism causes, but we expect him to be able to have a very happy and normal life once he is cured.
A note from the foster: Beaver is as sweet and gentle as they come. He is very polite when approaching people to get a head scratch and loves all shapes and sizes, however, he is most fond of kids.
Beaver came from living an outdoor lifestyle, so he never wants to come in from being outside, no matter the weather conditions. Although he prefers to do his business outside, he is not crate-trained and will not hold himself for long periods of time. He would do best in a household where he has a fenced-in yard or can be let outside multiple times throughout the day.
I have so much more I could tell you about Beaver and would be happy to give you more details about him so please don’t hesitate to contact me to learn more. In my experience with Beaver, I’ve never met anyone who didn’t want to take him home with them – I’ve even had some self-proclaimed “non-dog people” admit that they could fall in love with a dog like Beaver.
Adoption Fee: $500 + tax
Adoption Status: Is this dog available? Submitting an application is the best first step to learning if a dog is still available. There is a chance this dog could have a pending adoption when your application is submitted, however our team will offer approved applicants to be put on a waiting list for that dog. Additionally, we can make recommendations on other dogs that may be a match. Pending adoptions do not mean the adoption is finalized. Why did we implement this change? We implemented this update because, unfortunately, dogs were pending for applicants for several weeks and then the applicant would change their mind. This happens more often with puppies, as applications are submitted impulsivly more often for them. Our process is great because it takes a little time, so impulsive decisions fade. However it was unfortunate for the dogs, and the foster homes, as then the process needed to be re-started. By securing a wait-list we are able to move forward more quickly if a pending adoption falls through. This is a new process for us, so your feedback along the way is helpful! Thank you for supporting rescue and adoption!
