/7/13: Please welcome Lugnut! Lugnut is a precious three year old male, surrendered to Cobb County animal control yesterday morning. His human owner is deployed with the military and it appears that Lugg has been passed around from home to home while he’s been gone. Imagine being in the Middle East, fighting for your country and knowing this is happening to your dog back home.
The last person who “took responsibility” for Lugnut turned him into the shelter…..great way to honor our military. But, that happened to be the SECOND best day of Lugnut’s life (first best day will be adoption day). Lugnut is thin, needs dental care and will need to have both knees fixed. He’s a big sweet cuddle bug and craves human interaction. We do not know how he is with other dogs, cats or children.
Update 12/8/13: I am Loving this sweetheart! Unfortunately BOTH knees are gone, so he needs a little help getting around. Besides that… he is such a great boy! He’s Completely non reactive to other dogs. At GVS this morning, the entire team was won over by his loving demeanor. What a nice pup he is!
Update 12/10/13: After a few hours with Dr Cross today we now know that (1) he has tears in both knees that are probably only a month old, which would explain why he is in so much pain, (2) he has bilateral hip dysphasia, (3) he has lumbosacral disc degeneration or possibly discospendylitis (infection of the disk). This is a LOT for one little bullie.
He is on the surgery schedule for this Thursday. Dr Cross will do a CT scan first to rule out discospendylitis (infection of the disk). If there is no infection he will do surgery on his left knee and neuter him (he can only have one knee surgery at a time, so the right one will be done in six weeks) but if there is infection we will put off knee surgery and come up with a new game plan and treat the disk infection first. Either way his suffering will stop soon.
As you can imagine all of these issues come with a big price tag! One of his anonymous Guardian Angels has offered to cover the cost of one knee surgery if you all can help cover the cost of the other one and some extra for the x-rays, CT scan, neuter, bloodwork, medication and office visits. They are committed to $2,800.00! Can you find it in your heart to donate too? Every dollar helps and is very much appreciated!
We are so grateful for all of the donations we have received over the past 24 hours for Lugnut! Without you we would not be able to get him the care he needs and deserves.
Update12/11/13: I just spoke with Dr Cross and we are going to bring him to GVS today so they can get him hydrated and de-worm before tomorrow. He is not concerned about the bloody diarrhea since it is from all of the worms but he does not like the fact that he is not eating or drinking much.
Update 12/12/13: Dr Cross did find infection in his spine so surgery is on hold. We started him on antibiotics and pain meds and are running some additional tests. We will have more answers in a week. His bullie taxi Vanessa, just picked him up GVS and returned him to Riverside. Please keep him in your thoughts.
Update 12/19/13: We got the test results back yesterday and it is just an infection in his spine! We were testing for a few other things but he tested negative for everything! We will continue to treat the spine infection for another three weeks. If he is ready for neuter and knee surgery at that time we will move forward but if not we will treat longer and do surgery when it is safe. Since we posted Lugnut’s story we have invested $2,280 in his care and that does not include any surgery costs yet! But you have donated $3,505 plus we have $2,800 from his anonymous Guardian Angels! So we are almost at our goal to get Lugnut back to 100%! Thank you all for your donations!
Update 1/1/14: Lugnut moved into his foster home! The antibiotics are working wonders on his spine infection and he is walking on his own. He can stand and walk but not for long periods of time. He will go back to see Dr Cross in on 1/29 and if the infection is all cleared up he will have his first of two knee surgeries. He is living with three other dogs and two human siblings that are six years old. So far he loves them all!
Update 1/31/14: Lugnut was able to make it to the hospital on Wednesday because of the bad weather we had so he was unable to have his knee surgery. He is rescheduled for 2/10.
Update 2/11/14: Lugnut had his first knee surgery yesterday and all went well. He will have his stitches out in two weeks then have an x-ray four weeks later. If all looks good on the x-ray then he will have surgery on the other knee that day.
Update 3/27/14: Lugnut had his second knee surgery on Monday. So far so good with his recovery. He will have his final check up and x-ray in six weeks. If all looks good we will finalize his adoption then.
Update 5/11/14: It has been a long few months for Lugnut in rescue between all the vet visits, medications and surgery but he was finally cleared for adoption last week and got himself a new mommy for mother’s day. Congrats Lugnut, Crystal and Scooter!
Update 11/27/14: Unfortunately Lugnut is back in rescue…but we are happy that he is. For the past few months he stopped walking on his own and became a tad grumpy. Instead of taking him to the vet to find out what was troubling him, his adopted just let it go. Eventually she emailed us stating that we would need to take him back. Yes are very disappointed with her actions or lack there of but Lugnut is where be needs to be now and we will focus on that and move forward.
Update 12/2/14: He saw Dr Cross and was diagnosed with advanced erosive polyarthropathy (rheumatoid-like arthritis), bilateral caudal cruciate tears and left hip dislocation. We started him on new medications and he will see Dr Cross again in a few weeks for a check up.
Update 1/6/14: Lugnut saw Dr Cross for a follow up. What a difference! He is not at 100% yet but he is a much better that he was a month ago. Each day he is getting a little better. We will continue with this treatment plan and recheck in a few months. He is making great progress in his foster home. Dana and Robert are working with every day on his social skills and building up his muscles!
Update 1/12/15: Lugnut is making huge progress! Each day he seems to make huge leaps forward. He even wanted to attempt the steps on his own and walked the entire driveway!
Update 1/30/15: Lugnut was seen running around the yard today! What a difference from a month ago!
Update 5/20/15: Lugnut has made so much progress in his foster home over the past four months both physically and emotionally. Lugnut is doing well on his daily dose of prednisone and getting around much better. He is now getting along with and playing with his foster brother and sister. He is also much more trusting of his foster parents. He still has a few dislikes….like people he does not know in his face! But he loves attention and loves to be pet and rubbed!
His forever home will need to be in the Atlanta area. We are not letting this guy out of our site again! He should not be around children. He would like a home with other dogs.
Update 12/16/15: Lugnut finally picked out his new mom! Frances, who was actually Lugnut’s foster grand mom a few months ago is now his adoptive mom. Congrats Lugnut and Frances!
3/18/19: Lugnut crossed over the rainbow bridge today. Please keep his family in your thoughts.
approximate age: 5
approximate weight: 50
likes dogs: yes
likes cats: n/a
likes children: he will not be placed in a home with children
food: Taste of the Wild, Pacific Stream
life long medications: joint supplements, tramadol, tacrolimus eye drops, and prednisone
GUARDIAN ANGELS:
Anonymous Guardian Angels
S Chandler
B & D Howell
N Fishbach
SPONSORS:
K & K Stanley
K Pope – In memory of Olivia
R Williams
D Hicks
S Hiers
R & S Hale
R Stites
S Dickinson
T Helms & J Iannini
C Kinsell
R Harris
T McBride
Z Good
M Pope – In memory of Olivia
J Swfit – In honor of Tony Helms
T Helms & J Iannini
J Jennings
J Glenn
T Campbell
B Strickland
S Brogdon
J Bellamy
K Pope – In memory of Olivia
T LaRose
J & G Dudek
R & I Powell
J Ellis Carver
T Transou
H Hener
C Kinsell
P Robinson
P Cable
T Barker
H Wall
S Dean
S Pursley
H & A Wheeler
R Banks
E Robertson
N Viemeister
A More
H Pitts
A Sarianides
S Schader
P Hughey
J Bragg
J Vandergift
K Vandergfit
T Miller
