Brule, Terrier Mix

Meet Brule!

With a mouth full of burns and a stomach imbedded with BB gun pellets, it’s obvious that Brule has live a life of horrors.

He is understandably withdrawn and is unsure of the gentle hands that touch him.  Warm beds, tranquility and a roof over his head are all new to him.  He has been a perverted amusement to someone somewhere, the depths of which we may never know.

It breaks our hearts to consider what Brule came from.  We can only hope that enough love and understanding will begin to heal this boy’s broken body and fractured spirit.

He will know what it means to be part of a family, to be pain-free, to play with toys and someday to trust people.

Our hearts will heal together with time and a lot of love…

Medical Update on Brule, March 21st from the vet:

I realize that you aren’t going to understand it all, but take a look at some of the numbers. AST ~ 3990. CPK- 160,000! Sodium 174. These are barely compatible with life, and these values were after two days on IV fluids. I talked to an Internist who is stumped as well, but confirmed that we are treating appropriately by using half strength IV fluids to bring down the sodium, and supplementing potassium. The antibiotics have made a huge difference in his mouth wounds.

The pellets have never been a big deal- they aren’t a part of his current problems anyway.

While he’s virtually a different dog than when he came in last Friday, he still has twitching/tremors that look sort of like a Distemper survivor, but not quite. It appears that he may also have a fractured pelvis, but the fractures are non-displaced.

Because of the CPK and AST values, which point to a muscle problem of some sort, we are concerned about Toxoplasmosis and Neosporum Canis- both of which can cause myositis and could also be responsible for the twitching.

However, before we go running all the specific tests for those two (rare) diseases, we are sending out a general panel today to see what kind of progress is being made on his electrolyte levels- we need to know where we are in order to determine when we can take him off fluids and send him to a foster.

I wish I could tell you something more “certain” about what happened and is happening to this little guy. He is doing a lot better than he was and is really a nice little dog. The changes are really remarkable.

Brule’s Updates:

We lost Brule on Sunday morning. It’s taken us a bit to process the information – we are all heartbroken. He was such a little fighter with such a will to live, but the Distemper was too much for his body to take. He passed away in the loving care of Dr. Katie, sitting outside in the sun with her. Thank you to his foster mom’s, Cyndi  and Kristin for showing him that not all people are bad. R.I.P. precious boy. I’m so sorry we couldn’t save you. Thank you Dr.’s Katie and Mellissa for giving it your all.

Update from Brule’s foster mom, March 31st: Brule is taking it easy today. He almost stopped all the crying, whining and yelling. He seems more settled and can be focused on his recovery, which means, he is actually just sleeping, drinking and eating. All the mobility he showed off the first day is gone. His backside does not obey. So he drags his legs with him, which does not work very well as he is too weak. The trembling is pulsative and gets more so if he is excited or nervous. It sometimes stops just for less than 30 sec. if he sleeps really deep. (Then I always check, if he is ok – I´m know totally used to the sound of his leg hitting the floor). I can leave him lying somewhere without him freaking out. He slept the night through with only one break. And I think, I might go back in my own bed in a day or two. (I’ve been sleeping on the floor with him). If he wants to eat, drink or go potty, he lets me know. Although I’m still about to figure out what he is telling me, we are working on it!

From Brule’s foster, March 28th: Brought Brule home today! He did whine almost the whole way home (I haven’t had someone complain about my driving for a long time). He went potty outside and since than he is wandering around in the house and checking everything out, as much as he can with his 3 to 4 legs. He is a bit wiggly!