Help Earl on his path to wellness!

Earl is our sweet and adorable 6 month old bulldog. It is really hard for us to turn to gofundme for help but we want the best for our baby boy. At 2 months old, Earl got a case of aspiration pneumonia and spent a few nights in the emergency vet. Earl was sent home with antibiotics and we were hopeful for a full recovery.

A few weeks after, Earl started showing signs of fluid in his lungs again. We consulted our vet and she decided to do another round of the antibiotics at a higher dosage. We saw slight improvements but our vet was hesitant to keep him on the antibiotics as he was just a baby. She advised us to get a culture of his lungs done so that we can know what is causing the fluid and how to treat it.

We waited a month and a half to see a respiratory specialist who would be able to perform the culture, due to covid causing major backups in internal veterinary care. The culture came back that the fluid was an aggressive bacteria but that it was susceptible to an antibiotic called Baytril. We were sent home with the antibiotics and things started improving greatly. The coughing seemed to have subsided some and he was acting like a full blown puppy again. We thought we had finally figured it out and we were going to beat this!

This morning Earl begun throwing up mucus. His breathing was labored and his gums were gray. I rushed him to the emergency vet and he was having issues oxygenating himself. The emergency vet believes that Earl had gotten some mucus caught in his airway and aspirated again. He will need to stay in the hospital on oxygen and fluids until he can prove he can oxygenate himself well again. He will be seeing a new specialist tomorrow who has agreed to take him on as her patient and oversee the process of his recovery. 

At this point, we need to turn to others for help. We have tapped ourselves out on vet visits and now this secondary hospital stay and many more appointments to come. With this form of bacteria being so aggressive, it will take months of antibiotics, x rays and another lung culture to ensure he make a full recovery. 

Earl is the best tempered, sweetest dog you will ever meet. Anyone who meets him instantly falls in love. He is so smart already and deserves a fighting chance. He is a light during a dark time and we’re not ready to give up on him just yet. Every little bit helps and Jake and I are so thankful to have such a strong support team. We are hopeful that Earl will be a fun loving, happy puppy again like he should be! Thanks for your prayers and well wishes.