Giles Express, Part 2

Part 2...

Giles made it through the night. The next hematocrit taken was 22. His red blood cells doubled over night!  One could see dramatic improvement over night as he lifted his head when called and his eyes were brighter.  He could also stand!  Giles held his own through the night.

Potty Break on Tuesday, 7/3

Since he had been on oxygen all night, At Risk Intervention (ARI) elected to transfer him to University of Tennessee Vet Hospital (UT) for at least the day. He walked to the transport van on his own, but his gums were far too pale and his breathing too rough and upon arrival and UT, a gurney was requested for the trip into the hospital. He spent another two nights in the ICU at UT.

He improved so much over the 4th of July weekend, that he was again transferred on the 6th of July to a local vet office. He was stable and doing well on room air. Even so, he spent another two days in the care unit at the local vet office before being transferred to an experienced foster home, where the woman of the house was an experienced vet tech.

How much had he improved?

Giles hematocrit had risen to 28, up 17 points (more than 50%) since the day he was dumped. Bloodwork showed that his malnourished body was producing red blood cells. He had also been eating like crazy and gained 10 pounds!

Cyn's efforts also found out that the same people were involved in another abuse case involving a second greyhound, which almost died the previous year. She is making it her job to follow the progress of the abuse case. She stated,

"If no action is taken, I will file a writ of mandamus to ask the court to order the DA to do his job. I really doubt that will be necessary given the conditions and documentation of these dogs. Don't mess with Greyhounds around a Greyhound-loving Lawyer."

One woman, Carla, put this story into perspective,

"He is who I think of when I tell people that the only greyhounds I have "rescued" come from prior adopters...  that my straight from the racing kennel or straight from the track or group adoptions are just that-- adoptions."

Cyn posted at update on the boy, letting everyone know that

"he has a permanent home with Nancy Hanrahan in NJ, when he's well enough to travel -- no more changes for a little while! I've known Nancy for a couple of decades and she specializes in old man fossil dogs, so I know he'll get the best of care. His vet bills are covered with donations. Hemocrit was originally 11 when he came in to the animal shelter and was 28 on Friday. He is making red blood cells just fine per his retic rate. A happy ending when we were about four hours from a tragedy. He probably would not have made it through the night, the vet says. Animal Control is pursuing an investigation, they say, and I have the couple's home address."

To get the boy to this point, ARI used every dime they had. Now was the time for the greyhound community to help ARI and the way to do it was with an "Emergency Auction".