Woof!

Big Rocky needs help.

My source for this story comes from  Kristen Alousia, the dedicated kennel manager at Adopt-A-Dog.  She also took the photographs.

Big Rocky, a 4-year-old rottweiler is on his second miracle. Not long ago,  somewhere in North Carolina,  Rocky was shot with a BB gun, and possibly beaten, or hit by a car, left for dead  in a ditch.  He had a crushed vertebrae, and a compressed spine.  He was brought to a shelter called For Love of Dogs in NC, where he was treated for his wounds.  Then on a recent trip to North Carolina’s shelters, Adopt-A-Dog’ s  kennel manager Kristen Alouisa found Rocky at  For Love of Dogs. She brought him, with 8 other dogs, north to Adopt-A-Dog’s shelter for adoption  in Armonk NY.   The next day, Kristen noticed he was still a very sick dog. Refusing his food, he was running a fever, vomiting and drooling.

Kristen rushed him to Animal Specialty Center where Dr. Joseph Palamara took over his care.

Palamara  proceeded to do x-rays, where he noticed a lot of fluid around the outside of Rocky’s lungs. The doctors took a sample of the fluid, and after getting the results back  found that it was indicative of an infection. The next step was to perform surgery to 1) find out what was causing the infection and 2) clean out the area of his chest cavity that was infected. During the beginning of the surgery, Big Rocky’s heart stopped, but he was revived via drugs.

The surgery found that a chopstick-sized barbecue skewer was lodged in his chest cavity, with part of it poking into one of the lobes of his lungs and part of his heart. The doctors removed the skewer, and had to remove a lobe of his lung as well (which is being sent out for tests); the area inside that was infected was cleared away.

But on the next night things still weren’t looking too well. The doctor gave a prognosis of very guarded.  Big Rocky was having difficulty breathing and  had very low blood pressure. The next  morning Kirsten found that he made it through the night, and the doctors had him very heavily sedated due to the pain from the operation.

Rocky, after his operation.

Kristen spoke with the vet at the Animal Specialty Center recently to find that Big Rocky actually got up on his own and walked around a bit which the pleased Dr. Palamara. He said that Rocky has made a lot of progress since the night before. Blood work was done which indicated that he has a blood-borne infection, which is being treated with antibiotics. Dr. Palamara said this was not unusual, due to the surgery that was performed. The doctor also said that he has a lot of fluid still draining from around his lungs which the doctor said was not unusual due to the surgery performed. The doctor said that soon they were going to try and get him to eat real food.

When Kristin visited with him, he picked his head up for a moment, but was still very out of it. He ate some food.  The next day she visited with him, and as opposed to the past couple times when she visited in his ICU area, he was strong enough that the vet tech walked him out and into a room. Kiristen said that it was wonderful to see him up and moving. He was still in a lot of pain, still had a chest tube, but all in all is making wonderful progress.

Dr. Palamaro has been the vet who Kristen has been in contact with the most. He has said that Big Rocky has been very good-tempered, allowing him and his staff to care for him. Dr. Palamara is pleased at Rocky’s improvement.  “He is doing great”, he said. “He’s eating,  and walking.

Kristen agreed.

“Big Rocky is like a miracle dog”, said Kristen. “He should have died when he was found in North Carolina a few months back, and we almost lost him again Monday. He’s a fighter — he possesses an amazing resilience and desire for life. Despite the way he was treated by humans early on in his life, he still seeks out a pat on the head.”

And a home to call his own.  For more information go to Adopt-A-Dog.

Kristen visits Rocky every evening.  She will send Woof pictures with each improvement, so stay tuned!

Rocky is making progress!