Just bad all around...what to do...??

[msvette2u]

Well it started with the Lab brothers.
And kennel cough that turned into pneumonia.
We spent hundreds on those dogs, and their adoption fees never covered 1/2 of what we spent due to the KC and illness.
(this isn't really about money although that's a factor in our decisions here).
Well we took in Gabriel, he's still here, the other three have been adopted but while here, they all developed some KC and in fact also infected one of our foster puppies that did NOT come from a shelter.
He now has pneumonia!!

I'm so very tired, what with Copper and all. And every time I turn around more puppies are coming in, more than what's going out.

Maybe I'm burnt out. One thing is for sure, I cannot take any more animals from the shelter where this horrible KC is coming from. Oh, I forgot to mention that one of our fosters saw the brothers on the way to Seattle, was in the same vehicle and wound up with severe KC and pneumonia. WTF??? She wasn't even around them but for about 20 overlapping minutes in the back of our pickup. I mean I know it's contagious but...

And we've been vaccinating them ALL for KC, upon entry here, that's new for us, we used to just do the regular 5ways and a rabies.
But I feel just...I'm frustrated and a little confused about all the illness.
In 6yrs. of doing rescue and shelter work, we've not had KC so severe that it went into pneumonia.

Also with Copper's spleen gone, will HE be more at risk for becoming ill??

I have a hard time saing "no" but I'm going to have to start.
First things first, as soon as our current fosters are gone, we won't be taking in any, unless it is from our vet's office, and only because I want to maintain relations with them, as they've been so good to us.

I don't want to STOP rescuing but I have to change something...suggestions???

[airwalk]

This particular KC is nasty, that's why I warned you to get the brothers in. We do intranasal K/C on intake and again 3-5 days later. That seems to help, it doesn't eliminate K/C but it helps.

I can assure you, that almost every shelter is fighting it and taking shelter does means at least a 50/50 shot of bringing it in. I agree about not doing that until Copper is back up to par.

That said, all of us that work at shelters also have dogs and our dogs are typically healthy. I had one incident of it in my home in 5 years. I also update the K/C twice a year on all of my dogs and have since I started working with shelter dogs.

[msvette2u]

Thanks Diane...I had never even had to use the KC vaccines until just a few mos. ago. Our dogs NEVER got it, or if they did, it was so very mild as to be a slight annoyance.
I'm just freaking out, I guess. It's such a huge thing. I just am baffled as it never used to be.

I feel so bad to let shelters down but, KC I can deal with - this lingering, VERY SICK, pneumonia sh*t is going to eat us alive...!

[airwalk]

I totally understand. The bullies, the seniors, the puppies and immune compromised seem to go from KC to pneumonia very quickly/.

[Violet]

I don't know what to tell you, Vette. We went through a period..when was it Diana? two years ago? Seemed like every damn dog came down with it. We were calling it kennel crash. It invariably happened AFTER we pulled them that they got so sick. And Dawn actually lost a foster to it. Just couldn't turn him around.

[airwalk]

Yep two years ago was the worst we'd seen. It's gotten better, but it's a fight every day with just about every dog. They seem to crash with it when they've been with us about 7-9 days.

It's not as bad now as it was and yes we've had two fatalities from it over the last two years. Both seniors and both completely crashed within less than 12 hours and we couldn't turn them around.

[msvette2u]

Our pup-pup is on an IV now and he's eating finally on his own, I bought this high calorie supplement, after we had the senior Labradors and couldn't get nutrition in them.
We've been giving it to him, and he's on Clavamox, today he ate on his own!
I'm just nervous for the next dogs that may come in, well, we've decided that until everyone's over it, we're not taking any in.
And then until Copper gets better, and, well the results of his biopsy, we're holding our collective breaths here, to see how the rescue goes at this point...