Please help Augustus. He's a lab who has suffered some kind of trauma and Lab Friends of the South has taken him in but they need help raising some money for his surgery. Here is his story.

I have pulled the sweetest 4 year old chocolate lab from a shelter a couple of weeks ago. None of the vets who visited ever said anything about his health but he was not eating much. We finally took him to our most trusted vet who did a lot of exams and x-rays. Well, we finally found out why he is not eating but it is not a good news. He is not eating because half of his organs are not where they should be (splin, liver etc.): instead of in his belly they are up on his chest possibly pressing on his stomach. This is usually the result of a trauma. Either he was hit by a car or, more likely, he was kicked hard on his belly. He needs an operation that will cost us about $2000 but then he will be fine. It is a lot of money but the only other option we have is to put him down and none of us can do it given how sweet he is and knowing that with the operation he will be as good as new.

So, we gave the OK to the vet who will operate tomorrow. We are trying to see if we can find money to help pay and do some fundraising. Also he will need a home to recover. It will only take a few weeks in which he would not want to move much but then he will be completely normal.

If you know of anyone who would be willing to donate or help fundraising just spread the voice and tell them to email me. They can see Augustus' sweet face (Augie for the friends) at http://www.labradorfriends.com/Available/available_main.htm (http://www.labradorfriends.com/Available/available_main.htm)

http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j118/HaleyJo_2006/augustus31.jpg
http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j118/HaleyJo_2006/augustus1.jpg

Augustus is a BEAUTIFUL boy!! I really hope that people will donate any amount to help Augustus or offer to be a foster home for him.

He will need a soft place to fall after his surgery!!

Well, mine definitely falls under the "any amount" category! :p: Hope he comes through his surgery and recovery as smoothly as possible.

Well, mine definitely falls under the "any amount" category! :p: Hope he comes through his surgery and recovery as smoothly as possible.

It all adds up. Thank you very much!

I just made a donation for this sweet boy. Paws crossed for a quick recovery.

http://www.lab-retriever.net/board/attachment.php?attachmentid=18993&stc=1&d=1174916201
Nittany Cheyenne Bailey

I just made a donation for this sweet boy. Paws crossed for a quick recovery.

http://www.lab-retriever.net/board/attachment.php?attachmentid=18993&stc=1&d=1174916201
Nittany Cheyenne Bailey

And thank you too. Every bit helps. It's pretty hard to think his condition was caused by him likely being kicked. He deserves a home with love and at the very least be able to eat and enjoy food as labs do. It must be very painful for him. Thank you again.

Just made my donation. Get Well Soon Augustus! :)

Just made my donation. Get Well Soon Augustus! :)

Thanks Deni. It's so cool to see how complete strangers jump in to help a lab in need. You guys are great!

Received this e-mail from Elena of Lab Friends of the South today.

Thank you for your donation for Augustus. He had surgery yesterday and he was awake at 5pm. He is in pain at the moment but he is fine..we should know more in the next few days. Keep your finger crossed, the next couple of days are very important. Thank you for your support.

Elena

Hi everyone...thank you for your support for Augie. I know that some of you have donated for Augie. We have received some donations without any remarks so I dont know who donated specifically for him. If you have please email me at labfriendinfo@gmail.com so I can put you in the list of 'Augie angels'..believe, yes any amount count! if every person who adopted a lab from us so far would donated as little as $20, we would pay for his bill!

LATEST UPDATE: He went into surgery on Tuesday and he was doing fine. The vet had given him 90% probability of a full recovery. Then on Wednesday morning complications started and he went back into surgery. They had to give him a blood transfusions and he spent last night at the emergency vet to be under 24 hours monitoring. The fact that he made it so far is a good sign but he is still not out of the woods. Every day that passes increases his chances. A vet tech at the emergency room last night told us that when Augustus was not settling down she went inside his run and sat on the floor. He crowled into her lap and finally started sleeping. He is as sweet as a dog can be...but it looks like he is also a fighter...

So keep praying. After all this he still has the will to fight, we should all learn from him!

Elena and LFS

and now?
any news?
does he have a home?
will they adopt out of state?

Bett:

E-mail Elena at the e-mail address above and ask if they will adopt out of state. He is so beautiful AND has been through so much!

and now?
any news?
does he have a home?
will they adopt out of state?

I received an email from the rescue today and they said that he will be staying at the vet's for 2 more weeks or until the vet thinks he is well enough to leave and then they hope to have a foster home set up by then.

http://www.lab-retriever.net/board/attachment.php?attachmentid=18993&stc=1&d=1174916201
Nittany Cheyenne Bailey

Bett,

please email me at labfriendinfo@gmail.com about adoptions out of state.

The update you see there is of this afternoon. He is stable. We dont want to get our hopes too high but the vet was positive today. I will keep updating the Lab Forum as soon as I know more.

Elena
LFS

done/ please keep me informed. i really may be interested in adopting this guy. of course, i wouldnt want to tax him if the out of state trip would be too much for him. or if you felt he should be an only dog.
i'm interested in augustus' best interest-all the way!

Hi everyone. This was another good day for Augustus. They took the tube out of his chest (this was there because the injury had caused fluid to build up in his lungs). He was not happy about the tube as much as he is not happy about the catheter (who would right?!). We hope this will make him more comfortable so that he starts sleeping a little more. We are still not getting our hopes too high, but any day that passes with nothing happening is good! Thank you to everyone who has helped so far. $10 by $10 (and many people donated more than that), we are slowing moving along toward the $3000 we need. It is amazing how far $10 can go when you have many of them.

Elena, LFS

So glad to hear Auggie had a good day and got those uncomfortable things out of him!!

He is a beautiful boy and I hope you find a foster or adopter for him REAL Soon!!:angel: :angel: :thumb4: :thumb4:

Glad to hear that he is on the mend. My donation was small but I'm sure it's helping all the same.

So glad to hear Augustus in feeling a bit better. :)

Glad to hear that he is on the mend. My donation was small but I'm sure it's helping all the same.

Thank you very much for your donation. Auggie's future is going to be brighter and Lab Friends is going to be able to help more labs because of all your donations. Without the support it would certainly hender their progress. Thank you everyone for helping Auggie.

fingers and paws crossed for continued good news

Days with no news are good days for Augustus....Dont let you fingers uncross!

Elena, LFS

any new news?

so, how is "gus" these days?

Awwee Bett I love how concerned you are about him :D

I'll email Lab Friends and see if I can get an update and post it. Thanks for thinking of him.

Here is an update on Auggie at Lab Friends of the South:

Augustus is doing great. Now that the pain is going down he is back to his usual personality, goofy and sweet. The vet is very happy with him. We have one more week to observe him before we can all take a deep breath but so far he is doing very very well! So all good news so far for Augustus....the only complains he has is about his new haircut!

We can now safely say that Augustus's surgery was a success. He is still recovering at the vet but he is doing very well. Now it is time to find him a foster or a permanent home. Due to his recent surgery and all he went through, we think it would be best for him to have a home where he is the only dog. If you know anyone in the Atlanta area who is looking for a great laidback dog, send them my way. Thank you everyone for their support both moral and monetary. You helped us greatly and we appreciate it. I will post a picture as soon as I get one.

Elena and LFS.

Such wonderful news on this brave guy Augustus!!

I really hope he finds a foster or adoptive home quickly!

The lucky person that gets this angel!!

Thank you for this wonderful update on Augustus. :thumb4:

Sending good thoughts for him and hope that he finds the perfect home.

Augustus us ready to leave the vet..and we are ready to face the vet bill! So if you were thinking of making a small donation for him, it is not too late!
He is doing great. I am going to try to get a picture soon. He is still badly in need of a foster or a permanent home. Augustus is a great laidback companion dog. He needs a family where he will be the only dog and where all attention can be devoted to him. No other dogs or pets. We would love for him to get into a foster home as we are still discovery his true personality. He could not show us who is really is while he was in such a pain. We hate to leave him in boarding at the vet. So if you were thinking of fostering or adopting a special dog, email me at labfriendinfo@gmail.com.

Elena
LFS

Augustus REALLY needs to be in a foster or adoptive home. He must be so sad being in boarding after that big surgery.

Why should he be an only dog??:thumb4:

I e-mailed Jenny of Lab Friends of the South to ask how Augustus is doing.
Here is her reply:

Augustus is doing alot better.........health wise we have a trainer working with him... He has some
issues and the trainer feels with help we can find him a great home. Just he will have to go to a very lab experienced person.

No foster yet but we feel after the trainer we will be able to find a foster home or forever home.

Thanks
Jenny
labfriendpres@gmail.com

Any recent updates on Augustus?? I was just wondering how he was doing.

He is doing fine. He really just needs to get out of the vet and into a foster home where he can start working on his confidence....We are trying our best to find a foster but, as you all know, foster homes are hot commodities and a foster home for a dog who is picky about other dogs is even harder to find...

I will keep you posted,

Elena
LFS

so everyone still feels that he must be an "only"?

I know looks can be conceiving sometimes. But Augustus looks so humble. What is the reason he must be the only dog?

Betty seems truly interested and caring. Just wondering?

I e-mailed Elena of Lab Friends and said some people would like to know what was meant about Augustus perhaps being an only dog.

Elena will reply more later tonight, but this is what she said for now:

Karen,

I will put an update later tonight. The fact is that we have an idea but we really dont know much. I will write it nicely on the lab forum. If you think you want to post this email feel free to do so. This is really all we know about him at this point. He is really a sweetie with people and he could be such a good dog if we had someone willing to work with him.

He was fine the first time at adoption. He was found runnign around with another female lab. first time I transported him he was loose in my car with another male dog. he was growling at him but he would stop if I said no. Then he went to the vet. got his surgery and was fine. One time at the vet, when he was feeling better playing ball out of the blue he charged another dog, no warning. Since then we are not sure. We had a trainer evaluate him and the conclusion is that he has some self confidence issues probably due to his past. She took him home with her one day and worked with him to the point that he was loose in the back yard with her dog. He came to adoption with her once and he was fine with female dogs coming near him but he got into a fight with another large male lab.

So the conclusion is that we think he could be better if we only had someone willing to work with him. he needs to be either an only dog or with someone with a lot of experience and a little bit of patience willing to work with him on some socialization and self confidence issues. I think that once he is over some of his fear problems he will be fine.

The trainer that knows her has another of our dogs living with her. If he got adopted we would try Augustus with her. But as we are right now he is at the vet and he not improving much because we dont have anyone that can work with him.

Hi everyone. I saw Karen put my email on the forum which is really all we know so far. I think he would probably be fine with one other dog as long as the person adopting is willing to invest time for them to get adjusted to each other.It would probably be better if the other dog was female. Betty, I dont know how many dogs you have. If you were closer I would love for you to give it a try. We dont ship dogs and with him I would not take my chances. What if he does not work out?

Elena

He is a gorgeous boy. :(

Poor guy.. I hope a foster home with the experience to handle this steps up, or someone that does not have any other dogs. Good luck!