On 11/20/19, TAF was contacted about an emaciated puppy that had been repeatedly kicked so many times that he would not make it through the night if TAF didn’t step in to help. Multiple x-rays would show that the largest bone in Kent’s front leg, femur, was broken straight through and his lung had collapsed. He was kicked so hard that even a transverse vertebra, in the area where Kent’s lung had collapsed, was broken. With bruising and multiple contusions on each lung, Kent felt pain with every breath he took. When it came to Kent’s swollen and misshapen jaw, no large obvious breaks showed up but small fractures were not ruled out. Unexpectedly, the collapsed lung became our biggest concern. The damaged lung caused air to build up in his chest cavity. This trapped air created pressure that made it difficult for Kent’s lung to inflate and deflate normally. It also put pressure on his heart. Since Kent was experiencing such respiratory distress, he needed to have a chest tube put into his side to extract the air in his chest cavity. Kent was then placed in an oxygen chamber to provide extra oxygen. Once Kent was stable enough for surgery, an Orthopedic Specialist repaired his leg. As soon as Kent was out of surgery, he was put back in an oxygen chamber and hospitalized in the ICU for days. After everything that I have just explained, would you believe it if I told you that even through all of this, Kent still wagged his tail when you spoke to him. It didn't even make sense. Whether he knew that we were trying to help him or he just wanted a friend, this brave puppy wagged his tail.
When Kent was well enough to leave the ER Vet, he started a long 11 week recovery on strict crate rest and rehabilitation. In that time, we also started working on Kent’s much needed puppy skills and socialization. This was a critical time for him to learn manners and TAF’s momma therapy dog, Antler, took Kent under her wing and gave him direction.
Well, long story short, we are so happy to announce that Kent has made a full recovery and has found his FOREVER HOME!!! Kent pretty much just hit the puppy lottery and landed himself an amazing family. Not only does he have 4 new littles to look after but also a new pup brother. The photos of all of them are beyond adorable! If that wasn’t enough, Kent’s new mom and dad are some of the nicest most down to earth people I have met. They opened their home and just let Kent act like the big goofy puppy. Upon arriving at Kent’s new home, he repeatedly ran through the house, out the back door and into the yard where he played with the kids and his new brother. It was organized chaos at its finest. It was one of the happiest and most rewarding adoptions that I have ever been apart of… it was a long hard road but he made it. The photos in this album show that if you know that a dog can have a good quality of life, you just don’t give up on them. Without TAF’s supporters, we could have never afforded the top notch medical care that Kent received. A big thank you to Kent’s medical team(s) at MedVet Chicago. I think that pretty much everyone from every department worked on Kent and contributed their area of expertise to help him out. We really appreciate it. Oh, Kent’s family had a DNA test done and as it turns out Kent is 62.5% Great Pyrenees and 37.5% mixed breeds. Wouldn’t have guessed that!
