December 20th 2025, we adopted a happy and healthy puppy, Bernard! He came into rescue with his sister just at the time we were considering adding a new pup to our home. He has been growing like a weed, and is almost 50lbs now! He will be 5 months old in a couple of weeks!
Bernard has been the perfect addition to our family, and is especially fond of his human sibling Rhett. The two follow each other all over, and love to give each other kisses. He’s also been an incredible guide for our foster pup to follow! He is also fitting in well with our two older pups who prefer to lounge. He is calm and gentle, and sweet as can be-just like every other rescue pup we own! On Tuesday (2/3) Bernard seemed a bit lackluster, but I wasn’t sure if he was acting off or maybe was just tired from all of the nonstop foster pup play. He only ate half of his dinner, but was still drinking and doing everything else just fine. On Wednesday (2/4) Bernard seemed extra lazy, and lost his appetite not eating much of his breakfast, which warranted a vet visit. Our vet did blood work, x-rays, and couldn’t find the cause of what was bothering him. He was given a 24hr injection for pain and a slightly elevated temperature and when we returned home he was more perky and wanted to eat! Thursday (2/6) morning we woke up, and he ate breakfast and romped around like a maniac! Until about 24 hours following his injection, he started to slow down again. He became lethargic and uninterested in food again, and Bernard had no interest in his dinner. This was close to our vets closing time, but they were very invested in what was going on with him and had us take his temp. It registered at 107.2. I was told to take him immediately to an emergency vet. They found an abscess in his neck/throat area, and he needed to be hospitalized overnight while they continued to run tests and investigate what is causing all of this, and we had a generous donation to cover the cost of emergency hospitalization and testing, and have continued with our vet and we are looking at $1500 in total on our care credit account we are fortunate to have. The results have returned and it is an infection that should be well controlled with the antibiotics he is on, and he had his abscess drained to help his body begin healing. We will continue care with our vet, and are hoping for a speedy recovery now that we know what is going on, although we still are unsure what started this infection.
