Gunni

Gunni is a big, sweet 8-year old “teddy bear” of a dog, who has been incontinent since he was a pup. He was dumped by his family and somewhere along the line, as he was passed from home to home, it appears that he was punished for being incontinent.

Sadly, Gunni eventually found himself at an animal shelter where he was scared and due to be put down. However, thanks to the help of volunteers, he was saved by the German Shepherd Rescue of the Rockies. After 7 months in our rescue, he was adopted by a wonderful family who took him to the veterinarians at Colorado State University to see if Gunni could be helped.

Fortunately, Gunni’s family learned there is procedure that might be able to correct his problem. This special surgery is only done at the CSU Veterinary Teaching Hospital and costs around $2000. His family would love to give him a chance to live a normal life and they have asked our rescue to help.

Gunni has such an expressive face and it is easy to read what is going on behind those big, brown eyes—he is uncomfortable and doesn’t want to be embarrassed by his accidents or the fact that he has to wear diapers. Even though Gunni has since found his forever home, his family and our rescue would like to provide this sweet boy with a chance to live the rest of his life incontinence-free and with the dignity he deserves.

German Shepherd Rescue of the Rockies and Gunni’s family are reaching out to all the kind souls out there who would be willing to spare a few dollars to help give Gunni the gift of this medical procedure. Any assistance would be greatly appreciated.

Update 03/10/2013

We are very happy to announce that thanks to so many of you for your kind hearts, we now have $2500 to help pay for Gunni’s surgery. Please check back after March 22nd for updates to see how he is doing. Thank you all so very much for your help.

Thank you for your gift to help Gunni. His family and our rescue greatly appreciates your generosity. We have opened a separate account just for Gunni and all donations will go directly to CSU.

Gunni and his family sends his love and many thanks for the opportunity for him to live a normal life. We have almost reached the goal to pay for the surgery that he needs to no longer be incontinent. His surgery has been scheduled for March 22nd and we will post an update on how is he doing when we hear from his family.

Update 03/23/13

Hi everybody, Gunni here – I’m so glad to be resting at home after surgery! The people at CSU said I was a terrific patient, and Mom agrees. (Although I didn’t do very well with that giant plastic cone on my head…Mom slept on the couch with my collar tired to her wrist instead so she could feel if I started to bother my stitches and we both slept much better without the cone.)

The doctor said my surgery went well, but it took a really long time because and my bladder and urethra aren’t built quite right. I have an incision on my belly that’s about 14 inches long, and the doctors had to cut a “window” in my pelvic bones to do the surgery because of the unique way I am built. No wonder I’m sore and walking a little funny!

We won’t know for several weeks yet if I can lose those stinky diapers, but Mom is hopeful. Last night I went three hours between potty trips with no leaking in between! We are all extra thankful for all the people who helped pay for my surgery, because it turned out way more expensive than the doctors anticipated. So, THANK YOU ALL!
Love, Gunni

Update 04/15/13

Dear Katie and my friends at GSROR

Look at me, not wearing a diaper! I got my stitches out this week, and had my first adjustment on my new urethral occluder, and so far, I am hardly leaking at all! Two more weeks before I’m allowed to chase this ball around the Gunni yard, so I’m just enjoying taking it easy right now.

Love, Gunni

Update 04/24/13

Gunni had an appointment at CSU today for another adjustment, but it was canceled since Gunni has been drip-free for over a week now! We will see if any more adjustments are needed in the future, but right now he seems to be getting the connection between “I feel full” and “I should go potty outside”! I’m sure this is a novel feeling for him, so we are really proud of how well he’s doing!

Update 08/19/13

Dear Katie

Thought you might like a Gunny update. I kept waiting to send one hoping I would have better news to share, but he is unfortunately going back into diapers today after I have my carpets cleaned. 🙁 He was pretty much continent up until June, but has been leaking again since then. The vet isn’t sure what is going on. I am wondering if maybe he had some residual swelling since his surgery and it finally went down in June. Anyway, we’ve been up to CSU pretty much every Monday since late June for adjustments to his occluder, but it doesn’t seem to be helping. They can still adjust a few more times, but we are losing hope that the surgery is going to work in the long run. A disappointment, but rest assured he has a happy home with us, diapers or no – we wouldn’t let him go for anything!

We would like to express our appreciation again to everybody who helped with his surgery.

Update 10/17/14

Hi Katie, Gunni is doing great! Fully (miraculously?) recovered from the gastric torsion and surgery. We couldn’t be more thrilled! His biggest challenge after surgery was that he didn’t want to eat, so we resorted to buying him a rotisserie chicken from the deli, and hand feeding him pieces at the animal hospital. The doctor laughed and said if he was a girl, she’d call him a princess! This then turned into our “prince” insisting on being hand-fed the first bite of food in his bowl for a few weeks – lol. You know we spoil him! Anyway, he’s back on regular foods now (in a bowl!) and thriving!

Hi Katie, thought you would want to know that Gunny needed emergency surgery last night for a twisted stomach. Luckily we got him to the hospital quickly enough that there didn’t appear to be any permanent damage to any organs due to lack of bloodflow. The Dr said his chances are above 80% this morning for a full recovery. He will be in the hospital until at least tomorrow morning. Thought we’d never have to make him go thru another major abdominal surgery, that’s for sure! Feel free to share this with others -I know there were so many people who kept him in their hearts when he had his big bladder surgery. 🙁 Will keep you updated.