Thank all of you who donated towards Barclay's medical bills. Your generosity helps us continue saving pugs like Barclay.

We are sad to announce that we lost a little pug angel.

Our dear Barclay was formally diagnosed with an infection called pythiosis. Pythiosis is a mold-like organism most commonly found in water.  Pythiosis can be acquired by swimming in or drinking water with the spores in it. This mold is found in swamps, bayous, or ponds. The most common states affected are those bordering the Gulf of Mexico.

Barclay was found as a stray south of San Antonio and we have no idea where he originally came from or how long he was out on his own. When it infects the GI tract it causes vomiting, diarrhea and severe weight loss. Barclay was in advanced stages of this disease. He was being fed by a feeding tube surgically inserted into his small intestine because he could not keep any food down.

The only real treatment for pythiosis is the surgical removal of all infected tissues and antifungal therapy. Since the majority of Barclay's esophagus and a large part of his stomach were already infected, surgical removal was not an option. Without removing the infected tissue it would just continue to spread throughout his intestinal tract.

Barclay was unable to eat food without regurgitating or vomiting which resulted in him developing aspiration pneumonia. The decision was made to let him go peacefully rather than continue to decline and suffer.

We want everyone to know that although we only had Barclay a couple weeks we were able to make him comfortable, pain free and provide him with some much needed nutrition through his feeding tube. We were also able to provide him lots of love and hugs from everyone he met.

We want to thank everyone who came in contact with him from the good samaritan who found him, to transporters, his foster and the staff at Westlake and hospital who treated him initially.

We especially want to thank Dr Chelsea Pearce and the staff at the Emergency Animal Hospital of Crystal Falls who took 24 hr care of him in his final days. They made him a priority. They showered him with love and affection and allowed him to roam around the clinic with them whenever he could, making him feel like one of the crew. They dressed him in sweaters and let him take naps on their laps. When it came time to say goodbye they bought him a pint of Bluebell ice cream and a cheeseburger and let him eat to his heart's content, something he was not able to do in who knows how long.

We are devastated at losing him but it was so important to try to save him and do all the necessary diagnostics to find out what was wrong. We were hoping it would be something treatable but that was not the case.

Thank all of you who donated towards Barclay's medical bills and those that sent him prayers and positive thoughts for his recovery.

Barclay was found about 6 weeks ago south of San Antonio abandoned and starving.

A good Samaritan took him in and spent the last month at two different clinics seeking treatment to figure out why he vomits constantly after he eats and is basically starving. Multiple meds and treatments were tried to no avail and after running out of funds he turned him over to our rescue to help save him.

As you can see from his pics he is nothing but skin and bones and weighs a mere 9.5 lbs when he should weigh close to 20 lbs. We suspect he is 3 to 4 yrs old.

He clearly has some abnormality of his gastrointestinal tract and we will be pursuing whatever diagnostics will be needed to diagnose and treat him. He has to be fed small amounts then kept in an upright position for 20- 30 minutes after he is fed to try to help him keep his food down. We are trying to rule out things like an esophageal stricture, mega-esophagus, hiatal hernia etc.

He is currently at Westlake Animal Hospital under doctors care on IV fluid therapy and medications undergoing a battery of tests. He has had multiple xrays, several lab tests and will be having an abdominal ultrasound tomorrow. If that does not provide a diagnosis the next step will be a visit to an internist for an endoscopy.

Update after Day 1 with Pug Rescue of Austin:

Although Barclay was able to eat small amounts of soft food yesterday and keep it down he was still very nauseated and drooling this morning. His x-rays revealed he has aspiration pneumonia.

His ultrasound today revealed severe fibrosis and scarring of a large portion of his esophagus and a large part of his stomach. It is not looking like a hiatal hernia or a mega-esophagus.

He was anesthetized and a feeding tube was placed into his intestine so he can get the calories he needs and bypass the stomach. Biopsy samples of the stomach were taken and sent to the lab. We are eagerly awaiting those results but it will likely take 3 to 5 days before we get them.

He is resting comfortably after the surgery and will be transferred to the EC tonight to continue his IV fluids, antibiotics, pain meds as well as some other medications used to keep his stomach empty and to help with nausea. We will update everyone as soon as we get more results.