Gentle Giant George has an unimaginable history. His love and loyalty were repaid by starving him and letting him become cracked bleeding and naked from mange. George was found roaming looking for help from neighbors.  He was also heartworm positive.  He began treatment for the heartworms and received his first Immiticide injection (like arsenic) and two weeks later he had a reaction to the shot (not uncommon).  George had been coughing for a few days and seemed to have kennel cough and was on meds for that but on Friday night  his foster noticed he wasn't acting right (excessive drooling, no appetite, lethargic, difficulty breathing)  and took his temperature.  105.5 F which climbed to 106.4F!!!  She contacted their Veterinarian and was advised to get him cooled off.  Two showers and two outside baths in the hose throughout the night, an ice pack held all night on the back of his neck, two icepacks under his armpits, two fans blowing on high directly onto his wet fur and she could only get the temp down to 105.3.   The Vet met her at the office early the next morning and they were able to stabilize and lower his temp.  X-rays showed inflammation of the lungs.  Two days later (again at night) his temp shot up again to 105.3 and he was having increased difficulty breathing.  This time the foster and the Vet made the decision to send him to the 24 hour Emergency Vet.  His X-rays showed a significant change and George was diagnosed with double pneumonia and both large lobes of his lungs were completely affected.  They started him on IV antibiotics, did x-rays, blood-work, fluids, etc.  The bill for that was $1300 for 11 hours in their care.  They advised that he had a very poor prognosis to survive.  The foster picked him up and brought him to their regular Vet who started thinking "outside of the box" and called an Emergency Vet about 40 minutes north that had a Hyperbaric Oxygen Chamber.  The two Vets decided that it would probably do George good and help him maximize the use of the small parts of the lungs that weren't riddled with pneumonia.  George was dropped off there this afternoon and has already had one Hyperbaric treatment and will get several more throughout the next 24 hours.  That bill is expected to be around $1,100 plus the cost of actually treating the Heartworms which is almost $500.  So far the cost of saving George and getting him well and heartworm free so he can live an amazing life with the family waiting to adopt him has cost the rescue almost $3,000.