A Boxer tried in vain to save her owner’s life from a fire this weekend, and is now recovering from smoke inhalation.
Over the weekend the 9-year-old dog, Carmen, was described as “fighting for her life” at a veterinary clinic after she suffered severe lung damage in a fire that broke out in the basement of her home in Goshen, Ohio. She was lying on the face of her owner, Ben Ledford, apparently trying to protect him from the smoke and fumes. Unfortunately, her courage was for naught; Ledford died shortly after being taken to a hospital.
Carmen, on the other hand, is showing signs of improving. According to reports from last night, she still needs a respirator to breathe, but a doctor at Cincinnati Care Center described her condition as “okay.”
“Considering what Carmen has been through we think she’s doing as well as can be expected,” Dr. Daniel Carey told local news station WCPO on Sunday afternoon.
Dogs in Carmen’s condition usually stand a 50-50 chance of being able to breathe on their own again. Nevertheless, Carey is very happy with Carmen’s overall situation. He describes her as “very mentally alert, very mentally appropriate” and says that what she has in her favor is that her problems are entirely limited to her lungs. In many cases, smoke inhalation can cause severe neurological or organ damage.
One of the other vets, Dr. Marlo Anderson, described Carmen’s condition as critical, but says that she’s improved a great deal since she came in. “She is definitely still considered very critical but she is certainly in better condition than she was before we put her on the ventilator,” Anderson told WCPO. “She seems to be very social, so anytime we are over here with her she’s kind of up and trying to interact with us as best she can.”
For those who want to help support Carmen’s recovery, the family has started a crowdfunding page to pay for her medical expenses.
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