Theo
Georgetown, Texas
Male
Age: 6 months (DOB 6/14/2025)
#11
Health TBA
Adoption Donation: $650
Welcome in, 3 month old baby Theo! Theo’s story is a classic but tragic puppy mill puppy story.Theo was born in a puppy mill in Sheldon, Missouri. In July 2025, it was reported that there were 141 dogs in that puppy mill, which included Theo. At 8 weeks of age, Theo and likely dozens of other poor puppy mills puppies were shipped off to pet stores. Theo arrived at Petland in Frisco, Texas. And just a few days after his arrival, at just 8 weeks old, he underwent a surgical procedure for a hernia so that they could be sure they could sell him as a “healthy puppy.” But Theo was anything but a healthy pup. Like many puppies born in puppy mills, he contracted an upper respiratory infection and sat sick there at the pet store with no help or intervention. He was quickly deteriorating and marked “half off”. He was purchased by an unsuspecting individual who knew something wasn’t right as soon as she got him in the car. She drove him straight to the emergency vet where he was diagnosed as an extremely sick boy with pneumonia requiring hospitalization. After getting him home, the owner quickly realized she was in over her head for the amount of care, socialization, and training that would be required to raise a sick puppy mill puppy and thankfully reached out to us for help. It’s now been over two weeks since Theo was hospitalized and he still remains on aggressive antibiotics and nebulizer treatments. He will be visiting our vet this afternoon for his intake vetting where we will be rechecking chest xrays and his CBC in hopes of seeing good improvement. We hope we can get precious Theo through this without permanent lung damage and where he can finally get on with puppy life which he has not yet been able to enjoy due to illness. He’s obviously behind on socialization and training and even eating is a struggle right now due to all the medication. We’re ready to get this baby feeling better! It is so important to understand that pet store puppies are puppy mill puppies. NO reputable breeder would EVER sell their puppies to pet stores. DO NOT step foot in pet stores that sell puppies and DO NOT support puppy mills by purchasing puppies from pet stores. While Theo will find health and happiness and will have the opportunity to have a family and wonderful life, his mom and dad, and the hundreds of thousands of other dogs held hostage in puppy mills will not, and every puppy sold only further condemns them to a life of reproductive abuse, neglect, misery, and suffering. We have the power to end this and put them out of business by being smart consumers! Baby Theo is being fostered in Georgetown, Texas and we will be sure to share a medical pupdate once we have one 🙏🏻
UDATE OCTOBER 4, 2025 We recently introduced you to our newest, 16 week old Baby Theo being fostered in Georgetown, Texas. 3 weeks ago Theo was purchased by an individual at Petland in Frisco, Texas and rushed immediately to the emergency vet where he required hospitalization due to pneumonia and then soon after surrendered into our care.
Despite hospitalization and now 3 weeks of being on antibiotics and neubilzer treatments, we still have a very sick baby boy on our hands. He visited our veterinarian on Tuesday where he hoped to see some indication of improvement either on labwork or chest radiographs but unfortunately things look even worse 😩 And to no suprise, in addition to the pneumonia, his fecal test revealed that he is also suffering with an intestinal parasite, giardia, which of course runs rampant in puppy mills. We have made an antibiotic change which we hope will better target the bacteria in his lungs, he has now started treatment for the giardia, and is continuing neubulizing and coupaging therapies. Thankfully, his eyes, knees, hips, and heart checked out clear and congenitally sound.
He’s underweight at 5 pounds due to illness and his appetite has sure taken a hit from all the medication. His foster mom is doing a wonderful job with his feeding and medicating, which isn’t easy with a sick puppy, and reports that his eating has improved over the past couple days! She also reports that his energy level is increasing and he’s feeling playful and spunky as times! We will take all the small victories we can at this point!
His WBC count was quite literally almost off the chart and so we are wanting to keeping a close eye on it - he will return to the vet again this Tuesday for another CBC recheck. We hope to see even the smallest sign of improvement to let us know we may now be on the right track with the new antibiotics. We remain encouraged and hopeful by his small clinical improvements 🙏🏻 Please continue to send pawsitive thoughts 🐾 to baby Theo for healing and a full recovery. We are eager for him to get on with living his best puppy life! 💜
Despite hospitalization and now 3 weeks of being on antibiotics and neubilzer treatments, we still have a very sick baby boy on our hands. He visited our veterinarian on Tuesday where he hoped to see some indication of improvement either on labwork or chest radiographs but unfortunately things look even worse 😩 And to no suprise, in addition to the pneumonia, his fecal test revealed that he is also suffering with an intestinal parasite, giardia, which of course runs rampant in puppy mills. We have made an antibiotic change which we hope will better target the bacteria in his lungs, he has now started treatment for the giardia, and is continuing neubulizing and coupaging therapies. Thankfully, his eyes, knees, hips, and heart checked out clear and congenitally sound.
He’s underweight at 5 pounds due to illness and his appetite has sure taken a hit from all the medication. His foster mom is doing a wonderful job with his feeding and medicating, which isn’t easy with a sick puppy, and reports that his eating has improved over the past couple days! She also reports that his energy level is increasing and he’s feeling playful and spunky as times! We will take all the small victories we can at this point!
His WBC count was quite literally almost off the chart and so we are wanting to keeping a close eye on it - he will return to the vet again this Tuesday for another CBC recheck. We hope to see even the smallest sign of improvement to let us know we may now be on the right track with the new antibiotics. We remain encouraged and hopeful by his small clinical improvements 🙏🏻 Please continue to send pawsitive thoughts 🐾 to baby Theo for healing and a full recovery. We are eager for him to get on with living his best puppy life! 💜
UDATE OCTOBER 9, 2025 Whew! Baby Theo’s weight is up from 5.91 to 7.23 pounds in a week, and his WBC is down from 55 to 41 🙌🏼 Make no mistake, it’s still severely elevated (normal is 4-15) but everything is now trending in the right direction and for that we celebrate 🎉 Equally as important, he seems to be feeling much better - he has a good appetite and plenty of puppy energy! 💜 Still, we are continuing to keep a close eye on things and he will return to the vet next week for another recheck. Theo is 16 weeks old and being fostered in Georgetown, Texas. We will be sure to keep you updated as we work to get this sick puppy mill puppy to his best health and best self! 💕
UDATE OCTOBER 17, 2025 Go, baby Theo, go! 💨
Good news out of Georgetown, Texas! After 4 month old Theo (DOB 6/14/2035) came to us 3 weeks ago quite literally deathly ill with severe pneumonia and giardia, he has shown remarkable improvement over the past week 🙌🏼! Today he returned to the vet where they had a listen and look at his lungs. While his lungs sound great and he is no longer coughing, his radiograph images haven’t quite cleared him yet. He will remain on his antibiotics another 2 weeks and then return back to the vet for another look and for a CBC recheck where we hope to see his very elevated WBC down to normal 🙏🏻 We are also awaiting results of his fecal test after treating him for giardia.
Even despite all the antibiotics, Theo is now eating great and weighed in today at a healthy 8.7 pounds 💪🏽 . He is now full of puppy energy and antics and which we will never tire of after witnessing him so sick. He has proven to be a super tough, resilient little guy who is ready to leave his ruff start behind and go full speed ahead 💙
💜 UDATE NOVEMBER 7, 2025
Wake up, Baby Theo - you’ve got a BIG day today! 💙 Theo, who will turn 5 months old in a week, returns to the vet today where we are seeking (and hoping and praying 🙏🏻) for clearance through chest radiographs and bloodwork showing no evidence of pneumonia. Theo has been on aggressive antibiotics since he was first hospitalized 7 weeks ago with severe pneumonia after he sat deathly ill at Petland in Frisco, Texas with no intervention. Now, symptom free and appearing healthy, we are hoping his lung images and CBC too reflect that and we can finally stop antibiotics. We will be sure to share a pupdate when we have his lab results in
