Firefighters Rescue Beagle From Apartment Fire In Queens
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) – A Queens veterinary hospital is treating a beagle for smoke inhalation after it was rescued from an apartment fire Tuesday morning.
Firefighters handed Duke over to police who brought him to BluePearl Veterinary Partners Hospital in Forest Hills.
"He smelled like smoke, he was covered in soot," Dr. David Wohlstadter said, adding that it appears Duke tried as hard as he could to escape the fire.
"Just based on his front paws, they were a little more dirty, like he had been digging and scratching," he said.
BluePearl tells 1010 WINS Duke has been coughing a lot but is responding to treatment and is expected to survive.
Firefighters Rescue Beagle From Apartment Fire In Queens
The veterinarian hospital has been giving the dog emergency oxygen to combat the carbon monoxide.
"The longer a dog that was exposed to smoke is left without being treated with oxygen, the worse his prognosis is for survival," Wohlstadter told WCBS 880's Alex Silverman.
Besides the coughing, the vet said dogs can have neurological effects from smoke inhalation, but Duke has not shown any of those signs so far.
Duke is expected to be on oxygen for at least another day, the vet said.
Wohlstadter said Duke was standing up and walking around Wednesday morning.
"He did really brighten up when his owners came in. We let them be able to touch him and open the cage and when we did that, he jumped up and started licking her face," Wohlstadter said.
The charity "Frankie's Friends" stepped into help Duke's family since they lost their belongings in the fire, 1010 WINS reported.
