TikTok-famous animal rescuer Lee Asher said his ranch was hit by a rare pneumonia outbreak that threatens his 42 dogs
TheAsherHouse / YouTube
- Lee Asher, who runs the animal sanctuary The Asher House, said his ranch was hit with pneumonia.
- Asher said it was a "very rare type" and that several rescued dogs were with the vet.
- Donations and messages of support soon flooded in to help with the bills.
A TikTok-famous animal rescuer said his sanctuary was hit with a "very rare type of pneumonia," and several of his dogs had fallen sick.
Lee Asher runs the non-profit animal sanctuary The Asher House in Estacada, Oregon, and has grown a strong community online who follow his journeys with giving animals from all over the US a new home.
"We rescue animals that have been discarded or unwanted, providing them with a life of comfort, love and adventure," the website reads. It currently lists 42 dogs, four cats, and a parrot as being under its care.
Asher told his followers on Saturday that an illness had swept his ranch, and asked for help.
"Hey everyone, I have some really unfortunate news to share with you, I'm terribly sorry to share this with you, it is quite the list of things that I feel," he said in a video posted to his YouTube account, and also to TikTok, where he has 1.2 million followers
"I'm completely shocked and I don't really know how to say it without being completely blunt, but the sanctuary has been hit really hard with a very rare type of pneumonia."
Asher said animal doctors had been doing culture testing to determine what exactly the dogs had caught.
"What we're finding right now is that our dogs are not showing any symptoms really, and by the time we go to the vet, it's already an emergency," he said.
Asher said four dogs had been admitted to the emergency room, and it looked like more would have to go as well.
Asher said that one of the dogs had died. Her name was Roo.
"It's terrible for us," Asher said, "It's terrible, obviously, for her. We feel awful for her previous owners. She was on oxygen and she couldn't take it."
Another dog, Lady, who was about to be adopted, had been rushed into surgery and had 20% of a lung removed, Asher said.
"She is now healing and will be OK, we think so," he said.
Asher said two more dogs — CeCe, and his "beloved Lillie" who he rescued in 2014 — were also hospitalized and on oxygen to treat the pneumonia, but seemed to be getting better,
"This is a shock to the entire sanctuary, to all of us," Asher said. "We have an amazing protocol here, we have a great quarantine system, we don't know how this is happening."
The pneumonia strain was making its way all across the state, Asher said, so many of the local vets were full and couldn't take his dogs.
Asher asked his followers for help with the vet bills that were mounting. He said he rarely asked for help at all, but he had been hit hard by this unexpected illness. He owed around $50,000 already, he said.
The next day, Asher shared an update. He said Lillie was back home and doing much better, and donations had been flooding in.
"Because of your support we were able to get four oxygen chambers," he said. "So we have Shelby in one, and CeCe in one."
Asher said the donations had meant all of the vet bills had been covered. He urged people to stop donating because the sanctuary already had enough to help the dogs. He didn't say how much had been given.
"I can't believe how many of you showed up and it just means so much to me," he said, adding that all the dogs that were at the vets were not back home.
He said he would keep his followers updated with what they learned from biopsies and tests about where the illness had come from.
"I just wanted to say thank you all so much," he said. "It means the world to me."