text: When Bruno the chocolate lab was rescued from an abandoned well in the Estevan area after almost a month without food, his story got international attention. 
   
   As he headed home this week, he still looked thin and wore a cast on one paw, but after 22 days recovering at the University of Saskatchewan’s Western College of Veterinary Medicine, the improvement in his condition was obvious. 
   
   His owners, John and Cindy Billesberger, had been waiting for that moment. 
   
   “After seeing what he looked like when we brought him in and seeing the looks on the vets’ faces, every day — every moment — that he lived was another obstacle that (was) overcome,” Cindy said. 
   
   Bruno went missing on Sept. 17 from the family’s farm near Hitchcock, southeast of Regina. Their efforts to find him turned up nothing until Oct. 14, when John took their other two dogs for a walk and one of them stood over the abandoned well, refusing to move. Bruno was lying in the mud three metres below, injured and near death from starvation. 
   
   The family initially brought the seven-year-old retriever to the Prairie Animal Health Centre in Estevan, but after a few days of good news and promising test results, Bruno experienced “refeeding syndrome,” a condition experienced by animals that have not consumed food for a prolonged time. It can result in the body not functioning properly and lead to death. 
   
   That’s when they brought him to Saskatoon. 
   
   Wagging his tail and playing with a squeaky toy on Thursday, Bruno seemed to be doing well, but Cindy said he’s still not 100 per cent. 
   
   “That’s hard to see, because he was quite hefty before,” she said. “Not unnaturally hefty, but he had a little extra padding.” 
   
   To address the refeeding syndrome, veterinarians in Saskatoon slowly increased the amount of food he was consuming, supplementing his intake of essential electrolytes, phosphorous, magnesium and potassium. Back at home, he will now remain on a special diet and continue physiotherapy. 
   
   The veterinary college’s canine rehabilitation team also used cold laser therapy on his damaged paws and hindquarters. The treatment stimulates cells, encourages healing and helps with pain. 
   
   Cindy said the attention Bruno’s rescue has attracted is “unbelievable.” His story appeared in newspapers across North America and in the U.K. and Russia. She said she’s grateful for the staff at the veterinary college. 
   
   “Bruno would have never survived,” she said, noting the couple’s other dogs, Esme and Luna, have been depressed without him. 
   
   Douglas Freeman, the college’s dean, said staff worked hard to ensure Bruno was treated properly. His chances of survival would have been slim to none if his rescue had come any later, Freeman said. 
   
   “He literally was skin and bones. I didn’t see him when he presented, but it’s really remarkable and it speaks to the care he got from the local veterinarians. 
   
   “When it was time to refer him, they knew to refer him to a team here that includes nutritionists, medicine people, rehab people and our surgeons.” 
   
   Freeman said that Bruno was a good patient, joking that he didn’t once complain about the hospital food. His case will now be documented so other veterinary professionals can use similar lines of treatment for future cases. 
   
   mmodjeski@postmedia.com 
   
   Twitter.com/MorganM_SP ||||| A chocolate Labrador retriever who spent 27 days trapped in a well in southern Saskatchewan is heading home. 
   
   The seven-year-old dog, Bruno, was released from the Western College of Veterinary Medicine in Saskatoon on Thursday after nearly 22 days in the college’s Veterinary Medical Centre. 
   
   “We’re so excited,” said Bruno’s owner, Cindy Billesberger, in a media release. 
   
   The dog, who was missing for nearly a month, was found Oct. 14 trapped in a well near the Billisberger’s Estevan-area farm. 
   
   He had lost half his body weight and was barely alive, and spent several days in the care of the family’s local veterinary clinic, Prairie Animal Health Centre, before Billesberger brought the dog to Saskatoon. 
   
   “You’ve got such a feeling of helplessness when you pull an animal out like that, and they’re suffering and there’s nothing you can do. There was no way we could take care of him,” Billesberger said. 
   
   Bruno, because he had spent so much time sitting in water and had attempted to claw his way out of the well, was suffering from wounds and sores on his paws when he was brought in to the veterinary centre at the University of Saskatchewan campus. He was also diagnosed with a condition known as refeeding syndrome, which occurs when an animal that hasn’t eaten for a long time is suddenly given food. 
   
   “When he came in, he was barely walking. He was miserable. The only time he would look at us is when we had food,” said Dr. Alison Khoo, a small animal internal medicine resident. 
   
   “Now he’s like a different dog. He loves going outside. He’s still very food-motivated, but he’s got a lot of energy back and he’s starting to show more of his personality.” 
   
   The dog was monitored 24 hours a day by clinicians in the veterinary centre’s intensive care unit. His paws were treated with cold laser therapy, and his electrolyte levels, which were affected because of refeeding syndrome, were constantly monitored and supplemented intravenously. 
   
   “We could do this because we have 24-hour technical support,” said Dr. Sue Taylor, an internal medicine specialist and professor who oversaw Bruno’s case alongside Khoo. 
   
   The veterinarians, alongside Dr. Tammy Owens who assisted in treating Bruno’s refeeding syndrome, plan to publish a case report documenting the dog’s recovery. 
   
   “I don’t think many dogs would have survived this,” said Khoo. “To continue to see him improve has been so rewarding.” ||||| Bruno, a dog that survived 27 days stuck in an abandoned well, is on the mend and returning home after some intensive treatment at the veterinary college in Saskatoon. 
   
   The seven-year-old Labrador retriever was found curled up at the bottom of a three-metre deep well in the Estevan area Oct. 14 almost a month after owners John and Cindy Billesberger noted he was missing. They, along with family and friends, had spent weeks scouring their farm property and roadside ditches trying to find Bruno. 
   
   He's got his personality back. - John Billesberger 
   
   John Billesberger finally located him after noticing his other dogs were lingering at a spot thick with tall grasses. When he pushed aside the grass, he discovered the old well and his dog. 
   
   "He was pretty rough looking there," Billesberger said Thursday. He took the dog to the vet in Estevan — about 200 kilometres southeast of Regina — where they started treatment for severe malnutrition and dehydration, as well as injuries from his trying to get out of the well, which Billesberger estimated was roughly a metre wide. 
   
   John and Cindy Billesberger are taking Bruno home after treatment in Saskatoon. The dog was stuck in a well for 27 days. (CBC) 
   
   It was estimated the dog lost about 18 kilograms — from his regular weight of just over 40 — during the ordeal. Initially, Bruno was in dire condition and the dog's survival was in question. 
   
   "Every day he got better," Billesberger said. 
   
   The gradual recovery hit a setback after five days, leading to a referral for more specialized, intensive care in Saskatoon. 
   
   Bruno, a seven-year-old Labrador retriever, will continue recovering at home. The dog's diet will be closely monitored while undergoing physiotherapy. (CBC) 
   
   "They were definitely Bruno's heroes," Cindy Billesberger said of the veterinarians and staff in Estevan and Saskatoon. "We're so grateful." 
   
   "He's got his personality back," John Billesberger noted as Bruno wagged his tail happily before the car ride home. 
   
   "I can't wait for him to get back," Cindy Billesberger said, adding their other dogs have been missing Bruno. "I think he'll thrive more when he's at the farm, and around his friends, and in the fresh air and with us. He'll be happy." 
   
   After 27 days without food, Bruno received initial treatment at a veterinary clinic in Estevan and more intensive care in Saskatoon. The dog was found at the bottom of a three-metre deep well. (Cindy Billesberger/Submitted to CBC) 
   
   Bruno will need to gradually return to a full diet, she said. He also has some physiotherapy routines and more visits to the vets to check on his paws. 
   
   A case study for vets 
   
   Douglas Freeman, dean of the veterinary medicine college at the University of Saskatchewan, said Bruno's remarkable recovery will be written up as a case study. 
   
   "It's been a very interesting case," Freeman said. "He still has lot of work to recover ... there'll be continued care at home." 
   
   He added Bruno got along well. 
   
   "I'm told he was a great patient," he said. "He never complained once about hospital food."
target: – After 27 days starving and injured at the bottom of a well and another three weeks in the hospital, a 7-year-old Labrador retriever finally went home. When Bruno disappeared, his owners, John and Cindy Billesberger, searched their little corner of Canada for weeks, CBC reports. On Oct. 14, the Billesbergers' two other dogs refused to move away from an old well hiding in some grass during a walk, according to the Saskatoon StarPhoenix. Ten feet below, Bruno was sitting in the mud. "He was pretty rough looking," John tells CBC. Bruno was dehydrated and had lost nearly half his body weight. CTV News reports he had severely injured his paws trying to escape. “You’ve got such a feeling of helplessness when you pull an animal out like that, and they’re suffering, and there’s nothing you can do," Cindy says. Over the coming weeks, vets nursed Bruno back to health, monitoring him 24 hours a day. He almost didn't make it. “I don’t think many dogs would have survived this,” Dr. Alison Khoo says. “To continue to see him improve has been so rewarding.” Bruno's recovery will become a case file to help vets save other dogs in the future. Bruno, who still has a cast on one paw, went home Thursday and will continue to require a special diet and physical therapy. But that's not dampening his family's enthusiasm one bit. "He'll be happy," says Cindy. (Fire officials think this dog died a hero.)