Juana reports ...      Edited and posted by Bill

It was time to help Mackey cross the Rainbow Bridge yesterday

      I am very sad to say that we had lost one of our wonderful babies yesterday. Mackey-boy had been suffering with congestive heart failure for a long, long time--for as long as I've known him. He came to Straydog in 2003 after Pat Arnold passed on, and he was already having problems with his heart back then. Mackey was the "big boss" of Hospital One. Noble, who's a least five times larger than Mackey, along with all the rest of the Hospital One Gang, respected his snappy bark whenever he became annoyed with any of them. He also had a crush on me. He would look at me when it was time for me to go home every day, and he seemed to be saying, "Are you taking me home with you?" I never did take Mackey home (as we have five rescued dogs at home already), and it was so hard to say goodbye to those big ol' eyes every day, eyes that told us how much he loved us.
 

Mackey's rapid decline began just a few weeks ago

      Three weeks ago I took Mackey to see Dr. Terry. He was coughing a lot, and his breathing was labored. He didn't sound good. Dr. Terry increased his heart medications to the max. She told me then to let him be. She said he didn't need any extra exercise and we should just keep him comfortable. We knew that it wasn't going to be very long, but I didn't think it would happen this quickly. On Wednesday (January 18th) Mackey coughed almost all day long. His breathing was even more labored, and he didn't look good. But he ate for me, and he went to the park on his own, so I really didn't think it was his time. Then he had a really bad night. He was coughing non-stop and his breathing got even worse. When I walked into Hospital One first thing yesterday morning (Thursday the 19th), Mackey was lying in a corner. He didn't want to move, and his coughing and his breathing were pretty bad. His tummy was also swollen. He's been a fat little guy for years, but he was bloated with fluids now. It wasn't just his fat little tummy.
 

The crew and I, along with Volunteer Polly, say goodbye to Mackey

      I called Dr. Terry, who was in surgery. A little later she called me back and said that we should go ahead and bring Mackey in to see her right away. Bill and I took care of this last trip with our boy. Our dedicated volunteer, Polly, was here today. I gathered Polly and our crew, and we all came in to hold Mackey. We all knew that it was time. Mackey would never have let us hold him as much as we all did today.

 Mackey crosses the Rainbow Bridge

      As soon as we got to the clinic, Vicki, the receptionist, lead us to the exam room. Dr. Terry came in to examine Mackey, who was so still. He wasn't acting like our usually feisty Mackey-boy. He looked ready to give up. Dr. Terry took his pulse, which was up to 188 beats a minute, which was extremely elevated. The last time he saw Dr. Terry, his pulse was 108. His breathing was very labored and he was gasping for air. The doctor told us that his condition was terminal and it would be a terrible way to die if we let him just die on his own. He would feel like he was drowning. We couldn't let him suffer. I knew that it was his time and the doctor assured us that there wasn't anything that we could do to help him. We had maxed out his medications, and there was no hope. It was time, and we agreed to let him go. Mackey closed his eyes very peacefully, and he is resting now. My heart was breaking. It's never easy to let one of our precious charges go, but I know it's my job, and it's what we do when there's no more hope. We do what's best for all of our dogs, no matter how hard it is. Rest in peace, my sweet, strong Mackey-boy!
 

Noble is not doing so well once again

      Our diabetic Noble-man is not looking so good again! The readings that we've been taking with our glucose meter have not been very bad. We check his glucose readings every six hours before each of his four meals per day. I can't believe that Noble is slipping again. It's incredible! We've gone through this experience with him again and again over the years. Every time that we try something different, it seems to help him for a while, and then he'll start going downhill again. We're in the process making an appointment to take him to see Dr. Porterpan at the Dallas Veterinary Diagnostic Center. She is an veterinary internist, and we're hoping she might be able to help us with him. I will report back to you on this. It shouldn't cost too much for the examination, but the tests and whatever else she might want to do for him could be expensive. But we have to do something.

Most of Wolfie's Achilles tendons in both ankles (hocks) are torn

      We took Wolfie to see Dr. Barstad at the Dallas Veterinary Surgical Center (DVSC) in Dallas a week ago. The doctor said that Wolfie had torn all but one of his Achilles tendons in each hock, and he will need custom-fitted ankle braces. The doctor doesn't recommend surgery for Wolfie because this surgery has a 45% failure rate, which means, of course, that the dog will tear the tendons again. Wolfie is in pain, and he can hardly walk. He isn't eating very well. We keep trying different types of food and we beg him to eat every time we feed him. That's not a problem for us, because that's our job. Our concern is that Wolfie is miserable, and he just can't get comfortable. According to the vet these braces will cost us around $700 each. We don't have the funds right now, but we have to do something and soon. We can't wait! It's really difficult to see him so much pain.
 

Rex needs his torn ACL repaired, and it's going to cost about $3,000

      As we've already reported, Rex has a torn ACL in his left knee. We are keeping him and his pal and kennel mate, Nikki, indoors, so we can limit his exercise and not aggravate the injury. He is eating okay and taking his pain medicine. We are trying to keep him as comfortable as we possibly can until we can afford to get him this surgery. He needs a TPLO and soon. Unfortunately we don't have the funds right now. We know that Rex would love to get back to being the energetic athlete he was. He really loves to run and play.
 

Heidi sees the vet

      Right now we owe a lot of money to Morton Clinic. Our vet bill at Morton Clinic is now up to over $9,000 yesterday and that's after we gave them a check from a contributor for $1,500. We scheduled an appointment to take Heidi there today. We'd just taken her to the clinic two days ago because she wasn't eating, and she wasn't feeling well. Her gums were very pale, almost white. Dr. James said that her blood work was okay, but her lymph nodes were swollen. The doctor sent Heidi home with antibiotics, and he wanted to check her again today. Heidi seems fine now, but she is still taking her medicine. I know a checkup won't cost very much, but I hate to keep adding to our bill.

Stormy needs a biopsy done on

      We took Storm in to see our vet about two weeks ago. She had woken up one morning with a big knot on her neck near her mouth. The doctor said it wasn't a bug bite or an infected tooth. He said that it might be her salivary glands, and he sent a sample off to the lab for testing. The results indicated that it wasn't her salivary glands, but it's her lymph nodes. Now the knot has moved to a lower position on her neck. It doesn't look good. Storm is acting okay. The doctor wants to take a biopsy, and we need to do that as soon as we possibly can.
 

Penny's chronic digestive problems continue

      Penny is another doggie who hasn't been doing very well for a while, though she is apparently doing a little better after a recent bad episode of bloody, runny diarrhea again. She wasn't eating very much. Dr. James Morton prescribed E/N food, as he'd done for Zack, who by the way is doing a lot better. Dr. James also put Penny on different antibiotics. He said that if she doesn't clear up soon, we might have to take a biopsy from her colon. I have a feeling that it's not going to be good news. Penny has been suffering with this problem on and off for about a year now. Hang in there, sweet girl.
 

New rescue Brody gets neutered and will start heartworm treatment in 10 days

      Our last candidate for a vet visit is Brody, the dog first rescued by Kathy, the lady who asked us to take Brody in, paid for his heartworm treatment, and now it's time for him to start it. After Dr. Terry neutered him, she said that she wanted to wait at least 10 days before she gave him his first heartworm treatment. We will make an appointment to start this procedure soon. Poor boy, I hope he does okay. We know how hard heartworm treatment is on any dog.
 

Please keep Noble, Wolfie, Rex, Heidi, Storm, Penny and Brody in your prayers.