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It is with a heavy heart and tears in our eyes that we write this final update for our sweet MoJo. After two really good weeks, during which he was healthy and happy and finally pain free in his back and in his mouth, our sweet boy took a turn for the worst Sunday. He seemed quiet, low key and kind of lethargic although he was eating well (and finally eating a good food). We thought maybe we had just gone a little too far on our little walk on Saturday, so we took a very short one on Sunday. He lagged behind instead of pulling on the leash, enjoying the sniffs while we coaxed him along. Monday morning was more of the same, we had to wake him to go outside in the morning but he ate his breakfast and said goodbye to his early departing foster mom at the gate as usual. Monday evening FM got the leash out to take MoJo to his PT appointment and instead of trotting to the gate, he laid down on the deck and didn't want to get up. We finally got him up and in the car and drove to Dr. Julia's office, where she listened to his heart and had trouble hearing the heartbeat, it was muffled. She had us rush him to the vet because she was concerned, telling us it was probably nothing but just to be on the safe side. We arrived at the vet and saw Dr. J immediately, who also had trouble hearing his heartbeat and his abdomen was rigid, she was very concerned and ordered a chest x-ray. After the x-ray, MoJo laid down on the floor and wouldn't get up with any amount of coaxing and his breathing was very labored. Dr. J believed that MoJo had a pericardial effusion, which is an accumulation of fluid around the heart, likely caused by hemangiosarcoma, a cancer unfortunately all too common in Golden Retrievers. This might explain the anemia that we were never able to find a cause for and couldn't resolve. The prognosis for this condition is very poor. We discussed taking him home and bringing him back on Tuesday for an ultrasound, but watching Moe on the floor, how he was laboring to breathe it seemed clear that wasn't the right thing to do. We were concerned that we would take him home and he would suffer a heart attack, suffering and laying in pain, and we just couldn't do that to him. So, with his foster parents holding his paws, kissing his nose and telling him how much we love him, we sent MoJo to the Bridge. It was the most difficult decision this foster family has ever had to make. There is a huge hole in our household without MoJo, he had become a treasured part of our family and totally wormed his way into all our hearts. Sitting here typing this update, I keep waiting for the gentle nudge at my arm he always gave me when he wanted his ears scratched. His favorite place to lay in the evening, by the dining room table where he could see everything, is sadly vacant. We thought that MoJo had several more months to live, we are just stunned that he is gone. Yes, he was old and he hadn't been healthy for a long time. He had been kept in a small room for two years, as a result his back end had no muscle mass and when we picked him up he was scared to be in the car, shaking like a leaf. But after a few weeks, he actually liked to ride in the car, he was gaining strength in his back end and didn't seem to be so frightened. He'd play with toys, carry them in his mouth and squeak them like Wyatt and Sassy. He came out of his shell, his head and tail were up and wagging, and he seemed happy. He was an amazing animal, and we miss him terribly. MoJo's foster family would like to express their deep appreciation to Dr. James Winsor, who graciously sponsored MoJo and helped pay his vet bills. Our deepest gratitude goes out to Suzie D, Judy D, Gene B, and Aunt Pat and Uncle Rick O for their financial support that allowed us to take MoJo to the physical therapist/chiropractor who gave him so much relief from his back pain. He was like a new dog as a result of those visits, and it made his last month comfortable and pain free in his back for likely the first time in many years. MoJo thanks you, and so do we. Godspeed, MoJo. We will never forget you. All our love, Your foster family
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Moe 09-087
Profile
Sponsored by:
Dr. James Winsor of Inver Grove Animal Hospital
Meet Moe, a 12 year old gentleman who gives new meaning to the word "sweet". Moe was surrendered to RAGOM by a family who was moving and could no longer keep him. Thanks to Uncle Rick and Aunt Pat for picking him up and taking him to the vet on Friday. Moe sends tail wags your way!
Moe was pretty shaken up by all the upheaval in his life in the last few days, but is adjusting nicely to RAGOM life and has really come out of his shell. When Moe arrived at his foster home, he got out of the car, head down, tail down and moving kind of slowly. Then he got one look at Sassy, our 10 year old female resident dog, and Moe suddenly got 5 years younger! It was hysterical, his head and ears came up, his tail came up, he pranced around on the leash, and had a gleam in his eye! One of our friends says this makes him the Hugh Hefner of the Golden Retriever world..........yes, his neuter is already on the schedule at the vet!
Aside from needing a neuter and two bad teeth pulled, Moe is a healthy guy. All of his senior blood work is normal. He does have some arthritis in his legs and has a little trouble getting up when he is laying down, but we have him on Rimadyl and a joint supplement and it seems to be helping. He does a little running in the yard with Wyatt and Sassy, kicking up his heels and prancing in the snow. He walks well on leash, and could use some more frequent walks to build up his back leg muscles. We are trying to teach him to walk up and down the ramp on our deck instead of the steps, and he is catching on. He wouldn't go through a doorway without a leash the first couple of days in foster care, but now he goes in and out with no problems. He's settling in well.
Now for the sweet part. All RAGOM foster parents say their foster is sweet, and it's true, they are all sweet. But Moe really is the sweetest foster we have ever had. He is very gentle when he wants attention, just gives a little nudge with his head and leans in for pets. He often smiles when we scratch his ears, he pulls his lips back and just grins at us. He likes to be close but not on top of you, choosing to curl up a few feet away where he can still see you. When we go outside, he runs and does his business, then comes back to see what we are doing, leaning in for a few pets before he goes to see what Sassy is up to. He sits so patiently when we put drops in his ears and gives a little soft moan when we rub them for him. We can't wait for the day when he finally feels comfortable enough to give one of us a little kiss. He is just a doll.
Moe is completely trustworthy in the house, but until he's neutered we keep him baby gated in the spare bedroom when we can't supervise him with the two resident dogs. Sassy isn't fond of his constant attention, and she has been known to bite first and ask questions later. So it is for his safety more than anything else. He is so cute in the morning, when he hears the alarm go off. He gives a gentle little woof, and when we go to let him out of the spare bedroom, he greets us at the baby gate, with a toy in his mouth, tail gently wagging. Did I mention how sweet this boy is?
If you are interested in meeting our sweet MoJo, let your Placement adviser know.
I am NOT 12!!
I think she likes me!
Moe with his hedgehog
At a Glance #09-087
| Golden Retriever | Born: February 1997 |
| Male | 60 lbs |
Status: Deceased
Profile
Sponsored by:
Dr. James Winsor of Inver Grove Animal Hospital
Meet Moe, a 12 year old gentleman who gives new meaning to the word "sweet". Moe was surrendered to RAGOM by a family who was moving and could no longer keep him. Thanks to Uncle Rick and Aunt Pat for picking him up and taking him to the vet on Friday. Moe sends tail wags your way!
Moe was pretty shaken up by all the upheaval in his life in the last few days, but is adjusting nicely to RAGOM life and has really come out of his shell. When Moe arrived at his foster home, he got out of the car, head down, tail down and moving kind of slowly. Then he got one look at Sassy, our 10 year old female resident dog, and Moe suddenly got 5 years younger! It was hysterical, his head and ears came up, his tail came up, he pranced around on the leash, and had a gleam in his eye! One of our friends says this makes him the Hugh Hefner of the Golden Retriever world..........yes, his neuter is already on the schedule at the vet!
Aside from needing a neuter and two bad teeth pulled, Moe is a healthy guy. All of his senior blood work is normal. He does have some arthritis in his legs and has a little trouble getting up when he is laying down, but we have him on Rimadyl and a joint supplement and it seems to be helping. He does a little running in the yard with Wyatt and Sassy, kicking up his heels and prancing in the snow. He walks well on leash, and could use some more frequent walks to build up his back leg muscles. We are trying to teach him to walk up and down the ramp on our deck instead of the steps, and he is catching on. He wouldn't go through a doorway without a leash the first couple of days in foster care, but now he goes in and out with no problems. He's settling in well.
Now for the sweet part. All RAGOM foster parents say their foster is sweet, and it's true, they are all sweet. But Moe really is the sweetest foster we have ever had. He is very gentle when he wants attention, just gives a little nudge with his head and leans in for pets. He often smiles when we scratch his ears, he pulls his lips back and just grins at us. He likes to be close but not on top of you, choosing to curl up a few feet away where he can still see you. When we go outside, he runs and does his business, then comes back to see what we are doing, leaning in for a few pets before he goes to see what Sassy is up to. He sits so patiently when we put drops in his ears and gives a little soft moan when we rub them for him. We can't wait for the day when he finally feels comfortable enough to give one of us a little kiss. He is just a doll.
Moe is completely trustworthy in the house, but until he's neutered we keep him baby gated in the spare bedroom when we can't supervise him with the two resident dogs. Sassy isn't fond of his constant attention, and she has been known to bite first and ask questions later. So it is for his safety more than anything else. He is so cute in the morning, when he hears the alarm go off. He gives a gentle little woof, and when we go to let him out of the spare bedroom, he greets us at the baby gate, with a toy in his mouth, tail gently wagging. Did I mention how sweet this boy is?
If you are interested in meeting our sweet MoJo, let your Placement adviser know.
I am NOT 12!!I think she likes me!Moe with his hedgehog
Updates
Wednesday, May 6, 2009
Sunday, April 26, 2009
Our sweet MoJo has had another setback in his health. Last week he was in to see Dr. Julia for his physical therapy (which is going great, he's moving so much more comfortably), when a colleague noticed what looked like a small pocket of white pus at the base of one of the teeth that MoJo really needs pulled, indicating that it might be infected/abscessed. So we took MoJo back to the vet to have his mouth looked at. We did another test to check his anemia, only to find his packed cell volume has fallen again to 30 and we still don't know why.
Dr. J thinks that there is something going on with MoJo in a place we can't see, possibly his stomach or intestinal tract that is causing the ongoing anemia. Short of some pretty invasive tests, there isn't anything we haven't done to try to figure out his issue. So we have made the decision to stop looking for a cause that we probably couldn't treat anyway, and just love him and make him as happy and comfortable as possible. That is why we have made the difficult decision to list MoJo as in hospice care.
After looking at his teeth, we all decided the right thing to do was to go ahead and pull the ones that need to come out. His mouth was clearly painful, he drooled almost constantly and still has issues eating anything that isn't really soft. Even though he isn't as healthy as we would like we went ahead with the surgery. Our goal was to improve his quality of life and reduce his pain, and since we were putting him under anyway we also had him neutered. Hopefully that will slow down his interest in the foxy female before she really tells him off, using her teeth!!
MoJo came through the surgery well. We brought him home the same day to try to reduce his anxiety from being in a strange place. Dr. J did his neuter and pulled a couple of his teeth, the ones that really had significant bone loss and were obviously painful. She also found a tumor in his mouth that was biopsied, we should have the results on that back next week. He has been slow to recover from his surgery, pretty dopey and back to not wanting to eat anything. We had his pain patch removed today and we are hoping that he will perk up a little and decide to start eating again once the painkillers are out of his system. This poor guy just can't catch a break and when he is upset, he refuses to eat. Please keep paws crossed that this is just temporary and that MoJo perks up again as his mouth feels better.
Special thanks to MoJo's generous sponsor Dr. James Winsor, for helping out with his vet bills; they have been higher than we ever thought he would need. And hugs and tail wags to Suzie D, Judy D, Gene B, and Uncle Rick and Aunt Pat O for helping pay for MoJo's physical therapy.
He says his back end feels SO much with the PT, and here are some pictures to show how much more comfortable he looks!
Sunday, April 12, 2009
The mystery of Mr. MoJo's health continues. Moe saw Dr. J over a week ago to have his blood checked for progress on the anemia front, and we don't know much more than we did several weeks ago. His anemia is almost normal, the same level as it was the week before; but he had lost more weight. Moe has lost 9 pounds since he came into foster care, and he didn't have it to lose, unlike his foster mom. The vets are puzzled by what could be going on with him. He's had an ultrasound of his abdomen, x-rays and blood work, and we can't find anything to explain his anemia and loss of appetite. The next step to diagnose his issue would be an endoscopy to see if there is a tumor or cancer of some sort that might explain what is going on. Given MoJo's age, that just doesn't seem like the right thing to do, to put him through an invasive procedure when we most likely wouldn't be able to treat anything found, so we've all agreed it isn't the best approach.
But since his vet appointment, MoJo has been eating better and we have no idea why. He seems to like the doggie junk food we have him on (thanks again Jeff!), so we're letting him have it. As a fellow foster said, "when I'm 84 years old and in a nursing home, I hope the staff lets me eat ice cream and cookies all day if that's what I want!". He seems a little perkier now that he is off the antibiotics, so we're hoping that they were upsetting his stomach and that is why he hasn't been eating up to now. We took him back to see Dr J last Friday, and he has gained back 4 of the 9 pounds he lost. He loves to go say hi to Dr. J and his friend Julie, and we are thrilled that he has gained a little weight!
Since MoJo came into foster care, we have noticed just how uncomfortable he seems to be sometimes when he lays down. He often looks like a pretzel on the floor. One shoulder is up, one is down, his back looks crooked and he limps noticeably on his right front leg in addition to his general overall discomfort. It reminds me of how I feel when my back is out of alignment and I need a trip to the chiropractor. We asked a fellow foster who had a dog with some back issues if the doctor she went to knew of a chiropractor that treats dogs, and she told us about Dr Julia.
Dr. Julia is just amazing with MoJo! She is a board certified veterinary surgeon who runs a vet clinic with an emphasis on physical therapy for pets. She looked at all MoJo's vet records and x-rays, and he definitely has arthritis in his back. His back is also out of alignment all the way down his spine, so she adjusted a portion of it at each of his first two visits. She wants to go slow and not overwhelm his system, but the change right off the bat was amazing. MoJo got up off the floor, getting his back legs under him quicker than we've seen since he came into foster care. When we went out to the car, instead of waiting for me to lift him in, he got his front legs up on the seat and was crawling in with his back legs when I intervened and lifted him. He's never done that before! He was a little drowsy when we got home, but was up and around the next morning and ate with a gusto we rarely see from him. We're truly hoping that we are relieving some of his pain, and that he will have a much greater quality of life as a result.
We're doing some physical therapy exercises at home with him, to improve the range of motion in his back end, and we're just going to take things slow and easy. We're also taking him on some very short walks (which he LOVES) to strengthen the muscles in his back end. He sees Dr. Julia again later this week and we'll have a better idea at that time how many visits she thinks it will take to get him more comfortable.
MoJo and his very grateful foster family would like to thank Suzie D. for paying for his initial consultation, and Judy D. and Gene B. and Uncle Rick and Aunt Pat O. for offering to help pay for his treatments. Your generosity has made it possible for him to see Dr. Julia at all and have a shot at a more comfortable life, and we don't know how to thank you. MoJo sends tail wags and love to all of you!!
"My future's so bright, I gotta wear shades...."
Saturday, March 14, 2009
Moe and his foster family are absolutely thrilled to hear that Dr. James Winsor has generously sponsored Moe. His vet bills are going to be higher than expected, so we are extra grateful for your generosity! If you are interested in meeting Moe, we'd be happy to bring him to see you so he can show you his gratitude in person (so to speak). Thanks again!
Mr. MoJo is continuing to settle into his new life as a RAGOM dog. He is just the sweetest thing on four legs, we keep saying that but it is true!
Moe's neuter and tooth extraction have been put on hold for awhile, as he hasn't been feeling well. He went to PetSmart on Saturday and charmed the pants off of everyone he met, but he seemed a little low key. Sunday he didn't want to eat, so off to the vet we went for some tests. Moe has become anemic over the last few weeks, and the vets are working on trying to figure out why. He's taking some medication to help his tummy feel better and encourage him to eat--no doubt the hamburger and rice we've been cooking for him are helping as well. He's perking up, but we still aren't sure what the problem is, so no surgery for awhile.
We'll keep everyone updated on his progress. Paws crossed!
