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12/01/10 - MEMORIAL
My husband and I adopted Misty (previously known as Midge) from AABR back in
April of 2005. We drove two hours to meet her at Gail’s kennel, fell in
love with her, and took her home with us that same day. She was one of the
best dogs anyone could ask for and of course, she was our best friend for
the past 5 ˝ years. Unfortunately, our time with her was not nearly long
enough, as my husband and I had to say goodbye to her last week.
Almost two years ago, she was diagnosed
with the devastating disease of Degenerative Myelopathy (DM), and we had to
heartbreakingly watch as she slowly lost her mobility to this awful
condition. I’ve heard many people say it’s the dog-form of ALS, and I
believe that to be a pretty accurate comparison. I had never even heard of
this condition until her diagnosis, and what a shock it was to hear! We did
all we could to keep her mobile for as long as possible. In Sept. 2009, we
ordered her a custom cart from Eddie’s Wheels and you could see her eyes
light up just after the first few minutes of her using the cart! It only
took her that long to catch on to how it worked! The cart was shipped to
our vet’s office and the evening we picked it up, we were the last
appointment and the entire veterinary staff came out into the parking lot to
cheer her on , while she figured out how to maneuver herself all on her
own! It was incredible to see! Misty benefited from her original cart for
a good 9 months. She and I would go for walks around the neighborhood every
day, and she LOVED those walks! We would stay out for 45 minutes to an hour
and even then, when we were approaching our house, she hesitated to go in
because she wanted to stay out longer.
However, after those 9 months or so with
the cart, the DM began moving to her front legs and I had to begin helping
to support her front legs while on walks. I was determined to keep her
walking since she enjoyed our walks so much, so we modified her cart to make
it counterbalanced with the kit from Eddies Wheels. This helped for a
while, but she began struggling again and then began to lose interest in her
walks, even after I added front wheels to the cart. I would try to take her
for walks and she just wasn’t interested anymore. Even in the house, while
lying down and unable to move around, she was looking so sad and would whine
at times. At this point, she was even having trouble holding herself
upright while lying down (to eat and drink). In addition to her lack of
mobility, she had suffered from incontinence for quite some time as well.
It was so devastating to watch the DM progress throughout her body and rob
her of her life. Once Misty got to this degenerative state, her quality of
life was minimal and we could see that she was ready to give up her fight of
almost two years. I decided that we had to give her a lavish meal before
saying goodbye, so I prepared steak and green beans for her and she had
Dairy Queen twist soft serve for dessert. Then, with very heavy
hearts, my husband and I took her for her last ride to the vets last week
(where we also discovered that a significant sized mass had formed in her
abdomen, in her liver/kidney area) and she crossed over the
Rainbow Bridge on 11/24/10. Now she can now run and play again,
chase after our late cat, Babis, like she used to do, and maybe meet up with
our late Boxer, Kalli, who we had before Misty.
We were so blessed to have Misty in our
lives for the past five plus years and we will truly miss her! She was
surely a trooper and fought her DM to the very end! We will always remember
her “singing for her supper,” her double/triple drool bubbles while begging,
her “wait” trick where she would hold a treat on her paw until we told her
“OK” to eat it, and her persistent desire to always be up on the sofa, on
“her end.”
Nancy & Denny Benson
4/4/05 - Adopted!
03/15/05 - Midge
Midge is a very shy and
sweet 2 year old flashy brindle boxer girl. She has natural ears and a
docked tail. She is a very well behaved and a calm boxer. She was found as a
stray on the mean streets of Philadelphia.
Midge will be spayed and up to date on shots this week. She seems so happy
to have a roof over her head. She eats well and is in need of a foster or
forever home with older kids over 10 . A friendly non dominant dog would be
fine.
If you are interested in adopting this dog, please fill out an
online application first. Then e-mail the contacts below. Be sure to include your full name, city,
state, and area code in the subject line of your message.
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(click pictures to enlarge)
Prior to adoption
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