My Deepest Thank You To All of You

This sadly is my last entry as I have gone to the Rainbow Bridge by the time you read this. No one knows for sure what my life was like as I was growing up and I couldn't tell them the experiences I had done. But I can tell you and all that will listen, that these last months of my life have been the greatest of all. I was allowed to leave this world with dignity given to me by Illinois Birddog Rescue and my kind guardians Joyce and Gene. I knew I was loved and I tried to show it back every way I knew how. I know at times, it must of been difficult for my guardians to take care of me, but they did, even knowing that I was not going to leave their home without the gentle hand of God.

I couldn't of asked or picked better parents. Yes! I said parents. To me they were my family and not keepers of an old lady. They loved me and I loved them. They held me in their arms and comforted me through many situations. And in the end, I felt the love and gentleness as I laid in my mom's arms saying, good-bye. I may be gone in body, but my soul will be with them forever. My last words to write.

I LOVE YOU!

Sweet Dreams,
Maggie Mae

Update on Maggie

Miss Maggie Mae has arrived and settled in her new foster home in Minnesota. The first couple days were rough and she wasn't up to eating, coughing a lot and just not feeling up to par. I had a fecal done(negative) to make sure she didn't pick anything up along the way and spoke with the vet who saw her. I was very concerned about the coughing/huffing/puffing. He said for the amount of time she had been on meds he would be surprised if she wasn't coughing. So I knew it could only get better. It took some creative food combinations until Maggie would eat, but now is on track, though the vet thought she could lose about 10 lbs. I think we'll see how it goes as the nicer weather comes and she can be out for more walks etc.

MM has made friends with our cocker pup Puppy (I know we're still working on a name) and they actually play about 4 times a day. I wonder if Miss Maggie was a mom at some point in her life. For being 14 she is like a very spry GreatGrandmother:) Puppy adores her, yet he can bug her and she lets him know in not the kindess ways that it is not acceptable to bug her. He is a bit slow on the uptake, not the brightest bulb if ya know what I mean.

Our senior golden boy, Jake, is 13 and a grumpy old man, but he and MM have a relationship that works for them..........sniff, ignore, bark togeather, potty togeather and see who can get the most attention. We have 3 cats and MM has pretty much ignored them, though today she did decide the white one might worth checking out. No harm no foul.

Maggie does not like having her nails cut, her long paw hairs trimmed or more or less any other grooming. I use a Italian basket weave muzzle on all new dogs when grooming them for the first time. And in Maggie's case it was a good choice. She was a bit snarky, but we took it slow and I managed to get the trimming done and eventually gave her a bath. She is clean, trimmed and sweet smelling and I believe has forgiven me the nasty deeds I did to her.

Maggie Mae will continue on her antibiotic for another 10 days to besure the bronchial infection is cleared up. The mass on her neck is most likely non-cancerous, but the reading wasn't definitive. An ultra sound would have been done at the time she was being vetted,( but if you follow IBR, or any rescue, you know that we are over whelmed with dogs via owner surrenders, rescuing from high kill shelters, strays........it's an on going struggle to find money to help each of these sweet creatures out) but the funds weren't available and the ultra sound had to be forgone. We had hoped to beable to get a positive reading on whether or not Maggie has tumors on her liver. At her age it would be too risky for her to go through surgery, and since it isn't an option, the ultra sound would have helped us to get a better handle on her health issues. For now we take it day by day.

Miss Maggie Mae is a sweetheart, and has the funniest habit of keeping her tail down when she wags it, I thought maybe cuz she wasn't feeling well, but it seems to be the way she wags it around people. When playing with the puppy it's up and blowing in the wind. She loves attention but isn't pushy, loves her doggie beds, can get up on our low sofa and likes to put her head on a pillow and snooze away. She has not had an accident and has great bladder control for an older girl. One of the biggest joys of fostering seniors is they are trained, know the game, don't demand much, are grateful for everything, and give back 10 fold. As someone once said, to be blessed with the love of a senior dog is to be blessed many times over.

Chances are pretty good Maggie Mae will spend her remaing time with us, and we knew that when we agreed to take her. However, I have seen seniors go for much longer than we expect, and so I never say they are not available. I never cease to be amazed at the people who specifically want to adopt older terminal dogs. These people are rare and I award the golden doggie bone to them. It's a very difficult thing to adopt an older dog knowing your time will be limited with them. But then I learned from experience that giving them what all dogs deserve, love, acceptance, housing, good food and lots of scritches and scratches is most rewarding. I want them to know when they get ready to leave this world that someone that loves them will be with them to help them cross the Rainbow Bridge. So if per chance you are one of those people, please don't hesitate to apply to adopt Miss Maggie Mae. If you aren't in a position to adopt you may want to become a Maggie Mae Health Sponsor, which means all monies you send to IBR with Maggie's name on it will go toward all Maggie's medical attention, receiving the meds she needs as she needs them and in the case of special dog food, to help pay for that. It may surprise you to know that the couple hundred dollars you are able to adopt an IBR dog with, doesn't even cover 1/4 of most dog's expenses. Kinda like our economy....not much coming in and lot going out:)

And so I end this first update about Miss Maggie Mae, who has waded up to her elbows in snow but is now able to lay out on the deck with the west sun warming her face and body. The snow is slowly leaving us and being replaced by ............MUD!!!!!! I wonder if MM is a roller. Stay tuned for more updates and pictures

I Need Your Help, Please

Dear Diary, It's not looking good. I over heard people talking. They said "I just got off the phone with Dr. Lambeida who did a second biopsy on the huge tumor on Maggie's neck. It is most likely a Thyroid gland tumor. Whether or not it is cancerous is hard to tell but as her blood work did show some major abnormalities and a potential tumor in her liver- we decided to just move her to Joyce's in St. Cloud, MN for hospice care.

Her chest X-ray was clear- aside from a bad case of bronchitis- but we know Maggie is in a little pain and our goal will be to keep her comfortable.

Thanks to Joyce for being so kind and helping her out."

Diary, This is something that no one expected. It explains why I'm tired and a bit cranky at times. My appetite isn't up to par, I just don't feel like eating right now. I really could use your help. If you could just take a minute and send some Setter Zen my way, I sure would appreciate it.

Illinois Birddog Rescue is making sure I have all the comforts I need and I don't know how to thank them for making me part of their family. They made sure I saw a Dr. right away. In fact, they detoured my road trip to my foster home and went right to the vet. They ran all sorts of tests, blood work, x-rays and I wasn't scared. I kinda' had a peace come over me. A feeling like someone cared about me!

It would of been easy to say "no" in taking me in, but they don't believe in refusing anyone. And I'm a perfect example. Now you can see from my picture, that I'm no Spring chick, and probably not adoptable either, but none of that mattered to them. So if I can ask for any thing that can help me and the many others needing medical care, I ask only this; Please, if you can, Sponsor Me or one of the other special needs dogs, or even a few dollars will help offset mine and their medical bills. I sure didn't expect this to be my final resting place, but I'm sure glad there was someone that wanted me, because as the days go on, I think I will need them more than I know.

Off To My New Foster Home

Dear Diary, I'm off to a new journey in my life. I'm not sure what lies ahead, but can only hope that my new life will be good to me.

Dear Diary, Still on my journey to a foster home, but a little break along the way and rested my tired bones on a cozy bed for the night.

This feels so good.

Dear Diary, my rest was refreshing and I'm on my way to see another part of the world. I'll write again when I arrive at my destination.

Maggie is a senior lady that has been in a kennel waiting for her foster home for the past week. She was finally able to enjoy the comforts of a soft bed and she loved every minute of it. She was staying over night at a home, before continuing on her journey. This is what was said about her from the short stay. "She is a calm, easy going lady. She loves her food and loves treats. We went for a walk this evening and she handles beautiful on leash, she obviously has been trained to walk on leash. She was so excited about the dog beds. When she saw the dog beds she went running and jumped on it. It was so funny. She is a bit scared but I think that is because she has been in a kennel for a week and will take time to feel comfortable in her new environment.