The Ross-Hall Retirement Home for Old Dogs of Limited Means and Lots of Heart had to say good-bye on Monday to our darling 13-year-old Boco Bean. Boco came to us on July 20, 2018, from Montgomery County Animal Shelter (MCAS). He was supposed to be short term foster dog as he had been tagged by New England Brittany Rescue and was slated to make a trip across the country to Buffalo, NY. He was the perfect house guest and quickly endeared himself to us. The day before he was to leave, Floyd said “Well, why does he have to leave? He loves it here and we love him, too?” And so, phone calls were made and arrangements were finalized for us to adopt him into our family. Boco did really well, initially, with the vet (and he had had vet care at the shelter), including having a dental, being groomed and visiting for a minor skin infection. But late in the winter his behavior at the vet changed and he refused to allow them to touch him. We consulted with our dear friend and dog trainer, Pat Marshall, and it was determined that the best thing to do would be to change vets and to find one who practiced “force free” care. To our delight we found that Dr. Donna Fuller at Pet Medical Center of Duncanville (PMCOD) had such a practice. Floyd and I have known Dr. Fuller for years through our volunteer work with the Tri City Animal Shelter. From March through the end of June we made regular visits to the PMCOD to work with a technician on acclimating him to their clinic and counter-conditioning exercises to try to help him be comfortable with being touched by strangers. He made great progress over time and came to enjoy going to the clinic, getting weighed, meeting new people, and working out with his tech. Then the nose bleeds started. As they worsened, we realized that while he was not ready for the vets to do a successful examination, we could not wait for him to have medical attention. During our visit on Monday he was fully sedated and while we were present the exam was performed. Our worst fears turned to reality when he was diagnosed with aggressive mast cell cancer of the nose. The options were to see a specialist and pursue radiation, try steroids to slow the growth for a month or so (but it would not stop the bleeding), or let him go. Given that he has to be totally sedated for any vet procedures and does not tolerate touching of the face area well, and given his age and the enormous amount of mast cells, coupled with a small facial deformity related to the cancer, it was decided that letting him go would be best for all. He also kept losing weight (going from 51 lbs.to 47 lbs.) with no change in appetite or food other than we kept giving him more to no avail. We are glad we were able to give him almost a full year of fun - rides in the car, puppacinos at Starbucks, a big backyard for him to chase the squirrels who loved to taunt him, lots of comfy beds, medications for his anxiety issues (covered in his favorite peanut butter), toys to play with, and a 14 year old Border Collie sister who seemed fine with letting him be the boss and enjoyed playing with him in the house. He was a precious little guy and very funny, and he tried so hard to help me clean up the constant expulsions of blood as he sneezed often and with growing ferocity. We could not bring ourselves to post about this loss earlier. We miss this dog so much, especially all the many ways he brought humor to our lives and laughter to our lips. Please hug your pups close. We are so grateful that our beautiful Graycie Bean is still with us. And we apologize for the length of this post but it really helped us to tell the whole story. Thank you to all the wonderful people at MCAS who worked so hard to advocate for this guy and for our friends, our dog sitter, and others who have helped us along this short but very worthwhile journey. OLD DOGS RULE!
