NWATR - Happy Tails - Maggie Mae Ryan

Maggie Mae Ryan (fka Molly) escaped one time too many from her home in rural Sonoma County, California. On her third impound at Sonoma County Animal Care and Control (SCACC), Maggie’s caretakers refused to retrieve her when contacted by the SCACC. Unfortunately, her caretakers also declined to pay the surrender fee – which meant Maggie could not be adopted or even visited during the first two weeks of her 30-day “sentence” at SCACC. Before the end of her 30-day "sentence" (when a NWATR foster volunteer could retrieve Maggie), serendipity intervened. Connie received an e-mail from a couple in San Francisco researching breed information and seeking training referrals in anticipation of possibly adopting “an Airedale from a Northern California shelter”. Connie instantly realized this couple was planning to adopt Maggie from SCACC! Several conversations with Connie and two days later, the couple visited Maggie at SCACC. Maggie was aloof and disinterested, spending the first half hour of the "interview" wandering around the SCACC play yard. Then, without warning, Maggie bounced across the yard, sat down beside the couple and -- looking eye-to-eye -- placed her giant paw on the wife’s shoulder. The three have been inseparable ever since. Maggie quickly bonded with her new forever family and adapted to urban living in San Francisco. She has a good-size yard to call her own and an enclosed dog park a half block away to socialize with other dogs. Maggie’s forever family takes her everywhere from sidewalk cafes and hardware stores to long hikes and family vacations. This bouncy, goofy girl is eager to please, full of love and endlessly entertaining. It is a match made in heaven. Thank you, Connie and NWATR.

I'd also like to share with you a different kind of "Happy Tail". Two months ago, Maggie returned from an uneventful afternoon walk and wouldn't budge from the entry hall. She stood motionless and distressed. She would not walk even a few steps, lay down or take a lamb treat. It had been a typical morning prior to this -- she woke up bouncy, happy and hungry, eating her usual breakfast and otherwise behaving normally -- so the sudden onset of symptoms caused great alarm. I carried and lifted her into the back of our SUV, then drove straight to the emergency vet. Maggie couldn't even stand by this point. Initially, the ER vet surmised anaphylactic shock from a bee sting -- but tests were negative. Next the vet suspected a twisted spleen (splenic torsion). An ultrasound, followed by an X-ray, indicated Maggie instead had a large mass on her spleen. Not good. The ER vet soberly advised the outlook was grim and sent us to a surgeon across town. The surgeon laid out statistics consistent with the ER vet's progrosis: Two-thirds chance of malignant tumor (splenic hemangiosarcoma), most often terminal within less than a month, at best a year or two; one-third chance of a benign splenic hematoma. Even if the latter, Maggie would hemorrhage to death without surgery. Jim and I crossed our fingers for the latter as they wheeled her into surgery. Post-surgical biopsy results later confirmed a benign splenic hematoma. We had caught it just in time. The amount of blood in her abdominal cavity suggested that she would not have lived more than a few hours after the onset of symptoms. That the symptoms appeared when I was home was a miracle. Serendipity intervened once again. Less than a month after her surgery, Maggie returned to her bouncy, goofy self and today shows no signs of her near tragedy, aside from the surgical scar on her abdomen.