06/05/2025
COMPLETELY DEVASTATED 😭💔
As I gather my thoughts to honor and pay tribute to an amazing soul, not just for people but for every animal 🐾, Makala Davidson found her home away from home with us here at The Pet Lodge. In 17 years, we have never hired anyone as special as she was. Instantly, she fit in like a custom-fit glove. To meet her was to immediately love her ❤️. Her connection to Kim and I, her coworkers, and especially the pups was so inspiring and incredible to experience 🌟.
All she wanted to do was be around the pups, particularly focusing on our house rescues that had been with us for quite a while due to various circumstances. It became her passion and mission to get those pups into loving homes, and we will certainly honor her efforts and see that mission through 🏡. If she was offering to cover or take on everyone’s shift just to care for our guest pups and rescues, she would work through a midday break or come in on her days off just to focus on the rescues. She would harness them and walk them for miles, I swear, to the dealerships, local businesses on Market Street or to the park for some outside socializing 🌳. I know for a fact the salespeople at the Toyota dealership absolutely loved and adored her, as was evident when Kim and I went to share the heartbreaking, horrible, and devastating news. They were all completely devastated 😢. They looked forward to her visits with whatever pup she was working with that day.
One person actually shared a picture that is included in this post of her carrying a full-sized Pitty that, after being caught in the rain, wouldn’t walk. She carried him probably a quarter-mile (or more) back to The Pet Lodge 🐕. And if the pups didn’t keep her busy enough, she was always the first to say, “Hey, how can I help? I can help do this or I know how to do that!” From landscaping to facility maintenance, she was eager to lend a hand.
Her interactions with coworkers went far deeper than just work; she became a close friend to my wife Kim (and others) and would message and chat outside of work, sharing jokes and stories about anything. Kim, as we all are, are absolutely heartbroken 💔, and I send this on her behalf as well as mine and the rest of her Pet Lodge family. Her time with us at the lodge was meant to be forever but was cut incredibly short for reasons only “God” knows.
For such a beautiful person with a kind heart to be taken by such an unimaginable accident, leaving her alone with no chance to help herself, is devastating. I will say that when family found her at home caring for friends' pups, it was apparent she had fallen and hit her head. This horrible and unimaginable event left her tragically alone, with nobody to help and save her, just as she always did for everyone else.
Makala, to say you are loved, adored, and will be missed by everyone who met you would be an incredible understatement. We, as well as the rescue community you were a huge advocate for, lost an angel. I can only think there must be someone above who really needs your help with some unruly pups, as your amazing heart, care, and compassion were taken way too soon.
Makala, you will always be a part of our family and will never be forgotten. You are loved and missed more than you can know ❤️🌈 💔😭🙏🏼🐾
Kimberly D. McCuskey Scott A. McCuskey
