Midwest Akita Rescue Society (MARS)

05/08/2025

Welcome Kiera
This adorable 7 month old finds herself with us though no fault of her own. She is just a victim of circumstance.
She will be available once she is fully vetted and spayed.
She will be located in the Willis MI area

04/25/2025

There are always posts regarding health issues in the various Facebook Akita groups. The following links are for you to familiarize yourself with some diseases affecting the Akita breeds so you can be the best advocate for your dog at the vet should the need arise.

Sebaceous Adenitis affects the skin and hair follicles:
https://veterinarypartner.vin.com/default.aspx?pid=19239&id=4952762

Vogt-Koyanagi-Harada syndrome (VKH), known as Uveodermatologic Syndrome in dogs (UDS), affects the eyes and pigment:
https://veterinarypartner.vin.com/default.aspx?pid=19239&catId=254086&id=4952086

Pemphigus affects the skin:
https://www.vet.cornell.edu/departments-centers-and-institutes/riney-canine-health-center/canine-health-information/canine-skin-autoimmune-diseases

Immune Mediated Hemolytic Anemia affects the blood:
https://veterinarypartner.vin.com/default.aspx?pid=19239&id=4951868

Discoid Lupus Erythematosus affects the skin: https://veterinarypartner.vin.com/default.aspx?pid=19239&id=4952581

Macrothrombocytopenia and Thrombocytopenia affect the platelets (elongated and low platelet count):
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/296475069_A_novel_form_of_macrothrombocytopenia_in_Akita_dogs

Pseudohyperkalemia, also called Pacific Rimism, affects the potassium levels of red blood cells (very important for vets to rule out pseudohyperkalemia from actual hyperkalemia):
https://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/article/jvms/59/6/59_6_495/_pdf

Gastric Dilatation Volvulus (Bloat) is a very serious and life-threatening condition that may develop in deep chested breeds like the Akita (it is seen with much less frequency in the JA than the AA): https://vmccny.com/gastric-dilatationvolvulus-bloat/

Hypothyroidism affects the thyroid gland which results in lower amounts of the hormone being produced. https://www.vet.cornell.edu/departments-centers-and-institutes/riney-canine-health-center/canine-health-information/hypothyroidism

Further reading on thyroid function: https://cvm.msu.edu/vdl/laboratory-sections/endocrinology/thyroid-function-in-dogs

The Clinical Pathology section is located in the Veterinary Medical Center on the main MSU campus. All other laboratory sections are in the MSU VDL facility located south of the main campus.

04/19/2025

Hello JOHNNY

Johnny is incredibly sweet. He loves to go for walks to sniff and hunt. He loves to play tug of war and play with stuffies. More than anything he loves company His favorite thing is to lean against you for chest rubs. He also likes to lick your face.

-around 4 years old
-walks well on a leash
- current on vaccines
-on prevention
-with proper introduction can live with a female dog, he has before
-may be able to live with a cat
-kids over 8 please
-Akita experience required

Johnny is located on the Milwaukee WI area

If you would like to adopt Johnny , or any of our other orphans please contact Deanna OBrien at [email protected] or 773-594-9302.

Apply to adopt Johnny or any of our other orphans please fill out an application. ⬇️⬇️⬇️
https://akitas.org/contact-us/application-for-adoption/

04/17/2025

Hello Quincy AKA Quinn

Quinn (kudos to Bob Dylan) is one of our newest orphans and he has a song and story to tell you. This two to three year old male hails from Detroit Michigan where he was treated for several things including an embedded collar and various wounds on his starved body. His neck is healed as are his wounds and they have not altered his love of people thankfully and his trust in humans. He is putting on some much needed weight and will soon be ready for his forever home. If you would like to meet our Mighty Quinn, he would love to meet you.

** neutered
** UTD on vaccines
** chipped
** on prevention
** crate trained
** LOVES people
** no small animals
** kids over 8 please

Must have Akita experience
Probably best as an only pet

If you are interested in Quinn or any of our other orphans please fill out an application

Quinn is located in the Detroit MI area
Questions: email Deanna at [email protected]

https://akitas.org/contact-us/application-for-adoption

04/11/2025

Welcome big John AKA Johnny
Johnny hasn’t had it easy in his short life. He was confiscated by the police when his owner was arrested.
St Louis County Animal Control reached out and we were glad to help.
Johnny is located in the St Louis area.
We will post more about him when after we get to know him.
Thank you to St Louis County Animal Control for taking such good care of him while he was with you. Thank you to Shelly for being his taxi to freedom and his caregiver.

04/10/2025

Yosi is an active, happy, and healthy three year old akita weighing 85 pounds. She grew up in a home with children, and was reluctantly released to MARS due to her owner’s health problems.
Yosi likes to greet humans. She solicits petting and close contact, is a leaner, and especially fond of butt rubs.

This play baby has boundless energy, and views every encounter with our volunteers as a chance to initiate play that will frequently escalate into full-on zoomies. She is an enthusiastic four season walker. She likes to roll on the ground in both grass and snow to scratch her back while flailing her four legs in the air. Upright, she is fond of plowing snow with her head and shoulder on the ground while pushing forward with her two back legs.

Yosi knows basic commands like come, sit, and down. She is treat motivated and a fast learner. She enjoys car rides, even trips to the vet, where she is happily cooperative with vet staff. She is very alert to her surroundings, and will scan the horizon to apprise her people of all two and four legged creatures entering her domain.

Yosi is located in the Cleveland, OH area.

If you are interested in Yosi or any of our other orphans please fill out an application.

https://akitas.org/contact-us/application-for-adoption/

Questions? Email Deanna [email protected]

04/10/2025

This confident playful youngster (3 yrs old), is happy, healthy, and eager to please. She weighs 85 pounds, has a deep voice, a big head, and super white teeth. She is very agile and athletic. Gypsy can jump high and run like the wind. Unleashed in a large fenced field, Gypsy is easily the fleetest akita we have come across. She loves walks on a long lead along a nearby rail trail, where she favors leaping culverts and climbing steep embankments to investigate what might be at the top. She could be renamed “Dora” (the Explorer) . She is unusually attracted to water in all its forms — happy exploring in rain, mud puddles, partially flooded culverts, small rivers, vernal ponds, not to mention snow, the deeper the better. She has yet to see a big lake, but we predict she’s a natural swimmer.

Though she does have the strong prey drive of many akitas, Gypsy is less upset than many of our other orphans by other passing leashed dogs and bikes on the route she regularly walks. She is tolerant of her kennel mates, but is probably best as an only dog in her new home, at least at the beginning.

Gypsy comes to us as a wandering stray, so we don’t know anything about her previous homed life. Here she adores the humans she knows, and readily meets new people. Treat motivated— she makes a game out of catching most any that are tossed her way— she very quickly learned basic commands like come, sit, and down, and will now offer them unbidden in hopes of some reward. She likes car rides and will volunteer the driver some over-the-shoulder navigating. She travels well, likes going to the vet, and is a big fan of Cheez-Whiz and pup cups.

Akita experience is required.
It is unknown how she is with cats.

If you are interested in Gypsy or any of our other orphans please fill out an application
https://akitas.org/contact-us/application-for-adoption

Gypsy is located in the Cleveland, OH area

Questions: email Deanna at [email protected]

04/09/2025

Welcome to Bailey. Bailey has a very sad story. She was dumped at a vets office in their outdoor pens in the poring rain and left overnight.
There is no judgement here. The people who had her before had her name engraved on a dog tag, on the other side, it says five years old, Arthritis and I’m sorry.
While this is heartbreaking we thank the people at Calhoun County Animal Center for taking such good care of her until we could pick her up.
Bailey will be available as soon as she is seen by a vet and is spayed.
Thank you to Jess for always having room for one more.
She is located in Willis MI.

More to come on this sweet girl

Please keep it positive. We don’t need negativity. She is safe and loved now

03/31/2025

Please teach children to respect dogs.

03/27/2025