Paws Before the Bridge

07/15/2026

On Saturday, 7/11, we acquired a new hospice resident. She may be the worst case we’ve taken in yet.

She is a law enforcement seizure from a hoarding situation, and it’s my understanding that they are being prosecuted for animal cruelty. Kiwi was released early for medical reasons.

Kiwi is a 12 year old (estimated) Chihuahua. She weighs 4.2 pounds and should probably weigh at least 5 pounds. That doesn’t seem like much until you realize that means she’s 20% underweight, at least. Most of her back and rump are hairless, probably from flea dermatitis. She was covered in fleas when removed from the situation. The fleas are gone but she is still itchy. At some point in the past, her lower jaw was broken and received no treatment. There is some attached bone on one side, but none on the other side. Her jaw just hangs off her face vertically and is unusable. This also means she can’t really keep her tongue in her mouth. She also had an untreated corneal ulcer, but it healed while she was being treated in veterinary boarding. She has pretty severe arthritis that has never been treated and is very painful. Worse, an x-ray to assess the jaw showed that she has multiple pellets in her little body - someone SHOT her!!

After hearing her story I expected an angry or aloof little dog, or a fearful one with trust issues. But no. Her little tail started wagging as soon as I spoke to her. She is sweet, loving, and trusting in spite of everything. Her attitude is cheerful and she is incredibly grateful for any attention or food. Her tail starts wagging when you just LOOK at her.

She is now with us until the end of her days, and we want to make those happy and pain-free days. Her jaw is not fixable due to the time that has passed since the injury, her age, and other health problems.

We have started her on medications for comfort and pain relief, and hopefully a good diet and remaining flea free will allow her to grow back her hair. She can eat soft food and does so with great enthusiasm. She’s currently getting 4 small meals a day to help her gain some weight without overwhelming her stomach and digestion.

Kiwi is probably the most “expensive” dog we have taken, meaning today’s vet bill was quite high and she will need ongoing care and vet visits. If you find it in your heart to help us take care of this precious little life that has been harshly and unfairly mistreated, and help her get the love and care she has missed out on, we would greatly appreciate it.

https://www.paypal.com/donate?hosted_button_id=F5X9H6GV4BFZC

Venmo:

06/06/2026

Hi everyone! A general update.

Thank you to Misfits, Mutts, and Meows - Joy Williams - for a generous donation of Nexgard Plus and medications.

Opie’s kidney disease declined sharply and he began vomiting bile and white foam, and the anti-emetic no longer helped. We had to send him over the bridge.

Bumper is declining also, his dementia is getting significantly worse. QoL assessments are very low so he will likely be joining Opie in the next week or two.

Susie has a polyp in her right ear that’s causing chronic infections. We are treating it daily with prescription medications but nothing is helping much. Anyone have experience with this? We will be asking the vet for a culture & sensitivity to target the specific pathogen.

Everyone else is stable and doing well. Raven has settled in like she always belonged here and seems happy. Queenie is walking more since we started her on Carprofen and hasn’t “wet the bed” in weeks. She still doesn’t go outside but she does get up and go to a potty pad. Progress!

We hope all of your pooches and kitties are doing well!

Opie:

03/21/2026

Meet the newest resident at the hospice - Raven! Pulled from the Bethany shelter, picked up as a stray with several issues noted: 6/6 heart murmur, dental, suspected diabetes (negative, thankfully), etc., etc., etc.

Took her to Dr. H at Hartfield Veterinary Clinic-Urgent Care for her initial exam and was pronounced "another hot mess". All we could do was smile and acknowledge our specialty - stabilizing hot messes. She got her first round of vaccinations, blood panel (looked great), heartworm test (negative). She'll be going back in a couple of weeks to finish up vaccines and get her dental.

Raven so far has slid right in as a member of the pack, interacts and coexists as a peer. She is quite intelligent, constantly watching us and the pack for cues as to what's expected and what's off limits.

We're excited to have you Raven, this is your forever home until it's time to go to the bridge. Everybody send Raven a welcome to confirm she's home.

01/22/2026

Say Hi! to our newest resident. Dagwood is a 10+ year old Pomeranian mix with a grade 3 heart murmur and a collapsing trachea. He has coughing fits that he struggles to recover from. He also walks stiffly and carefully and may have some arthritis. The incoming winter storm may prevent us from getting him to the vet this weekend but we’ll get him in to see what Dr. Hartfield can do for him asap.

Thanks again to the Bartlesville chapter of A.R.F. for trusting us to give Dagwood a happy ever after and taking in Winston, who is really in good health, not that old, and probably has quite a few good years left since his ehrlichiosis has been cleared up. A.R. F. found Barky a wonderful forever home and we hope they’ll do the same for Winston, who deserves to have his own happy home where he gets lots of one-on-one attention.

We try to give every dog here some one-on-one affection or lap time every day, but with only two of us and 11 of them, it’s not always easy and they probably don’t get as much attention as they’d like.

There are surgical options for collapsing trachea, but we aren’t sure what it will cost or if Dagwood is a suitable candidate. We’ll keep you updated.

01/12/2026

People often ask what possessed me to start a canine hospice and to take in dogs that are in the last year or so of their lives. I don't talk much about it because years later it's still a raw wound.

However, being as today is the anniversary of her passing, here's the post I made then. It's also the epiphany that caring for dogs in that final mile was what I've been called to do.

≠================================

The crate is empty today, Rosy has gone home.

Thursday, Rosy's disease (CDS) started robbing her of the last of her autonomous functions. She stopped eating, and had trouble remembering how to take water.

6:30 this morning, she barked - a sound I hadn't heard in over a year. I got her up and we spent the next 3 hours snuggling in my recliner until she passed.

I simply cannot give enough praise and grateful thanks to Animal Medical and Surgical Hospital and Heike Ott for everything they did for Rosy this past year. She went to the Rainbow Bridge knowing she was wanted and loved.

Goodbye Rosy Girl. You came to me as someone's cast off and left me knowing comfort, safety, and love. You taught me patience as we navigated the path of your disease together. Say Hi to Angel, Dickens, and Bonnie for me. We'll be together again someday.

12/31/2025

UPDATE 12/30/25

UPDATE 12/30/25:

Taking the wins where we can - today, for the first time since she became a resident, Tw***ie accepted -and ate - solid chews!!! Not only that but she's taking them by hand from both of us and has done it 3 or 4 times today!

Many thanks to you all for the prayers and well wishes for Tw***ie to improve and an extra special shout out to Dr. H and the staff at Hartfield Veterinary Clinic-Urgent Care for working so diligently to give Tw***ie a stable base to grow on.

🎆🎆🎆🎆

What's the definition of success in a hospice? I honestly don't have an answer, I'm not even sure there's a metric for it.

Our overall goal at Paws is to care for these seniors so when their time comes, they can pass over knowing that at the end they were loved and their lives mattered - even though some of them make it "challenging". And that's where we count successes....

Tw***ie came to us via ARF of Bartlesville. Turned in as a stray but her behavior more aligns with abuse/neglect. Her biggest issues, likely related, was severe emaciation and stage 6 dental. Getting her to eat was a daily challenge, eased somewhat when we started making her chicken smoothies which were still often declined.

A couple of weeks ago, Dr Hartfield at Hartfield Veterinary Clinic did a dental on her removing 14 teeth. For the past 2 days, we get to see this 4 times a day! Still chicken smoothies but she's consistently eating them. This one goes in the win column.

12/18/2025

UPDATE 12/30/25:

Taking the wins where we can - today, for the first time since she became a resident, Tw***ie accepted -and ate - solid chews!!! Not only that but she's taking them by hand from both of us and has done it 3 or 4 times today!

Many thanks to you all for the prayers and well wishes for Tw***ie to improve and an extra special shout out to Dr. H and the staff at Hartfield Veterinary Clinic-Urgent Care for working so diligently to give Tw***ie a stable base to grow on.

🎆🎆🎆🎆

What's the definition of success in a hospice? I honestly don't have an answer, I'm not even sure there's a metric for it.

Our overall goal at Paws is to care for these seniors so when their time comes, they can pass over knowing that at the end they were loved and their lives mattered - even though some of them make it "challenging". And that's where we count successes....

Tw***ie came to us via ARF of Bartlesville. Turned in as a stray but her behavior more aligns with abuse/neglect. Her biggest issues, likely related, was severe emaciation and stage 6 dental. Getting her to eat was a daily challenge, eased somewhat when we started making her chicken smoothies which were still often declined.

A couple of weeks ago, Dr Hartfield at Hartfield Veterinary Clinic did a dental on her removing 14 teeth. For the past 2 days, we get to see this 4 times a day! Still chicken smoothies but she's consistently eating them. This one goes in the win column.

12/06/2025

I am going to do something I almost never do. I’m asking for your prayers, well wishes, healing thoughts, appeals to the Universe, or whatever you do, for Tw***ie.

Out of 8 hospice dogs and 5 fosters, Tw***ie is the only one we can’t reach or connect with. She will sometimes accept a bit of gentle petting, but moves away after a few seconds and she never seeks out our attention or affection. She freaks out and struggles if we try to hold and comfort or cuddle her like we do the others. Even Bumper, who is completely blind and deaf, responds better to us than Tw***ie does. We believe she was abused, perhaps severely, and has lost trust in humans. We believe we could restore it given time, but time is another thing she’s not giving us.

She has pretty severe heart disease, a murmur at 6/6. And, her mouth is rotten. So bad that she won’t eat even eat soft canned dog food. We started making dog “smoothies” for in the blender with chicken, dog food, bone broth, and a high calorie nutritional supplement. Those were good for about 5 days, then she started refusing them. We eventually figured out she wanted them even thinner; they now have to be the consistency of milk for her to eat (drink?) them. She is also emaciated and very weak, and our goal was to get her weight up and stabilize her so that she could survive a dental to fix her mouth. With her only being able or willing to take thin liquids, we aren’t really making any progress.

She is restless and paces continuously when not asleep, whines and whimpers periodically, keeps her head down and her tail tucked. She has no interest in anything. She’s not living, she’s just existing, and that barely.

She can’t go on like this. It’s not kind or merciful. Her only chance is to get the dental, let her mouth heal, relieve her pain, and hope she’ll slowly resume actual living, eating real food and engaging with us. But her odds of surviving the dental are not good. We’ve decided to try to talk our vet into doing the dental tomorrow in spite of the risks. If we end up paying for a dental procedure that she didn’t survive, that’s okay with us. The only other alternative is euthanasia, but we want to try to at least give her a CHANCE to make it through and have some happiness in her final days.

So please, think good thoughts or pray for Tw***ie, who never deserved to end up like this. Help her make it through the procedure so she can have a little pain-free peace and maybe know some love and happiness before she leaves this life.

Thank you! I’ll update tomorrow and let y’all know what happened.