Maggie

Last Updated: June 10, 2015

Here is Maggie’s story, in the words of her rescuer:
“I’m a long time Corgi lover. I belong to the Mass Corgi Crew and we do fundraisers for CorgiAid all the time.
“Several weeks ago, one of our members, who also happens to be the President of Cape Ann Animal Aid, a shelter in Gloucester MA, announced that Animal Control had confiscated three Corgis from a terrible hording situation. They were surrendered to the shelter within a few days. Cindy went to see them and was shocked at the terrible condition they were in. They were emaciated, dirty and all had respiratory infections. She also found out from the ACO that their names were, Martin and Maggie who were the 14 years old and parents of Barry, the third 13 year old dog. The shelter vet told them that all were in end stage heart failure, but with Barry being the worst off, he was humanely euthanized. She put out a call if any of us could help with Hospice.
“As these poor creatures had seen enough suffering, my husband and I said we could give a happy ending home to one of them. We chose to hospice Maggie and took possession of her on September 20th. I was given Lasik from the shelter vet who felt her abdomen was full of fluid from an enlarged heart due to her heart disease. Within hours of her entering my home, I noticed the copious amounts of water she was drinking and subsequently urinating all over the house; trust me when I say the house is lined with pee-pads! I attributed this to the diuretic she was taking. She was also starving, but that didn’t surprise me as she had not had such a great life.
“On Tuesday September 23rd, I took her to my vet for an exam and the quality of life discussion as to what I could expect to see to know it was ‘time’. My vet completely shocked me by telling me she could not find any signs of heart disease! She also didn’t feel that the pot belly was due to fluid either. She asked me if she could run a full CBC on Maggie and I let her. The results were off the wall liver values, but everything else within normal ranges. She looked at me and said, I’ll bet she has Cushing’s Disease!
“A light bulb when off in my head and yes, I could see that too! Many years ago, I had a dog with Cushing’s disease that we successfully treated. The vet had me take her off the Lasik (of course nothing changed in the input and output as she continued to drink gallons of water and pee too).
“Later that week, I got a clean urine catch for a creatin screening and we submitted it to the lab and the lab could not rule out Cushings. So, on Monday, we took her in to the vet to do a LDDST and guess what the lab said yesterday? She is a Cushionoid dog, no surprise there.
“I picked up her prescription for Lysodren at Walmart last night and she has begun the treatment for Cushing’s Disease, which is treatable, but for life.
“Our group is now calling her the amazing Maggie! I brought home a dog to die in a happy, loving, clean environment, but it looks like she’s going to live a little longer than expected in that environment, and that’s okay with me and the furkids! For everything she has been thru, she is the sweetest, best natured, funny old lady and we are happy to share our lives with her! She has come a long way in just a week and a half! She could barely walk when she first got to us, but now she actually runs and has a spring in her step and holds her head high! She smiles a lot and is really enjoying life. Once her meds kick in and her belly goes away, I can only imagine how much better she’ll feel!”
CorgiAid supporters are helping Maggie with the expense of caring for her for the rest of her life, including the Lysodren which is so greatly improving her quality of life. Thank you!
Update from Spring of 2015: Maggie greatly enjoyed her 15th birthday party, which included a visit from her long-time best friend Martin. The pic with this story has been updated to show them on that happy day. Maggie is doing well for 15. She continues to smile and take pleasure in her days. Thank you for helping make this possible!