Paws Before the Bridge

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.

11/27/2025

Quick happy update and something to be thankful for. Barky (now Barbie) was adopted from ARF Bartlesville by a lovely senior couple and has the forever home she deserves. This is the 5yo Chihuahua we pulled from OKC because she was going to be euthanized for “aggression.”

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

11/11/2025

So yesterday we took in Tw***ie and Queenie. Tw***ie is a 12 - 14yo Schnauzer who is extremely emaciated. She sleeps a lot! She also has a 5/6 heart murmur. She seems to like the high calorie Dyne supplement so hopefully we’ll be able to put some weight and strength on her.

Queenie is a chunky Chihuahua, also 13 - 14 years old. She’s had a dental. She has a large lipoma (benign fatty tumor) on her right hind leg that their vet said has too many blood vessels to be removed. We will let Dr. Hartfield check it out soon. Queenie is rather vocal and lives up to her name, demanding attention from us, her subjects, when she thinks it’s due. Her favorite spot is in a lap.

Bumper and Susie are doing well. Susie has some vision and is just about up to speed on where everything is. Bumper is still doing a lot of pacing but seems to be remembering where some things are. He is eating well and both he and Susie could use more weight on them.

11/11/2025

The deed is done. Our gratitude and appreciation goes out to Animal Rescue Foundation of Bartlesville for taking in Dude and Barky. They now have a chance to get the forever home they deserve.

And we have Tw***ie and Queenie. Tw***ie is a very emaciated and weak Schnauzer. We’re hoping she’ll recover some spark as she gains weight. Queenie the chihuahua is a sassy little thing but we already love her. She’s got a 50 pound personality in a 10 pound body. More tomorrow, it’s been a long day and we’re all tired.

11/08/2025

Big news!

First, we have found placement for Dude and Barky with Bartlesville ARF. They will be able to be adopted into a forever home from there. In return, we are taking Tw***ie and Queenie who are hospice cases.
More info after we get them on Monday.

Secondly, Allie at Tulsa Animal Welfare alerted us to two Chihuahua mixes in bad shape. Their owner passed away and the family was not able to take them in due to their circumstances. We have them safe now. They would have been euthanized at TAW almost immediately if we hadn’t agreed to take them.

Bumper is 16 years old and completely blind and deaf. He needs a dental but is otherwise in decent health for his age. He tends to pace and wander a lot; we’re evaluating for CCD (doggy dementia). He also needs a couple of benign growths removed, which will be done during his dental.

Susie is 13, has a 6/6 heart murmur, luxating patellas in both hind legs plus some dysplasia, and her right ear is badly infected. She has no vision in the right eye but can see a little bit out of the left, not sure how much. She is going deaf but can hear a little. Susie has been started on heart medication and a diuretic, and her ear was flushed and treated with antibiotics. She has no teeth left. Her right eye seems to have some fluid buildup and pressure behind it. If it gets worse it will be removed since she can’t see out of it anyway.

Both are eating well and working on decompressing.

Welcome to your final home, Bumper and Susie.

Bumper is the black & tan, Susie is black & white. That’s Dude behind Bumper in the last pic, they seem to have made a connection.

11/01/2025

Dude asking Mom " Are you SURE there's no more supper?"

11/01/2025

Opie rockin' his new sweater "I don't care if it's pink - it's warm!"