Matt & Christa (dot) com – Detroit transplants living in Dallas

Josie “Pumpkin”

03/10/2022 / Matt / 0 Comments

With great sadness we write that Josie passed away last night.

She’s had many battles over the years; complications caused by her food & environmental allergies, an Intervertebral Disc Disease (IVDD) diagnosis in 2020, and most recently acute pancreatitis from which she was unable to recover. We know we did everything we could for her, but also that she is at peace in a better place.

We would like to thank Short Mugs Rescue Squad for giving us the opportunity to have spent the last 8 years with her, giving her the best life full of snuggles, poofy beds, car rides, baths (just not if you asked her though), treats, comfort, companionship, and most of all, love.

We already miss her dearly, and she will always have a special place in our hearts.

Gotcha Day #7

04/05/2021 / Matt / 0 Comments

Happy Gotcha Day 7th anniversary to this little nugget.

Bailey “Boo”

10/11/2019 / Matt / 0 Comments

Today we said goodbye to our beloved Bailey â€œBooâ€.

He was first born, our rock, and warm welcome when we would walk through the door. Having been part of our lives over the majority of our relationship he’s brought a sense of calm, stability, and normalcy. He was also very much a party animal sharing in many late nights of trivia, podcasts, DJing, and family games.
Our hearts are broken, but we take solace in the fact that in the end he passed peacefully, surrounded with love.

RIP Bailey
04.01.2001 – 10.11.2019

Final Peace for Monty

11/15/2017 / Matt / 0 Comments

Monty was a fighter.

He gave us nearly twelve and a half years of unconditional love, slobber, and smelly farts. He made more than five years out of a two week GME prognosis.

Today the hardest decision was the right decision. Today Monty is at peace.

Iâ€™ll always remember him this way: a dog and his boy.

“A boy and his dog” – taken from a Facebook post dated May 13th 2012, two months prior to GME diagnosis

RIP Monty
07.26.2005 – 11.15.2017

Fighting On

06/17/2015 / Matt / 0 Comments

You blink and suddenly more than a year has gone by, and what a year it’s been…

As some of you may know, we have been struggling with Josie’s health and well being due to the side effects of her allergies. I won’t get into details here and now, but suffice it to say yeast, fungi, and bacteria all seem to adore her face. At the same time. Yeah.

Josie is a rescue dog, so the extent of her allergic afflictions wasn’t well known. She also has several behavioral quirks that require continual monitoring. Monty and her are not best friends, and they may never be. Sometimes however we catch glimpses and realize how dependent they’ve become to one another.

We continue to fight on to support more moments like this. They both deserve it.

Never Again

04/10/2014 / Matt / 0 Comments

Clavamox, bad. After 2 doses followed by almost immediate vomiting and lethargy, I switched him back to Cefpodoxime for 7 days and everything seems much better.

Time Flies…

04/08/2014 / Matt / 0 Comments

Monty’s March 4th checkup with the neurologist went OK, so we decided to drop the Cyclosporine to every other day offset with the Prednisone every other day. Today he had another checkup and we opted for the full blood panel to see if there has been any improvement with his white cell count. Unfortunately this number ticked down another whole value in the last 2 months so we’re dropping the Leflunomide to 20mb/day to try to get that value rebounded. The other off thing in the last month or so is we’ve seen a little bit of a decrease in activity and spunk. Being overly sensitive to any perceived changes in behavior I brought it up with the neurologist and just to make sure there’s nothing lurking we decided on a course of a general antibiotic for 7 days. I was hesitant to use Clavamox again since his last bad reaction, but the doc felt it was the best general use one given the lack of anything specific to go on. Guess we’ll see how this goes.

Welcome Josie!

04/05/2014 / Matt / 0 Comments

Over the last few months we’ve quietly been searching for a friend for Monty, and are happy to introduce you to Josie! She is a 3 year old French Bulldog rescued with the help of the Short Mugs Rescue Squad. She came home with us today from Austin and we can’t wait for everyone to meet her.

What’s New In Monty’s World

02/04/2014 / Matt / 0 Comments

It’s been a while since Monty reminded me to post anything about him…

The checkup in early December went well so he got his Cytosar injection and the Prednisone dose was reduced to 2.5mg/day. Then I went out of town for a few days in mid-December and he very suddenly out of the blue developed a corneal ulcer in his right eye, which of course is the only eye he has vision out of. Panic! So C took him to the family vet and managed treatment and by the time I was back everything was fine. Around Christmas time I tried again unsuccessfully to drop the antibiotic (Cefpodoxime) from his daily med dose, and while we lasted over a week this time his immune response ultimately wasn’t up to the task just yet. His next checkup just before the new year again went well, so he got another Cytosar injection and a further reduction of Prednisone to 2.5mg every other day.

Fast forward to today’s exam, and while his neurological responses were great his white count came back low so the decision was made to keep treatment as is and to not have a Cytosar injection. Hopefully it’s nothing, so we’ll wait and monitor until early March.

The good news is that the little dude has his energy and spunk back. All indications point to him feeling much better these days with the low Prednisone dose, and continues to surprise no one with his grit and determination through thick and thin.

Compassion

01/29/2014 / Matt / 0 Comments

Every few nights I catch a man taking his dog for a walk. In and of itself that may not seem extraordinary, but it is when you realize that the dog has difficulty standing let alone walking on his own.

They make their slow methodical walk to the park together, his old hound proudly in tow behind him in a wagon, and as they reach their destination he pulls out a special harness to help steady and support the dog while allowing him freedom to move about on his own without too much struggle.

Each time I bear witness to this routine, I have to stagger back tears. I’ve never stopped to ask his name or his story because I’m always worried words will fail, but this extreme demonstration of love and compassion reminds me that sometimes good human beings can still be found in this world.