This is Maximilian Sebastian Gilhooly, as we met him, and as he is today. Max was our dog, if only for a very short time. After we lost Sparky, I really didn't think we would ever add to the pack, but we saw Max' photo with a note that he was eligible to be put down within days, so we decided we had to help him.
Max was born in January, 2006 (approximately), and abandoned in the Denton animal shelter in August. We pulled him from the shelter for the East Lake Pet Orphanage (ELPO) on August 28th, and he was placed in quarantine at ELPO, since he had been in the shelter and there were no medical records available. By the end of the week, he was displaying symptoms of parvo. By Labor Day, he was gone. He was still a puppy when he passed away. Max had been our dog for a week.
Max provides a powerful story of how much can go wrong (and how quickly) with the lack of basic medical care. While I believe the only legal requirement in Dallas and Texas is vaccinations against rabies, almost everything Max contracted in his short time in the shelter (kennel cough, distemper, parvo) are all preventable diseases, and vaccinations are easily available for all of them. For kennel cough, you generally cannot board a dog without the vaccination being current or administered at the time. The others are just common sense.
The Max-inations program is designed to help those who may not be able to afford regular vaccinations keep their dogs healthy. Can you help us? Click the "Donate Now" button and designate your donation for "Max-inations."
I was about to write "I don't want any more Maxes" but that's just not correct. I would like a lot more Maxes, because he was a great dog, even though I only spent an afternoon with him before he went to isolation and then across the Bridge. So, I want more Maxes. I just want them to be able to spend more time with us than our Max did. Can you help all the other Maxes out there? |