Mastiff With Terminal Cancer Is Adopted During Her Final Days

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Mae is a French Mastiff that was found in Indiana and rescued by Southern Indiana Animal Rescue. They had received reports that the dog was thin, but when they picked her up they found that she only weighed half of what she should have done. A French Mastiff of her age should weigh about 140 lbs but Mae was only 70 lbs. She was so thin that you could see her ribs prominently underneath her skin. The shelter ran tests to try and discover whether it was just hunger that had caused this weight loss. Unfortunately, they found out that Mae was suffering from cancer and that it was terminal. She was only expected to survive another few months at the most. This was an incredibly sad discovery because Mae was just five years old. The shelter felt that it was important for Mae to be loved and taken care of in her last few weeks. The vets could not be specific about the amount of time that Mae had left but it was sadly expected to be months rather than years. The rescue wanted her to be in a loving home rather than in the shelter and they knew just who they should call.

Elizabeth Starck has fostered over 400 pets in the last nine years, and many of these were in the final stages of their lives. She told I Heart Dogs that she finds it rewarding to give dogs who have had a difficult life some comfort in their last few days. She believes that every animal deserves to die surrounded by love and this is something that she strives to provide. The shelter were keen to provide Elizabeth with the help that she needed to take care of Mae. Although Mae was underweight, she still had the appetite of a healthy French Mastiff. Her illness also did not seem to be affecting her appetite. This meant that she was eating up to ten tins of dog food everyday, which was quite expensive for Elizabeth to maintain. In order to help her out, Southern Indiana Animal Rescue posted an appeal on Facebook for people to donate tins of dog food. They were not expecting a huge response but hoped that they could get some help with the food bill for Mae. However, Mae’s story really captured the heart of the shelter’s followers and they were inundated with donations of food. They estimated that they received over 800 cans in total.

There was so much food that was donated, that Elizabeth was not able to make use of it all for Mae. The rest of the food was used by the shelter to help feed the other dogs that they had in their care. Donations came from all over Indiana and even as far away as Hawaii and San Francisco. People were happy that the donations they had made were being used to help other dogs and it also means that Mae has been able to make an impact on other dogs that have faced the some of the same struggles that she has. After the appeal was made on Facebook, people continued to be interested in how Mae was doing. The Irfo reports that Mae has many fans that love to follow her story online. Elizabeth has also undertaken meet and greets with Mae in her local area and the friendly dog is loving all the attention that she gets when she is out in public. Photos that Elizabeth shared online revealed that Mae made an outing to the mall where she was able to meet some of her fans.

Mae has also been able to take part in some fundraising events for the Southern Indiana Animal Rescue. Elizabeth has been happy to take part in these events because she knows how important the work is that they do. If Mae had not been rescued, then she may have spent the last few days of her life alone and in pain. Her unusual appearance is something that seems to make Mae more endearing to her fans. They then want to know more about her situation. Despite the fact that she is eating well, she is still very skinny and this is something that probably won’t change. She also has an under bite and several of her teeth are missing. It is clear that life has not always been kind to Mae in the past. Nothing is known about her previous owners or the circumstances that led to her being abandoned. It is also not known how long she was on the streets for before she was rescued. Her short life has been full of troubles, but this is something that came to an end when she started living with Elizabeth.

Elizabeth also has a number of other animals living with her, including more dogs and some cats. Mae gets on well with all these other animals and is particularly fond of the cats, and she spends a lot of time following them around the house. The pets that were already in the house all happily welcomed their new housemate and Mae finally seemed to have the good life that she has always deserved. Mae fitted in so well with Elizabeth’s family and her pets that it was an easy decision to adopt her so that she could spend the rest of her life with them. Elizabeth is aware that this could only be a matter of weeks but she wants to make them good weeks. Family Pet reported that the adoption was made official just after Christmas when the adoption was formally signed off by Judge Carmicheal at the Clark County Courthouse.  Elizabeth and her family will now continue to care for Mae until the time comes that she passes away. At the moment she has good and bad days but everyone is so proud of how she always seems to make the best of things. Even though the family have time to prepare themselves for the fact that they will lose her, she will still be sorely missed when she passes.