Good thoughts for Mazie the Wonder Dog

[Mickey]

I have a 6 year old Bernese Mountain Dog named Mazie that is in the hospital struggling with aspirational pneumonia.  It has been almost 5 days now and though she isn't improving, she is not getting worse. Please send whatever good thoughts and energy you can her way.

 

This dog saved our lives, twice. Once when 2-3 people broke into our house at 3:00 AM, while we were in the house. Mazie charged down the stairs and made them instantly regret their career choices as they dropped everything and went running down the street. The robbery was orchestrated by a gang whose MO was to hire kids under 18 to break in and then hand goods (car keys especially) to the gang members outside. Several were arrested and all stolen goods recovered. The second time was when Mazie's Mom was walking Mazie in a local park which, unknown to us, had been the scene of several bloody attacks  by two stray pit bulls. My spouse was confronted by two snarling pit bulls, the same ones that had been terrorizing the park and recently sent a cyclist to the hospital.  They went after her, she dropped the leash and ran, falling over a low retaining wall trying to get away and was bleeding from both knees.  The pit bulls jumped the low wall and were about to attack when Mazie jumped between her and the pit bulls and basically turned into Kujo. The pit bulls both turned and ran. 

 

Thanks for listening.

 

 

[Augie]

Mazie is too young for this. Get well! She’s part of the family for sure! 

 

EDIT: I’m taking our almost 2 year old Scout for a walk now, because she would like that and we can. The 13 year old Golden will wait here.  She picks her moments, and this isn’t one of them. 

 

 

.

Edited July 13, 2022 by Augie

[Bad Things]

 

Really sorry to hear about Mazie.

 

Molly sends her best wishes for a speedy recovery!

[EmotionallyUnstable]

Wishing the best for your fearless K-9. Dogs are truly wonderful beings 

[4merper4mer]

Best wishes for Mazie.  Please let us know WHEN she is better.

 

 

[Rigby]

Hate to hear this friend. I will be thinking of her and your family. Hope all works out.🙏

[qwksilver]

Dogs are truly awesome creatures. I hope and pray Mazie will turn the corner soon.

 

 

[Mickey]

Thanks for the well wishes, I feel much better after reading them. 

 

Mazie is not getting worse but only maybe a tiny little bit better. They started her on high flow oxygen treatment which requires mild sedation. We won't know if it is helping until tomorrow morning. Lungs are slightly improved but still severely effected, even after 5 days of antibiotics. Aspiration pneumonia is very, very tough to beat.

[Augie]

2 minutes ago, Mickey said:

Thanks for the well wishes, I feel much better after reading them. 

 

Mazie is not getting worse but only maybe a tiny little bit better. They started her on high flow oxygen treatment which requires mild sedation. We won't know if it is helping until tomorrow morning. Lungs are slightly improved but still severely effected, even after 5 days of antibiotics. Aspiration pneumonia is very, very tough to beat.

 

Rest assured that you have done everything in your power to help her. After that, it’s out of your hands. One of my favorite things about dogs is they never feel sorry for themselves. Certainly better than people in that regard. 

 

Hoping you have much better news tomorrow. GO MAZIE!!! 

[Gugny]

1 hour ago, Mickey said:

Thanks for the well wishes, I feel much better after reading them. 

 

Mazie is not getting worse but only maybe a tiny little bit better. They started her on high flow oxygen treatment which requires mild sedation. We won't know if it is helping until tomorrow morning. Lungs are slightly improved but still severely effected, even after 5 days of antibiotics. Aspiration pneumonia is very, very tough to beat.

 

Forward progress is progress.  All the best to Mazie.  She's got this!! 

2 hours ago, Mickey said:

I have a 6 year old Bernese Mountain Dog named Mazie that is in the hospital struggling with aspirational pneumonia.  It has been almost 5 days now and though she isn't improving, she is not getting worse. Please send whatever good thoughts and energy you can her way.

 

This dog saved our lives, twice. Once when 2-3 people broke into our house at 3:00 AM, while we were in the house. Mazie charged down the stairs and made them instantly regret their career choices as they dropped everything and went running down the street. The robbery was orchestrated by a gang whose MO was to hire kids under 18 to break in and then hand goods (car keys especially) to the gang members outside. Several were arrested and all stolen goods recovered. The second time was when Mazie's Mom was walking Mazie in a local park which, unknown to us, had been the scene of several bloody attacks  by two stray pit bulls. My spouse was confronted by two snarling pit bulls, the same ones that had been terrorizing the park and recently sent a cyclist to the hospital.  They went after her, she dropped the leash and ran, falling over a low retaining wall trying to get away and was bleeding from both knees.  The pit bulls jumped the low wall and were about to attack when Mazie jumped between her and the pit bulls and basically turned into Kujo. The pit bulls both turned and ran. 

 

Thanks for listening.

 

 

 

If you could post a pic of Mazie, that would be awesome.

[Augie]

22 minutes ago, Gugny said:

 

Forward progress is progress.  All the best to Mazie.  She's got this!! 

 

If you could post a pic of Mazie, that would be awesome.

 

Is Mazie the avatar? Bigger would be better. We are all cheerleaders on Team Mazie! You go girl!

 

If you’ve never been a dog person, you may not get how close and personal this is. 

[Mickey]

Here is the Mighty Mazie with her sidekick, Gerty:

 

[Beerball]

Kick ass Mazie!

[BringBackFergy]

41 minutes ago, Mickey said:

Here is the Mighty Mazie with her sidekick, Gerty:

 

She’s a beauty. Strong pup. Keep us updated. 
 

[billsfanmiamioh]

Beautiful dog. 🤞🏻 For continued improvement 🙏🏻

[The Dean]

Best to Mazie.  A beautiful dog.  

 

I'm looking forward to some good news.

 

Gary is a real cutie, too.

[Bill from NYC]

Wow, sounds like such a great dog! Best wishes and please keep us posted.

[UConn James]

Godspeed for recovery, Mazie 💛🐾!

 

The Berneses, being a large breed, have a shorter lifespan. Best friend’s ex-gf had a string of them and the oldest got to ~8 1/2. But those were males weighing 120-130 — really big boys. Her last, Hunter-Boo, was a lovable oaf who had one incident of knocking down a neighbor kid & grazing with a claw while playing ball and immediately knowing & having that look on his face of ‘oops I just messed up 🥺’

[aristocrat]

That's tough man. I hope she recovers for you! Our good friend used to breed them for a long time and was so close to getting one. Such beautiful dogs. 

[Mickey]

Tiny bit of good news for Mazie this morning. The high flow O2 treatment is working as her o2 levels are now normal. She had been in an oxygen tent that only managed to get her o2 levels to 94%, w/out treatment it would drop to 91%.  They will lower the o2 mix throughout the day to see if her good levels can hold without the high flow treatment assisting. Her temp is also down to 101.5, the best she has had since she was admitted last Saturday. 

 

Her lungs remain severely effected but they are even the tiniest bit better which is the opposite of what they had been doing.

 

Not out of the woods and nowhere near coming home but today was the first bit of good news, albeit guarded good news, that we have had since this all started. 

 

Thanks again to all and keep the good vibes vibe'n Mazie's way.

Edited July 14, 2022 by Mickey

[Rockpile233]

I’m sending as many positive vibes to you as possible. Mazie seems like an amazing girl. 

[The Dean]

Go Mazie!

 

Thanks for the update.

[Mickey]

Mazie is home!!  High flow oxygen treatment was successful in getting her lungs opened enough to get her breathing solid enough to come home. 

She looks like she went through a war, lost at least 15 lbs.  Her appetite is slowly coming back and she is on a fistful of pills twice a day. It will be months 

before she gets her health back but we are so grateful to have her back. home.

 

Thank you all for your good thoughts that did so much to pick up our spirits during what was a long and dark week.  

Edited July 18, 2022 by Mickey

[The Dean]

WooHoo! 

 

Great to hear. Good wishes for Mazie still coming.

 

[gomper]

Mazie!!! You rock!!! Keep getting better my four-legged friend.

[4merper4mer]

Now that Mazie is home:

 

1. Great and the most important thing overall

2. Thank you for sharing and for the way you described it
3. The scariest part of this was the pit bull attack from which Mazie became a hero.  The twist you threw in there where the pits started as hero by attacking the spandex mafia dude but then turned heel and attacked your wife was surprising.  It reminded me of 80s/90s wrestling.  Was that real?

[muppy]

Im late to the thread but a total animal/dog lover. Glad to read Miss Maizie is on he mend!!! Yay!!

[EmotionallyUnstable]

Lmk what that final hospital vet bill is….those things are outrageous!

[BarkLessWagMore]

Way to go Mazie! So happy for you and your family. BTW, our beautiful Berner Annie lived to be 12 and survivrd two cancer surgeries. I wish a long and healthy life for your Mazie.

[Mickey]

8 hours ago, EmotionallyUnstable said:

Lmk what that final hospital vet bill is….those things are outrageous!

14,500

7 hours ago, BarkLessWagMore said:

Way to go Mazie! So happy for you and your family. BTW, our beautiful Berner Annie lived to be 12 and survivrd two cancer surgeries. I wish a long and healthy life for your Mazie.

Thank you so much and I'm glad Annie had a long and happy life. 

[Mickey]

In the hope that it may spare others from what we have been going through, I thought I should share how this all happened. 

 

Late Saturday on 6/25 which was crazy hot (99 degrees), Mazie looked lethargic, was uninterested in her food and was just not looking right.  By the next day she added a weird cough to her symptoms, sounded like she was trying to clear some congestion. We took her to the vet the next day and they found that she had a slightly elevated temp, was lethargic, still not eating, drinking only minimally and was frequently coughing.  We now know these were all symptoms of aspirational pneumonia. The vet felt it was just a reaction to some mild overheating due to the weather that Saturday.  We were told just to monitor her condition, push fluids and try some bland foods like boiled chicken and rice.  She started eating better when we did that and had a little more energy but still was coughing and seemed to be panting more than usual.

 

After about 10 days of her going back and forth, getting better then getting worse, we noticed that her tongue was blue. That is when we rushed to the veterinary ER. The vets there were surprised that our vet didn't react to the elevated temp but also said aspirational pneumonia was a diagnosis that was easy to miss. Lessons learned? First, if your dog doesn't look right to you, something is wrong. No one knows your pup like you do so even if you don't have the knowledge to know what the problem is, you are the the one who knows best that there is a problem.  Second, insist on an explanation for any abnormal finding, no matter how small and don't accept a guess like "its probably the heat" just because it is coming from a vet.  Lastly, get pet insurance!