Kay and Mike Sakowski's Michelob
September 11, 2004 - November 12, 2017
Kay and Mike Sakowski's Michelob
September 11, 2004 - November 12, 2017
"It is with great sadness that I have to report the death of Michelob on Sunday, November 12, 2017, at 1:30 p.m.
As many of you know, Michelob had two big episodes of acute prostatitis with sepsis - one the end of May and another the end of August - both of which times he had to be hospitalized and put on big time antibiotics--chloramphenicol (they gave me gloves to break it in two and handle it) and enrofloaxacin (like Cipro) for a good month to six weeks each time.
After the episode the end of August, my vet told me he needed to be neutered when he was strong enough and had been on the antibiotics long enough to do so. In mid September my vet wanted me to take him to a vet oncologist in Fort Worth to make sure he did not have cancer of the prostate - didn't want to put him through the neutering if he had cancer of the prostate. I told her I had kept him intact because he had two brothers definitely with Addison's (both neutered when they were about one year old) who died at age 6, another brother thought to have the same symptoms and died at age 7, and a sister with SLO, an autoimmune disease in which the body attacks the nails/nail beds and therefore the dog can become lame from the pain. They had all been altered young because the female was mis-marked--had too much white on her body.
Dr. Fletcher said that Addison's usually shows up by age 6, so Michelob was well past that age and the testosterone which had been protecting him from developing the Addison's was now causing chronic prostatitis. The prostate when it enlarges like his did becomes thickened to the point that once they get an infection, it is hard to get the antibiotic to penetrate and kill all the bacteria. The sepsis did a number on him--he aged so much in such a short time it was astounding. Of course, his age didn't help.
So I took Michelob to the oncologist who did an ultrasound and said his prostate looked consistent with acute prostatitis and cleared him for surgery. She said he had two dark spots on his spleen but it could be consistent with all the trauma he had been through and the heavy duty antibiotics. She also advised that Mic should remain on the antibiotics another six to eight weeks after the surgery. On September 18, and his blood work was good, he had his neuter surgery and did fine. However, during the next two weeks he didn't want to eat. He dropped from 49 lbs to 42.5 lbs. We talked to Dr. Lauren about removing the antibiotics because we thought they were causing him not to eat; she agreed. Dr. Lauren was going on maternity leave in mid October and checked him on October 9, to see how he was doing after the surgery. Everything was fine except his blood protein levels were extremely low. She was concerned enough to have me take him to an internist to see what he thought would cause him to have red blood cell problems. So I took him to the partner of the oncologist Dr. Burney. We talked about diseases in Beardies. He did an ultrasound and said his spleen was enlarged and didn't look good and that his prostate was still enlarged but might have gone down after the surgery a little. He did a needle biopsy of Mic's spleen. A couple of days later he called me and said he wanted to remove Mic's spleen because he didn't like the look of the results. I told him absolutely not, Mic had been through enough. So he said he would prescribe prednisone to take every day and then he would check him in November. He said he might start eating with the prednisone.
A couple of weeks ago I asked Bob Karper, our retired Pathologist friend, to take a look at Mic's cytology report because I had called the vet's office and asked for a copy. Bob said he thought Mic had lymphoma of the spleen and a problem with the breakdown and production of red blood cells in his spleen; that these were all comorbidities any one of which could kill him. He agreed with the refusal to remove the spleen so as not to put a 13-year old dog through that and he might not survive it anyway as weak as he was. He agreed with the prednisone because he said that was the treatment for lymphoma of the spleen and it might help him to start eating again.
Mic did start eating better after I made him a concoction of meats and vegetables that Pam True cooks for her dogs--he loved it. But then on Friday night he stopped eating and almost falling over outside when he would go out to potty. Saturday Mike was on OB call, so no help for me and he worked all night with no breaks. Michelob could not put any weight on his rear legs; I had to take a soft leash and loop it under his rear hips and hold him up to go out and to drink water. He stopped eating Saturday and stopped drinking after Saturday night.
Sunday morning I took him out early and had to hold him up entirely because he couldn't put weight on his front or rear paws. He had fixed his jaw so he wouldn't drink water either. I knew from looking at him that the end was near. Mike and I had already planned after the bad Saturday that we would take him to the farm on Sunday and Mike would help him go to sleep. After Mike got home and slept until about 11:30, we started getting ready to leave. We packed the car and put the other two pups in their crates in the car. We placed Mic on a big beach towel to use it as a sling to carry him and then carried him to the car. We placed him down on the garage floor to the rear of the van and then he gave one last breath and died.
We buried Mic in the doggie graveyard at the farm beside Gunner and in the vicinity of Chloe and Bubba. As we finished at sundown the coyotes close in the small field to our east started howling and yipping! It scared both Bandit and Charlie so bad because they were so close that they bolted and ran into the van and both of them got in Bandit's crate! I had to coax Charlie to get in his own crate! Yesterday and today Charlie has been moping around; he always looked after Mic. We are all still grieving but wanted y'all to know so we can deal with our emotions before Thanksgiving. I am attaching some of our favorite pictures of Michelob.
11/16/07 Novice A 20"-Leg 1 100 1st/4 58:86'/68' 2.64 142 yds Anne Riba 11/18/07 Novice A 20"-Leg 2 95 2nd/4 56:65'/61' 2.44 126 yds Anne Riba 8/23/08 Novice B 20"-Leg 3 100 1st/12 56.02'/72' 2.96 151 yds Gene Downing NA
8/24/08 Open 20"-Leg 1 100 lst/19 56.56'/68' 3.26 168 yds Gene Downing 10/05/08 Open 20"-Leg 2 100 1st/13 61.21'/63' 2.76 155 yds Debbie Moore 12/05/08 Open 20"-Leg 3 95 3rd/13 61.91'/65' 2.81 160 yds Debbie Moore OA
2/27/10 Excellent A 20"-Leg 1 100 2nd/13 64.03'/64' 184 yds 3/12/10 Excellent A 20"-Leg 2 97 1st/16 65.70'/64' 182 yds 11/19/10 Excellent A 20"-Leg 3 100 3rd/12 56.82'/58' 163 yds AX
11/18/07 Novice A 20"-Leg 1 85 3rd/4 53:13'/38' 2.13 113 yds Kele McGlohon 3/07/08 Novice A 20"-Leg 2 100 1st/2 32:93'/33' 2.98 98 yds Rhonda Crane 3/08/08 Novice A 20"-Leg 3 100 2nd/4 33:64'/35' 3.09 104 yds Keith VanHousen NAJ
8/23/08 Open 20"-Leg 1 96 3rd/15 39.92'/37' 3.26 130 yds Gene Downing 10/05/08 Open 20"-Leg 2 86 2nd/15 46.45'/39' 2.97 138 yds Terry Brown 12/06/08 Open 20"-Leg 3 89 1st/15 40.30'/37' 3.18 128 yds Debbie Moore OAJ
12/07/08 Excellent A 20"-Leg 1 100 2nd/8 38.77'/39' 3.79 147 yds Laura English 12/06/09 Excellent A 20"-Leg 2 100 2nd/9 46.71'/48' 3.85 180 yds 8/20/10 Excellent A 20"-Leg 3 91 1st/9 45.68'/42' 3.44 157 yds AXJ
10/07/09 Bearded Collie Nationals Qualified 92 pts 2nd place 1/09/10 Glen Rose Qualified 1/10/10 Glen Rose Qualified Title RN
10/31/09 HAHA trial, Hempstead, TX Qualified HT 11/01/09 HAHA trial, Hempstead, TX Qualified HT title HT
4/03/10 HAHA trial, Hempstead, TX Qualified PT 4/04/10 HAHA trial, Hempstead, TX Qualified PT Title PT
4/04/10 With the qualifying for PT at the HAHA herding trial in Hempstead, TX,
Mic now qualifies for Versatility Excellent. VX
5/15/05
Just got back from the conformation trial in Denton where 6 of the Beardies entered were Bud's kids. I'm attaching a photo of the troup that was taken on the band stand at the show. It was a "perfect" setting as you will see. The puppies were all very cute. They tend to look a lot like Budweiser..especially the boys. They have very nice heads and tend to be slightly smaller than Miller and Dru at their respective ages. Who knows what they will mature into but for now I was pleased. Karen
Hi Libby, et al
What a fun time Mic had at his first AKC trial last weekend! On Friday, his first run was Novice A Standard. He really surprised me with a first place blue ribbon and a Q! I'll transmit what is on the back of his ribbons as I don't know what you need for BAD statistics.
11/16/07 Dallas Agility Working Group (DAWG) STD NOV A Ht 20, placement 1, score 100 Time: 58:86 SCT 68 YDS 142 Judge Anne Riba
Of course, when we got to the Jumpers with Weaves, he decided to do his own thing. In the past, he has been a dog that I had to "pull." He decided that I wasn't pulling fast enough, I guess, because he started barking like mad and dancing around, telling me I was not calling the next object fast enough. At least that's what the judge told me! He refused to do the six weave polls - he danced through them, around them, etc. as if he was saying they were not the 12 he was used to, and what was I thinking? I finally gave up and made him finish the course without the weaves.
On Saturday, he was excited to see Mike, Eileen, and Robin as observers. Eileen, however, had to leave and didn't get to see his wild performance. He was really picking daisies!!! And of course, being the inexperienced handler that I am, I got frustrated in trying to get his attention. We did jumpers first and he once again refused the weaves, ran past one jump and came over backwards, etc. We finally finished the course with way too many seconds in time and refusals.
I was practicing the Standard and after the first pass, I realized that when Mic would come out of the chute, he would be facing the audience head on, and if Mike was sitting up there filming the event, Mic would seek him out. I went and told Mike to please move when we got on the course, but he didn't do so. He just kept filming! Mic came out of the chute, his nose went up in the air, and he smelled him sitting up there. He was running back and forth looking up in the stands with his nose in the air. I HAVE IT ON FILM! <G> I finally got his attention and he did the broad jump and double, etc. and I was so flustered that I missed the table. After he did the dog walk and a jump, he went running through the chute again and then looked for Mike! I finally got him back over to where I was at the teeter and he finished the course. I was very discouraged that I had lost control of his attention and a bit mad that Mike did not heed my wishes! Oh well, Sunday would be another day.
On Sunday, Mike agreed to hide from Mic during the trials. He was around but hiding. We did the jumpers first. I was prepared this time to send him on when I couldn't keep up with him. He continued the barking just like Christoper in the next ring who was doing the Standard course at the same time. He refused the weaves at first but finally completed them (using up quite some number of seconds) and finished the course. He came in third place for that run with a pretty yellow ribbon. Not very pretty run but he got his Q.
11/18/07 Dallas Agility Working Group (DAWG) Class JW NOV A Ht 20 Placement 3 Score 85 Time 53:13 SCT 38 YDS 113 Judge Kele McGlohon.
Next for the Standard, I was better prepared for the weaves--for some reason Mic only objected to the weaves on the jumpers course. We have weave poles at home and he performs like a champ on them. He does the same thing in class with no problems. I thought I would try to send him more even though we had not practiced it but a few times in class. Caroll Hegg will think this is funny because Mic has changed from a "pull" dog to a "push" dog in one weekend! We had just had a talk about strategy before she left to go home, so she didn't see this performance! I can't run as fast as he wanted to go, so I really will have to practice the strategy change. He made the run beautifully and we didn't see Mike anywhere. He had climbed up in the announcer's box above the horse ring and was filming at a bird's eye view!!! I guess Mic didn't catch his scent because he kept his attention on the ring and me. It was one of those runs when you come off and you know he did it! He got a refusal for running a little too far forward after a jump but he came back and did the teeter immediately to which the judge made a comment of good boy! I thought that was funny! And his time was 2 seconds faster than Friday. He came in second with a red ribbon.
11/18/07 Dallas Agility Working Group (DAWG) STD NOV A Ht 20 Placement 2 Score 95 Time 56:65 SCT 61 YDS 126 Judge Anne Riba
All in all it was a fun time. I could barely walk this morning and my knee is bothering me, but I'll get over it! I have not entered any more trials because I need to preserve my knees for Christmas!! However, I understand that Karen and Ann will be at the McKinney trial November 30 - December 2. I will try to be there on Friday and maybe we can get Christmas pictures of the group like last year? Or I could come on Saturday but not stay very long as we have a surgery center Christmas party that night.
Libby, if you need any more information, please let me know! I will try to send you a picture for the BAD website when I get a decent one!
I hope all of you have a great Thanksgiving! I'm picking up Chris at the airport on Wednesday afternoon--it will be great to have him home soon, if only for a little while! And both of my boys will be with us for Thanksgiving. What more could I want?
Kay Sakowski
BAD Southwest
and Mountain Beardies
