hospice – Pet Project Rescue

June 26, 2018February 13, 2025News

Holly’s Happy Ending!

Our story started on January 3rd, 2016 with a sweet little Puggle that was so sick we didn’t believe she’d make it through the weekend – 2 1/2 years later we can’t believe we’re standing beside this same dog, Holly, and announcing she is CURED of mammary cancer and no longer a Lukas Project hospice dog!!

Holly’s June 18th surgery to remove the left side of her mammary channel was her second and final surgery, and we’re thrilled to say our vets were able to remove all the cancer from her body! She was a real champ this time around and was mobile and feeling good right after her surgery! We were thrilled because her first surgery really knocked her out for about a week, but we knew in order for Holly to have another 7+ years of life we had to go through with the final surgery – it was her only chance at a full and healthy, cancer-free life.

Holly continues to thrive – she loves walks, couch snuggles, and treats! She’s a happy gal with 2 amazing foster parents, Marie and Marlon, that we cannot thank enough for caring for Holly and loving her like she was one of their own since January 2016.

And the good news doesn’t stop there, because Holly’s foster parents are going to be her forever parents and will be adopting her as soon as she’s fully healed! We can’t believe that this 2 1/2 year journey, with so many ups and downs with her health, has such a happy ending! We can finally say that Holly will have many, many years of a spoiled and comfy life ahead of her with her soon to be forever family!

Holly’s surgeries cost nearly $3000, and we’ve managed to raise $1410 of that $3k, leaving us with $1590 to raise to cover all her care. It’s no small amount, but you can help and donate ANY amount -assuring Pet Project Rescue can take on additional difficult animal cases, and give every dog and cat a fighting chance at a long and healthy life!

August 16, 2016February 13, 2025News

The Lukas Project: how rescuing a dying dog gave me a new purpose in life.

Photo by Sarah Beth Photogrsaphy — Photo by Sarah Beth Photography

A single animal can change everything for one person, and Lukas did just that for me. I found him alone, depressed, and in terrible condition at a local MN shelter in 2011. He was scheduled to be euthanized, and it broke my heart to think this old dog would die alone with a stranger so I took him home to be my foster dog, until a foster could be found.

It turned out he wasn’t old, and instead was suffering from Crohn’s Disease and just in terrible shape. His skin was literally rotting off his body, his nails were infected and falling out, and his intestines were in rough shape, but he was so happy and loving with every person and animal that crossed his path. He was showing us he wanted to live, so we dedicated ourselves to making him free of pain and starting on the road to recovery. He thrived on a raw diet from Woodys Pet Food Deli and he started gaining much needed weight. His infections responded to medication and he healed, plus he got some extra good meds to make sure he was pain free while he gained his health back.

A month into his recovery a woman contacted us about wanting to adopt him. We told her we didn’t know the prognosis and it may be costly, but she wanted to meet him so we said ok. As Lukas did, he won this woman over immediately and we made plans for adoption once he was stable. Just a few weeks later he moved into his forever home and was like a whole new dog! He ran, played, snuggled, learned to enjoy toys and ate like a king❤️ He had an amazing year in his forever home before the Chrone’s Disease took him, but through this process he opened my eyes to the animals in our high kill shelters that are terminally ill and had no options. I decided these were the animals I had to start a foster based hospice program for. As a result The Lukas Project was created for MN shelter animals in 2011. Five years later PPR has been honored to provide rescue and care to many hospice animals and we plan to continue until the need is no longer there! Thank you to all our hospice fosters past and present…we could not do it without you!

Our current foster animals are doing great in our care and responding well to treatment.

As of today we are caring for Maxie, a 15 year old cat that was given up due to heart problems. It turned out it was a condition she has lived with her whole life, and as of now she continues to thrive in her foster home and we are happy to give her a place to call home for her remaining days!

Bogie is our other hospice kitty and suffering from IBS and possible colon cancer, but is doing well on a managed diet and medications. His immune system struggles to keep up at times, but thankfully he is continuing to do well and is pain free and happy at this time!

And our current Lukas Project dog is Holly! She has diabetes that caused her to go blind, her pancreas to start to fail and also has mammary cancer, but all are managed well at this time and she is eating, sleeping well, enjoying her daily walks and her loving foster home. We do not know how long she has with us given her cancer, but as long as she is loving life and pain free we will keep on truckin’ alongside her!