Help Rose Overcome Her Jaw Lock Condition

Meshell Mattox is organizing this fundraiser.

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My name is Meshell, and I am Rose's mom. Rose is a rescue baby, and my first animal, and she is just two years old. About 6 weeks ago, without injury, Rose began to experience lock-jaw 6-10 times per day. Her mouth catches while open, at about a 5inch gap, and she is unable to close her jaw with or without assistance. This has diminished her quality of life, eating and overall health. Doctors do not believe this is genetic or an injury, they are actually very baffled by the situation. We are unsure of what treatment she needs, the cost, or the timeline. We have been referred to UC Davis for a consult on July 8th. The initial consult will be $250 and we have been advised that a diagnosis cannot be made without a $3000+ CT scan.

Rose has went from being the sweetest baby girl, running and playing, to a sad, subdued puppy. Her poor little jaw locks when she yawns, pants, or plays with her toys. We have implemented modifications to the best of our ability, keeping her calm and cool to eliminate panting, removing 90% of her toys, but the yawning, we have no idea how to fix this. Fortunately, someone is home with her 95% of the time and we can assist her with unlocking her jaw by massaging the jaw joints and whispering softly to her. When trying to unlock her jaw herself, she scratches with her paw and begins to bleed. She is such a sweet little girl who has so much life ahead of her. Doctors have informed us that this condition will most likely get worse if left untreated.

What is Rose's story? One of my co-workers rescued a dog from the shelter for her recently retired husband. When she brought her dog home from the shelter, she suspected that it was pregnant. She returned to the shelter for advice, diagnosis and direction. The shelter shocked all of us by responding with, "You adopted the mother, not the puppies. You can keep the mother but we will first need to abort the babies!" My co-worker demanded that they give her dog back, to which the shelter refused. It took my friend calling a lawyer and the local newspaper to get them to reconsider. They finally agreed that if she found a foster home for the puppies, then she could keep the mom. She did just that, she found wonderful homes for all 6 puppies, me being one of them. Rosie's story began with near tragedy, but rerouted to a wonderful life with us, and now is taking a turn to sadness again.

We love our little Rosie girl so much. She is such a comfort and joy to us. It is extremely sad to see her suffer and miss out on life, food, nutrition, exercise and the overall fun of life.

Would you please consider helping us get the medical care that Rose needs. We are scheduled to have our initial consult with UC Davis on July 8th, but we will have to reschedule this appointment if we do not have at least $3000 raised in advance for the CT scan. We have been given an overall estimate of $10-15k for the full procedure. We have applied for grants, scholarships and funding, but have not been approved for any of them. Most of the funding available are based in the Bay area and not available to our area of residence.

Rose is our companion and comfort pet. She is our life. We love giving her a wonderful life, watching her play, learning right along side her how animals and humans coexist and how their hearts blend into one. I never knew I could love a little dog so much. Why did I wait so long to open my heart to such a beautiful thing?

I have attached some videos of Rose in her happier days, playing and enjoying being young and spry. I have also posted the video of her (sedated) oral examination, showing her lock jaw condition. Of course I have a kazillion pictures of her on my camera roll and it was hard to choose a few, but I did, and I hope you enjoy looking at them.

Thank you in advance for your donation consideration. Any funds received above the treatment costs will be placed in a trust fund to help other families, like myself, who cannot afford the medical expense of saving their animal's life.