With help from friends, dog works his way through bucket list

GROVELAND TOWNSHIP, Mich. – Friendships can form at any point in life. For Buddy the dog, the one he's forming with Loren Cazan is happening at the end. But while their time may be short, it's not any less special.  

"Buddy's owner of 14 years passed away unexpectedly. So he was kind of left with nowhere to go," Cazan said.

She came across Buddy while volunteering at A ReJoyceful  Rescue in Mt. Clemens.  

"I saw his photograph and decided to bring him home," Cazan said. "It wasn't soon after I discovered a lot of lumps and bumps on his body." 

Those lumps were cancer. Cazan said she's been told that Buddy has only a short time to live, maybe even just a month. 

"Right now, we're able to manage his pain with medication, and when we can't do that any longer, we'll make the decision to let him go peacefully, knowing he's had a full life," Cazan said. 

To help make the time he has left a little more joyful, his friends at the rescue created "Buddy's Bucket List," things that any dog would love to do. 

"We took him to McDonald's for a kid's meal and to Dairy Queen for some ice cream," Cazan said. 

Buddy's also been on a dog date, although the romance fizzled. He is scheduled for a trip to the beach and a steak dinner. 

Buddy and Cazan hope to raise awareness for senior animals who are often passed over at rescues. Most of the time they are put to sleep because of overcrowding, which would have been Buddy's fate. 

"If we have made a difference in one senior life as a result of this, my mission is complete," Cazan said. 

 


About the Author:

Jason is Local 4’s utility infielder. In addition to anchoring the morning newscast, he often reports on a variety of stories from the tragic, like the shootings at Michigan State, to the off-beat, like great gas station food.