Hurricane Katrina left a bit of herself in Texas. We called him Bo. We didn't know his real name when he rode into Texas on a PAWS of Austin convoy of hurricane dogs from the Pasado's Safe Haven temporary shelter south of New Orleans. All we knew was that he'd been found in a flooded house by Animal Rescue, and needed help the Louisiana Rescue people couldn't give him.

    Bo was the first Scottie to be helped by Scottish Terrier Club of America's new Disaster Fund which was started soon after Hurricane Katrina. His first stop in Texas on Sept. 14, was at Camp Branzell of San Antonio Area Scottie and Westie Rescue. Daphne and Marshall Branzell cleaned him up, sharpened his Scottie good looks with a neat trim, treated Bo as an honored guest, and started preliminary vetting with Dr. Donald Johnson. Something was seriously wrong with Bo. There was a growth on his back the size of a baseball.

    Camp Branzell was pretty full, so Bo moved up I-35 to Temple to Bell-Co Scottish Terrier Rescue on Sept. 19, where he stayed with Carole and Ray Owen. The growth on Bo's back was a mystery. By now it was the size of a softball. More testing in Temple by Dr. Gary Gosney was in order. 

    All the while STCA and the Texas Scottie Rescue workers kept looking for Bo's owner. In those weeks after Katrina, our queries to New Orleans might as well have been going to the Man in the Moon.

    Soon, what the tumor was became unimportant.  It clearly was killing Bo. When the growth was measured Sept. 19, it was 7 inches long by 7 inches wide by 2 inches high. Bo was looking like the Hunchback of Notre Dame. From taking a two-mile walk the first day in Temple, Bo within a week could barely creep down the block. Finally he could not move his rear at all. The end came quickly.

    This sweet Scottie captured all our hearts. He could be saved from Hurricane Katrina, but couldn't be saved from his tumor. Dr. Gosney autopsied Bo, as we wanted to be able to tell the owner what killed the dog.  The answer was hemangiosarcoma. This blood borne malignancy had spread into Bo's heart, spleen, liver, spinal cord, everywhere that his blood flowed. We cremated Bo in hopes we might eventually return his ashes to his owner.

    Sadly, Bo could have had a happy reunion. Jay Walker, his owner, learned the day after he died that Bo had been taken to Texas.  Bo's real name was Cassius Clay, and he was seven years old. We learned that Clay and two other dogs were at Walker's house when the levies broke. No one was allowed back into Walker's neighborhood, so the dogs were marooned until animal rescuers arrived days later. 

    Clay died Sept. 27. He was with Carole and Ray eight days, and he'll stay in Bell County. Clay's owner said Clay liked to go fishing. He asked us to put his Scottie's ashes out over water, so we'll take Clay fishing one last time this spring on Lake Belton.

    Expenses for Clay were paid by STCA's Disaster Fund, San Antonio Area Scottie and Westie Rescue and Texas Scottie Rescue Fund. Thanks to everyone who donates to these worthy groups and helps so many Scotties in need.