(Posted on January 31, 2023)
By Dedra Cordle, Staff Writer
Cleo, an English Mastiff, was in bad shape.
Her body was still shaking, she had stopped eating and rarely let anyone near her.
A concerned neighbor was saddened to see this once strong and playful dog turned into an emaciated shell of herself. He knew that he needed to take action.
Nonjudgmentally, she reached out to Cleo’s human partner, a single mother who had fallen on hard financial times. The woman herself said that she wanted to do something for her sick dog, but she knew that she could not afford the veterinary bills that diagnosis and treatment would entail.
Working together, the neighbors found a small nonprofit that offered one-time grants to help animal guardians offset some, if not all, of the cost of veterinary treatments to help keep humans and their pets together and avoid unnecessary euthanasia.
They filled out an application with Bo Paws-It-Forward and hoped for the best. At the time the application was processed, the nonprofit had only been active for a few weeks, but the small volunteer staff worked quickly to make accommodations for Cleo’s veterinary care.
X-rays revealed a massive blockage caused by Cleo’s consumption of plastic bags and diapers. After the obstructions were removed, Cleo’s guardian allowed her neighbor to adopt the dog. The neighbor changed the dog’s name to “Halo” because she had many angels watching over her.
One of the celestial creatures that played a role in Halo’s second lease on life was a fellow English Mastiff named Bo Ogopogo Travis. Although Bo was not alive when Halo had his brush with death, his kind soul is what prompted his guardians to establish the non-profit organization in his name.
“I thought just because I’m no longer alive doesn’t mean I can’t continue to make an impact in this world,” said Amanda (Russell) Travis, co-founder and CEO of Bo Paws-It-Forward. Amanda and her husband, Buddy, also a co-founder of the organization, are former Madison County residents.
When Bo entered Amanda’s life nearly seven years ago, she wasn’t looking to bring another animal into her home.
Amanda was still reeling from a series of losses that included cats she’d had since childhood, a goofy 14-year-old Mastiff named Sequoia, and several hospice pets she cared for as a volunteer with a local rescue organization. She didn’t feel prepared for the prospect of saying goodbye to another dear member of her family.
“I just didn’t think I had it in me to do it again,” he explained.
When Buddy began to toy with the idea of adding a new dog to his little pack, Amanda did everything she could to get rid of him. Looking back, she said that her refusal to hear from her allowed her to open her heart in ways she could never have imagined.
“Sometimes your spouse knows what’s best for you,” she said with a laugh.
In October 2016, Amanda met Bo for the first time and fell in love immediately.
At six weeks, Bo was already a “lanky” infant with unique features. He had a nose as long as a ski slope, a protruding lip, and an underbite so large you could fit your fingers between the upper and lower teeth.
However, when Amanda held him in her arms, she said a strange feeling came over her.
“Something told me we wouldn’t be together for long,” he said.
Throughout her life, Amanda has held hundreds of animals in her arms. Growing up on the outskirts of London, her family had cats, dogs, guinea pigs, a pot-bellied pig, mice and a mini-horse courtesy of her sister’s involvement with 4-H. Amanda graduated from Madison-Plains in 1994; Buddy graduated from Jonathan Alder in 1997. When they moved to Columbus, they raised animals in her apartment and then in her current home in Pickerington. Through all those connections with animals, Amanda said that she never had a feeling similar to the one she had when she held Bo.
“It was surreal and I thought I was going crazy, but I trusted,” she said. “I swore that we would love him as much as we could for as long as we could.”
And that’s what she and Buddy did.
For almost three and a half years, they gave Bo all the love they could. He in turn gave them all the love he could by reminding them of the simple joys of life and the need to reach out and make connections. His friendly and affectionate spirit spread to every other human and animal he met, including other dogs in his daycare class.
Amanda said that she and Buddy were lucky to have this “gentle giant” in their lives and extremely lucky to be able to pay for his care.
As with many large dog breeds, Bo was diagnosed with Wobbler Syndrome, a neurological disease that affects the spine in the neck area. The muscles that Bo developed through play in daycare masked her condition until she was too advanced to be treated surgically. Amanda estimates that she and Buddy spent more than $15,000 on hydrotherapy, laser therapy, acupuncture, and anti-inflammatory medications to prevent the disease from progressing further.
“And that was with the pet insurance,” he said.
Despite her illness, Bo never gave any indication that she was in pain or that something else was wrong. But when Amanda and Buddy found Bo hiding in the hallway in July 2020 unable to move freely, they knew something was seriously wrong.
An $8,000 exploratory procedure at an emergency animal hospital revealed that Bo had a tear in her stomach lining and small nodules that were potentially cancerous. Doctors said that even if they could repair the stomach lining and administer cancer treatments, Bo’s chances of recovery were less than 10 percent.
“We didn’t want that for him, for him to go through it and be in pain all the time,” Amanda said. “So, we had to make the most difficult decision of our lives.”
Despite pandemic restrictions, they were able to walk into the hospital to tell Bo how much he touched their lives and kiss his sweet, slimy face one last time.
In the midst of her grief, Amanda came up with the idea of starting a non-profit organization to honor Bo’s memory. She said that her gentle spirit had always been so inspiring to her and Buddy. They wanted to do something to ensure that his kindness lived on even after his death.
In late 2020, Bo Paws-It-Forward was granted tax-exempt nonprofit status. Initially, the organization’s mission was to offset the cost of basic necessities and surgeries for large breed dogs belonging to low-income families in the Pickerington area. The idea was then expanded to most dogs in the Columbus area and then to cats statewide. Then came a request from a Florida pet owner who needed help after the pandemic wrecked his financial situation.
“Bo Paws-It-Forward has evolved and gone beyond anything I ever imagined,” said Amanda. “I couldn’t be happier with this turn of events, and I hope we can continue to evolve and serve.”
Thanks to the generosity of animal care groups, care clinics, and animal lovers across the country, along with the fundraising campaigns of companies like Germain Toyota of Columbus, Bo Paws-It-Forward has been able to help dozens of dogs and cats with medication. or surgeries and saved their owners hundreds of dollars in medical costs. These efforts have also prevented unnecessary euthanasia and the separation of pets and guardians, a primary goal of the organization.
Right now, Bo Paws-It-Forward is offering three unique grants for pet owners facing hardship:
• the giselle scholarship–The $200 maximum award covers the cost of immunizations, heartworm testing, spay/neuter, microchip, and dental procedures;
• the bo scholarship–The maximum award of $500 (determined on a case-by-case basis) covers non-essential medical costs such as surgeries, physical therapies and procedures;
• The Elwood ScholarshipThe average award of $200 covers the cost of the approved professional veterinary behavioral evaluation.
In addition to the grants, Bo Paws-It-Forward offers pet loss support services and is in the process of creating a service for veterinarians struggling with mental health issues.
“Our mission here is to offer support and resources to those who need it, and we will do it with empathy and without judgment,” Amanda said. “That is how Bo loved, that is how all dogs love, and that is what we will always strive to be.
“All we want to do is continue to be worthy of his kindness and make him proud. I like to think it would be.”
For more information about Bo Paws-It-Forward, including applications, eligibility requirements, or how to donate, visit bopawsitforward.org. The organization can also be found on Facebook and Instagram at Bo Paws-It-Forward.
