McDonald's Puts Together Special Meal for Terminally Ill Rescue Dog

An Oklahoma woman has revealed how staff at McDonald's made her dog's day by helping put together a special meal for the terminally ill pet.

Stacey Herriage, Oklahoma State University PhD student and teaching assistant, has adored Gooby from the day her folks first adopted the animal from OK Save a Dog rescue center in Prague, Oklahoma, back in 2018.

"Our family has adopted multiple dogs from there, and the woman that runs the rescue called my mother to ask if she would be interested in adopting this little dachshund who had been returned to the shelter once already and then surrendered to the pound in Oklahoma City," Herriage told Newsweek.

Gooby, or Goob for short, quickly struck up a close bond with Herriage, thanks in part to her love of food and going places. The dog splits her time between living with Herriage and her mom.

"When she's with me in Stillwater, where my university is located, she loves going for walks on campus, especially around the pond to see 'her ducks'. There's also a dog-friendly pub in town called Stonecloud Taproom," Herriage said.

"When she is at my mom's in Grove, she loves going for rides in the golf cart and taking walks around the ponds in the neighborhood there. She also enjoys going for car rides, especially the ones to go get ice cream."

Regardless of where she is, Goob is always a reliable cuddle companion who loves nothing more than curling up on the couch to watch a movie, especially if popcorn is on offer.

Sadly, last year Goob started to show symptoms of having an issue that her vet initially thought was a liver problem. After months of experimenting with new diets to no avail, in July 2023, a specialist delivered the heartbreaking news that Goob had inoperable liver cancer.

"Over the next few weeks after that, she just kept getting worse, to the point she actually had an appointment to be put down because she was so sick and in so much pain," Herriage said.

The loss of a pet can be a heartbreaking experience, in every sense of the word. In 2017, the New England Journal of Medicine detailed the case of a 61-year-old woman who was admitted to ER, having experienced severe chest pain.

It was concluded that she had Takotsubo, or stress, cardiomyopathy. This is often referred to as "broken-heart syndrome" and had been brought on by the death of her beloved Yorkshire terrier.

For Herriage, matters came to a head, the night before Goob was due to be put to sleep after weeks of steadily declining health.

Herriage had a tradition whereby she would feed her mom's two rescue beagles Cheetos. She wanted to do the same for Goob but was told by her mom "not too many because they'll make her sick."

"I lost it," Herriage said. "I cried about how it didn't matter and I was going to feed her the whole damn bag because it wasn't going to make any difference at that point." With tears in her eyes, she recalls feeding Goob the whole bag, figuring she may as well enjoy something while she can.

The next morning, Herriage woke up expecting to have to clean up something horrible but was instead met by another surprise. "Goob was perky and alert as she ever had been," Herriage said. "She had rallied and it was amazing."

The family made the decision to cancel her veterinary appointment for later that day and just live in the moment. "The vet said that could be any day, so just enjoy every day with her that we still have her," Herriage said. "We were also told that she can have whatever she wants because, albeit total speculation with actual evidence, that's what actually seemed to help."

That's what led to them ending up at the McDonald's on the Cimarron Turnpike at a truck stop in a community called Lone Chimney. Herriage was making the three-hour drive to take Goob and some of the other dogs back to her mom's house and decided to stop in at the drive-thru for something to eat.

That was where Herriage came up with the "McGooby Meal" tailored made for Goob's unique tastes. "They thought I was probably a strangely particular parent or maybe had a really picky kid," Herriage said.

"I ordered the Happy Meal with the nuggets, but no sauce, and a plain hamburger without the bun, extra apple slices, and water in a cup with no ice. It wasn't until I got to the pay window that they saw Goob in the front seat next to me, and the guy at the window just smiled really big and seemed to instantly know why my order was a little unusual."

Even better than that, the worker who greeted them "threw an extra nugget in for the road." Goob was one very satisfied customer by the end. "She very much enjoyed her meal," Herriage said. Goob is not the first dog to enjoy the Golden Arches.

Newsweek reached out to McDonald's for comment via email.

Herriage later shared a post detailing the experience to Facebook as she "thought it would be a cute alternative to the typical food review post." She has been blown away by the supportive response and the "number of people that have said how they relate to the situation."

Herriage may not know how long they have left with Goob, but she is making sure she enjoys every last minute of it: "I have plans to take her for a coney, which is a hot dog with chili and cheese on it, when I get up there next time."