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The Life of Papi

Our sweet baby passed away

Papi had to be put to sleep today. It's been incredibly hard for all of us. Jeff had never had a dog before, and the bond that they shared was indescribable. When Papi came into our lives, he was just a stray that we thought was too sweet to stay on the street. He had been hanging out by Jeff's work, and after spending some time with Papi and deliberating for a bit, we decided we would at least take him home until someone claimed him. We were lucky that he became a member of the family.

Within a few months of rescuing Papi, we rescued a female dog to keep him company. Within a few months of rescuing her, we rescued a third dog--a puppy, this time--that was just too cute for us to overlook. Needless to say, we're done. The three of them made the perfect pack!

We discovered not long after we got Papi (we already had adopted Lucy, but we didn't have Otis yet) that he had heartworms. While the treatment was a little rough on Papi, I think it was harder on us. Although he was the largest of the three, Papi was by far our baby. I have always had dogs throughout my life, but Papi was the most well-behaved of them all. We always kept him on a pretty high pedestal, and not a day went by that we weren't grateful to have come across such a perfect dog.

Papi ultimately died from a disease called IMTP, or Immune Mediated Thrombocytopenia. The onset of symptoms was quick and unexpected. In general, we had heard (and read) that IMTP is a very tough and unpredictable disease.

Papi woke us pretty early in the morning on Tuesday, November 21 when he vomited in our room. Having experience with dogs in the past, we general ignore this unless it happens more than a couple of times or is accompanied by other symptoms. A few hours later, Jeff noticed that Papi had a solid bowel movement, but it was black. He promptly called the vet, knowing the black stool can be a bad sign. They asked that we bring him in, "just in case."

His appointment was at 3:20pm. The veterinarian noticed that Papi had some pinpoint bruising on his skin (small red spots, almost like maroon freckles), indicating that his blood might not be clotting. He asked that we leave Papi for some testing and xrays, to cover all bases.

When we came back at 5:30pm, they determined that Papi's platelets were far too low (around 16,000...they should be around 200,000), and he was bleeding (causing the bruising, gum bleeding, and bloody stool). In fact, the gum bleeding began just while Papi was being tested. He had already gotten worse since he had been dropped off at the vet two hours earlier. The only good news that we received was in regards to his xrays, which showed no organ damage or internal bleeding.

The vet discussed the possibility of a poison, a tick-born disease, and several other things that could have been causing the symptoms. We don't keep poisons around our home, and Papi was never the mischevious type that chewed or got into things he wasn't supposed to. Although we had only had him for a year and couldn't speak of his life before, we had never seen a tick on him (or the other dogs). The vet informed us of the different possibilities and began treating for all of them. He ran tests to find out what he could, but some of the tests wouldn't come back until the followiing day. In the meantime, the vet said that Papi would need constant supervision, so we had to take him to the overnight emergency clinic for the night.

When we went to pick up Papi from the emergency clinic at 7:30am the next day and take him back to our regular veterinarian, it was evident that he had gotten worse. They had to transport him on a stretcher because he was too weak to walk. We could tell just from looking at him how incredibly horrible he felt. Once he got back to our vet, tests confirmed that his blood was worse than the night before. The tests from the previous day were pretty inconclusive about the cause. After a couple of hours of observation (he was still being treated for any of the possible causes), the vet informed us that Papi might be able to receive more thorough care from an experienced 24-hour emergency animal hospital located in Louisville (we are located in Evansville, so that's about 2 hours from us). It was inevitable that Papi would need a blood transfusion, and all of Evansville was fresh out. On top of that, there is not ONE animal hospital in Evansville that is open for 24 hours. Ongoing supervision would mean transporting Papi from our regular vet to the emergency clinic each night.

So after a lot of discussion with the doctors, we loaded Papi into our van and drove him directly to Louisville. He was there by late afternoon on Wednesday, only 36 hours after the initial onset of symptoms. The Louisville animal hospital admitted him and started his first blood transfusion within an hour. While they continued the treatment that he was already undergoing in Evansville, they added a couple other things to the regimen (i.e. they gave him a drug to aid in healing his intestines, which weren't holding/absorbing any protein, which he was also terribly low on). They assured us that if he made it through the night, the chances of a positive outcome overall would be much better, but I don't think anyone ever told us his chances were above 50/50.

They determined on Wednesday that we were probably looking at IMTP: in a nutshell, his immune system had turned and was attacking his platelets. Between Wednesday night and this morning (Monday), Papi received about 7 transfusions (maybe more, but at least 7). His platelets continued to drop--the last time we had an update, they were below 8,000. His protein remained in the gutter. His treatment didn't change much over the days, but his well-being seemed to depend largely on how recently he had received a transfusion.

Yesterday (Sunday), we took the kids, as well as our other two dogs (Lucy and Otis) to visit Papi in the Lousiville animal hospital where he had been staying. Papi is such a sweet boy, and we thought that it might lift his spirits to see all of us. We missed him so much, and I think we all secretly hoped that his willpower would miraculously make it all go away when he saw us. It was great to see his tail wag when we walked back to where he was laying (they kept him on the floor with blankets and IVs--he wasn't kept in a cage because he could barely get up), and it was sweet to see Lucy and Otis interact with him. I never thought he would be so happy to see his obnoxious little brother Otis!

We had also brought Otis to donate blood for his bubby. He hated it, and we hated that he cried from the sedation for several hours afterward. But after that was said and done, Papi got Otis' blood.

When we were getting ready to leave, new symptoms had appeared, and the vet told us that Papi had developed vasculitis. I believe his words were, "Not many things cause vasculitis, but tick disease (Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever) is one of them." That didn't change the situation, but Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever is one of the main documented causes of IMTP. As I mentioned above, we had never found a tick on Papi, but we had only had him for about a year, and ticks ARE very common in southern Indiana. I believe tick diseases can lay dormant for quite a while.

Jeff received a call from the vet this afternoon. Papi had suddenly started to reject his transfusions (the way some people reject organ transplants). He rapidly went down hill within 30 minutes, and there was absolutely no way to turn it around. We opted to have him put to sleep, rather than make him withstand the natural (but awful) fate that would've followed within a couple hours, at the most.

We loved our Papi, and we always will. He was Jeff's first dog ever, and he was the first dog I owned after moving out of my parents' home. He had a knack for connecting with people like no dog could, and he made people that feared the breed (or large dogs in general) simply fall in love with him. I'll never forget the way we cuddled while the other dogs played--Papi was such a lover, and all he ever wanted was affection. I'll miss every damn thing about him, even the fact that he dug up our back yard. What I wouldn't give to hear that bark, which was almost bigger than he was, or to hear him howl at another passing siren. It always made us giggle.

I don't know how much time will have to go by before I can hear a siren and NOT cry...

I miss you, Senor Papi.

Storms are BAD.

It's been storming for the past two days. At 8:30 in the morning, it looks like 8:30 at night! Otis and Lucy just can't recognize impending doom when it's upon them. I know better. I know when a storm is going to hit, even hours before anyone else. Mom and Dad don't even CARE! They used to spoil me rotten when the thunder would make me shiver with fright, but some bozo named Cesar Millan said something about not "nurturing an anxious mind." Mom and Dad watched his show and decided that maybe they SHOULDN'T praise me when I'm scared, so now I get ZILCH! No love when it rains! They try to play with me in an effort to distract me from the storms, but it's just not the same. OK, OK, so it WORKS, but I really liked being able to tremble and have Mommy run across the room and baby me:( I guess I'll make due and just get used to the storms, but gosh, can't it just stop raining already?!