Pete

 So it’s Friday at 2:15am  and i’m sitting alone in my family room drinking Chardonnay.  Usually I’m sitting in here with my black lab Pete.  Pete’s not sitting here with me because we had to put him to sleep at 8 o’clock last night.  It started around 8 o’clock pm Wednesday night.  Pete wasn’t feeling right.  Sam always lets the dogs out at 10:30 at night but Pete for some reason didn’t wanna go outside Sam coaxed him to go outside to do his business and Pete just stood there.  Pete then came in the house and went into the laundry room and laid down.  Both my dogs have always been able to go anywhere they want in the house the only time they go in the laundry room is if they were really muddy and I had to wash them off and they were soaking wet or if somebody was coming over and we had to put them in there because either they didn’t like dogs or Pete didn’t like them. So Sam and I went to bed around 11.  I checked on Pete around 1:30 in the morning and he was laying in this massive cage that we have in our laundry room that we bought after Butch ( yellow lab ) had one of his 3 surgeries. Now I use it to put my son’s dog in when he’s spending the night and can’t be trusted since he’s just  a year old.  At 6:30 in the morning I got up to let the dogs out and Pete was still in the laundry room but there was bloody poop everywhere and Pete was laying in the middle of it and barely had his eyes open - no tail wagging just laying there. Well our vet doesn’t open till 8 o’clock so we picked Pete up and took him to the emergency vet clinic in Highland Heights.  When we pulled up they were there with a gurney to bring Pete in.  They take Pete back and the first thing the woman says we need $475 to look at him.  I give them our credit card and then they take us to a room in the back to wait to talk to a doctor. Doctor came in said Pete is in critical condition they don’t know what’s wrong with him but to proceed will cost us another $2500.  I give them our credit card they mentioned that his blood work is just terrible.  They’re going to do x-rays and ultrasound they can’t do an MRI because he would have to be sedated and he’s too critical condition to sedate him mind you 14 hours earlier this dog was running around happy playing and enjoying the weather.  They told us to go home that Pete would not be going anywhere anytime soon but before we left they said it might be $6000 before they get done figuring out what’s wrong with Pete depending on what they might have to do for him. I’m telling you right now if you have a pet get pet insurance. The doctor mentioned some disease called Addison’s when I came home and googled it it said about how it comes on quickly in dogs and that they have bloody diarrhea and yes when we went back to see Pete he was just had blood pouring out of his butt but with Addison’s disease there’s also vomiting and I told the doctor he never vomited that we know of.  They had him on two antibiotics - steroids  - pain meds and had a catheter in him.  So we’re sitting at home wondering what the hell happened. Any 12 o’clock I call the vet hospital and speak to a tech and she said I think he might be doing better he lifted his head.  They are waiting to get the results back about the Addison’s disease.  I called at 4 o’clock and the doctor is doing rounds and will call us back.  5 o’clock the doctor calls and said that clinically Pete hasn’t gotten any better but they’re hopeful he will since he’s only been on medication antibiotics for nine hours and they still haven’t gotten the blood results for Addison disease.  I asked if we could come see him and they said sure they’re open 24/7  and I can come anytime we want. Sam and I went in to see Pete and when we got there the doctor said he doesn’t have Addison’s he has Sepsis and he probably will not be getting better.  And why we’re standing there he starts going into arrhythmia his hearts failing she said he could have a heart attack or stroke caused by blood clot and they can’t stop the blood from pouring out of his butt.  Our daughter comes to say goodbye to him.  The staff at the hospital was great very concerned about us and Pete. It’s terrible losing a pet but I feel really sorry for my yellow lab Butch they were always together.  What’s going through my mind now is when it’s Butches time I don’t know how the hell we’re gonna get them to the vet.   Pete was a little bit smaller than Butch and Sam had such a hard time lifting him up off the floor and getting him to the truck.  I guess we’ll have to call the kids.  I will never ever get another dog.  If I’m lonely I’ll just bring my Son & DIL’s dog or my Daughter & SIL’s dog over to my house.  It’s gonna look weird in my family room instead of two dog beds they’ll be one also in our bedroom instead of two beds they’ll be one - in the laundry room they’ll only be Butch’s bowls to eat and drink out of.   I’ll probably give Butch extra treats today and spend a little more time with him. I’ll be fine this is not the first pet I’ve had to put to sleep but Sam is terrible when it comes to stuff like this — When I die if there’s an after life —  I wanna come back as one of my Sam’s pets.