09/12/2026
Give them a hug and a kiss
My Buddy began acting strange last Thursday by not eating right away and not as much as on his usual days, and walking a bit slowly. We took him to the vet, and he was diagnosed with back pain (of unknown origin).
With 2 meds, he seemed better the next day, but then began declining on Saturday. He was then fully refusing food on Sunday and Monday, but we were told it could be meds and pain, so continue with treatment. Tuesday, we became concerned and brought it back to the urgent vet. They gave him 2 shots, Butorphanol and ketamine. Told he’d be loopy and need help walking. Which he did. But worse than what we thought. He became restless and vomited shortly after arriving home, and we called and said it was the medicine. We brought her back into our main vet on Wednesday, and she was more thorough and did X-rays, but again, all seemed normal with a possible larger liver (slightly - not concerning). She recommended the ER.
We got back home, and I had to carry him in, and he plopped there for the next 2 hours. I made the call to bring him in at 10:30 pm that night. At this point, his legs don’t work, and he’s dead weight. I rush to the ER, and they run out with a stretcher. But because he was critical, they said, “Rushing him in will be $700-$1400, is that ok?” And needed verbal confirmation as he’s laying their limp. Ok, fine.
We were told that it could be autoimmune meningitis, but the neuro team in the morning will do an ultrasound. He needed to go to the ICU. Of course, before proceeding, “Your quote is $6k-$8k; we need $6k to proceed.” Ok, fine. Ultrasound of the brain came back looking good, no tumors (concern originally), no swelling seen, no excess fluid. But couldn’t do a spinal tap to test for meningitis since his platelets were low (35,000).
Next, we were told they did blood panels for ticks, fungi, and a PCR. But the tick and fungal will take 1-4 days since they’re sent to the University of North Carolina and Colorado (I’m in Chicago). At this point, meningitis isn’t ruled out, and an infectious disease is considered.
Thursday, after he spent one night there, we were told he needs monitoring and will get additional tests. But before proceeding, “Your quote is now $9k-$12k; we need an additional $3k deposit.” Ok, fine.
As of today, Friday, we do not have a definitive answer. We are in limbo. He’s been in a comatose state with little to no responsiveness. We visited last night, and it was devastating (pic in cage). Tongue out, not responsive, or twitches whatsoever. Breathing very heavily.
At this time, I notice the weight on his name tag says 53lbs. I call over the doctor and ask, " Is this his weight? She confirms on the tablet, and it is. I said that’s impossible. He came in at 72lbs; he was weighed 3 hours before he came in. She said she would confirm. This morning, Friday, on our morning update call, I brought it up, saying the weight was off by almost 30%. I was told “his legs could’ve been off the table”, doctor the night before said “our scales are probably different”. That pi**ed me off. Because his medicine chart is heavily dependent (as most meds are) on mg/kg. I asked if he could’ve been underdosed, and she said that’s a possibility. But I will bring it up urgently to the care team.
Now, some partial good news as we wait for test results. When we saw him this afternoon, he lifted his head, very wobbly, and couldn’t support it would essentially flop over. But it seemed to respond to our voices! As if he wanted to get up but just couldn’t. We then received an update a little while ago saying he ate a whole jar of baby food and drank on his own! Which we are thrilled about.
All of this happened in the span of 6 days and made us realize how special our Buddy is, and a reminder to let them have that sock, have the one additional treat, and get that chest scratched whenever they so damn please.
