Are You Going to Leave Me Too?

I whispered these words to Sweet Pea this morning while I was sitting on the floor petting him.

The blood test results came back with the diagnosis of severe anemia. One little bit of good news is that my vet said that the numbers are off the charts as far as Sweet Pea regenerating new red blood cells. So, he is healthy in that respect. But, he continues to bleed from his mouth. I brought Sweet Pea to the vet yesterday for another exam. He had not bled for three days and his energy level improved substantially. Running and eating like normal--although I can tell he has lost weight. Just as a general observation, my vet said he looked 100% better then he did last week. But the bleeding is still a mystery. The vet did a very thorough exam of his mouth and tongue, pressed on his gums to see if they would bleed and came up with nothing. Since Sweet Pea is not gagging or vomiting the blood, he really can't figure out how it just randomly drips out of his mouth.

So, the vet dosed him for worms (with the flea infestation, Sweet Pea could have easily picked up some), gave me a two week dose of antibiotics since his white cell count was a bit high, and told me to buy some liquid vitamins and come back in a month for more blood work.

I dropped Sweet Pea off back home where I quickly gave him some cat treats that he gobbled up, and then left for work. I had to work late and didn't get home until around 7:30. When I walked in the door, it literally looked like I walked into a crime scene. Sweet Pea was on the living room rug hunched over with his face almost touching the floor. Surrounding him were splatters of blood. A trail of blood was in the kitchen and into the bedroom with more blood splatter on my bed and on the window. I quickly checked Sweet Pea and he was no longer bleeding but obviously weak and exhausted. I cleaned things up as best as I could and sat with Sweet Pea for a while and then went to bed. I woke up this morning with Sweet Pea in the same position as when I left him but luckily no more bleeding.

I just got off the phone with the vet. I have two choices. I can continue the conservative treatment or I can bring him in tomorrow where the vet will have to sedate him to take a thorough look down his throat and take some xrays. He said that in itself is risky since the bleeding must be coming from somewhere close to his throat and the process of sticking something down his throat could cause massive bleeding. I've decided to go with the risky procedure. Either way, my vet said the outcome is probably not going to be good. Yet, I just can't sit around watching Sweet Pea slowly bleed to death.

I will say my goodbyes and drop Sweet Pea off in the morning, praying for some kind of miracle.