An Update on My Doggie Jasper

I will admit, things were looking grim for a while there. In my small town, the vets had no idea what was wrong with my dog Jasper. Why was his face falling apart? Why did he have a fever? He was fading after just a few months as a cute, feisty, growly little doggie who had survived a hoarder situation and now had a happy home.

They did not know what it was but they pumped him full of antibiotics, painkillers and steroids. Eventually, they recommended a dermotologist who wanted to see him right away, thinking it was “toxic shock.”

A very nice lady who's been working for 50 years now took one look at him and said, "No, it isn’t that." It’s a thing called Pemphigus, an autoimmune disorder. To confirm, she told me to take him off the steroids to see what happened. His fever immediately returned and so I put him back on it.

Yesterday, I took him back to her. She washed his ears and upped his dose of steroids. I have to put these drops in his ears and give him drugs for two weeks. She said either they come back from it and they can get off the drugs and do fine, or else they will have to remain on drugs the rest of their lives (a mild version).

But this morning, my doggie seemed almost like his old self again. When I first told people on X about it, they all prayed for him. It was one of the kindest things anyone has ever done. I did too. I prayed. My dog Jack was so sick I didn’t even try to put him in the hospital to save him. He was 12. It seemed like it was time to go peacefully. Jasper is only 4.

So of course people will want to know how much it costs. It ain’t cheap. It never is, but certainly not in my area. I applied for and got CARE Credit, which is what you can use for vets. The balance is now 1,728.29. And I’d already spent 1,000 for his first visit.

So yeah, it’s expensive. It could be worse. I once spent $4,000 after my cat ate a ball of thread that wrapped around his intestines. What was the alternative? Let him die? Pet insurance, I suppose, is maybe the way.

He looked pretty good yesterday, and I’m hoping he’ll be back to his growly self soon.

Waking up this morning, I did thank God. And all of you for your kind prayers. Probably some might be thinking, shut up about the dog already. Who wants to look at that? But my doggies are my best pals. I’m that person. It is what it is.

Long live Jasper.