The Archie Show in 2023

Where do I even begin??

I’ll try to be as concise as possible. We went to Brooklyn two Saturdays ago to adopt Gonzo. When we arrived at the shelter, they told us he’d been adopted out the night before, which broke my heart. It’s cheesy but I felt such a connection to that dog, even just off his picture. So we asked to see Animal, the other dog in that litter that Craig had been interested in.

They brought Animal out and let us hold him. He was the calmest puppy I’ve ever seen. While holding him, I turned to Craig on the streets of Brooklyn and said, “There’s something wrong with this dog. Something’s not right and I can’t put my finger on it.” Hellooooo nursing 6th sense....

Anyway. We ended up adopting Animal, changed his name to Archie (the kids betrayed me and didn’t want to name him Booger.... I’ll never forgive them). We did bring him to my parent’s house that day and they were both like immediately in love. Not the response I’d been expecting from my mom but man it was worth it to see the surprise on their faces.

So Archie (at the time) was 9 weeks old. Shephard/pitbull mix. Brindle. Adorbs. Not fully vaccinated but only needed one more. I called our vet on Monday, made an appointment for checkup on Thursday. Archie is very smart, highly motivated by treats. He was doing GREAT housebreaking. Some episodes overnight but overall, really great. Like by the third night, he was sleeping through in the crate. Wonderful.

Wednesday, I drop off a stool sample for the vet. Wednesday night, he starts throwing up and having diarrhea almost every hour. Check up at the vet shows he’s got a parasite. Ok, common and treatable. We start him on meds, he gets some fluids and comes home. That same day, I get a call from the rescue that one of the other dogs in the litter is having the same symptoms. I told them we’d already taken Archie to get checked and have a diagnosis and he’s being treated. Yay.

Friday, Archie was like 50% back to normal. Took his meds fine, didn’t have a great appetite but was drinking water. Friday night into Saturday morning, vomiting and diarrhea as often as every half hour. Back to the vet Saturday where they kept him to run more tests.

I was at my work wife’s baby shower when the vet called and said she suspects he has Parvo and needs to go to an animal hospital for intensive care. Greaaaaat.

So we took him in Saturday afternoon to the animal hospital, they isolated him right away and started treatment and that’s where he’s been since.

It’s been a long week. Parvo is very contagious in puppies and fatal if untreated. Recovery is a roller coaster and can take up to a week to see positive results. Usually the first 48-72 hours are the most critical. If a puppy survives past that (with supportive treatment), they have a good chance at recovery. Not 100% but… So I felt like I had to give him a chance. I made it abundantly clear to the vet at the hospital that if he turns septic or starts to tank, we will stop treatment and make him comfortable. They understood and said that the virus gets worse before it gets better, so it’s really a day to day scenario.

Monday and Tuesday were heavy days for me. Every choice seemed impossible. The dog was lethargic and miserable looking. I felt like if he were one of may patients, I’d give him all the morphine and make him comfortable. I cried both days. What am I doing to this dog? This isn’t the life he deserves. But if I stop everything, he dies. Is that fair to him? I accepted him as my responsibility, if there’s a decent chance for recovery, don’t I owe that to him?

I am over $12,000 deep into treating this dog. And he’ll be at the hospital at least another 3 days, I’d say.

And don’t get me wrong, I have the money. Craig thinks I’m crazy. I don’t know what to do anymore.

I called out of work today because I felt like Archie was so depressed being alone and I just wanted to snuggle with him for awhile. So I spent about four hours there and today was the first day he sat up when I came in the room. He fell asleep in my lay for awhile before they had to do his tube feedings and IV meds. It was nice to snuggle him. He’s lost a lot of weight. He looks like he should be in an ASPCA commercial.

The vets and techs have been absolutely wonderful. They text photos and updates throughout the day. They are so communicative. Everyone I spoke with today (one vet and two different techs) think Archie is turning the corner and will start pepping up more and more. Our concerns now are getting him to eat/have an appetite and he currently has aspiration pneumonia from all the vomiting he’d been doing (rolls eyes). Sometime it feels like one step forward and two steps back. But that’s how it is with Parvo. He’s already on antibiotics so hopefully the pneumonia won’t be an issue.

I hate to say it… but this never seemed permanent. I absolutely want this dog to pull through. I haven’t allowed myself to look to the future and imagine what he might look like fully grown or if he’ll want to hunt groundhogs like Iggy or if we should take him to obedience school. I won’t let myself look that far down the line. I don’t even know if it’s a reality at this point.

I don’t know shit about fuck, how about that? Lol.

So.... it’s just a waiting game still. I’m exhausted. I’ve been rushing through my work days to spend a couple hours at the vet before running home to deal with the kids and the afternoon/evening routine. I’m so damn tired. And on the nights the dog was sick, I only clocked like 3 hours of sleep those night so I just feel like I can’t even catch up. Not to mention I worked Sunday so I didn’t even have a day off over the weekend.

I’m off tomorrow as my day back for working the weekend but I needed today to spend with the dog. Guilt-free. He needed the snuggles.

Guess that’s the update for now… Hopefully better news the next time I write.