Cooper is our 9 year old pitty mix who was rushed to the emergency vet on Friday September 26th, 2025 due to spontaneous bleeding. We noticed something was off Wednesday afternoon (9/24) and found blood in his mouth. We immediately took him to our vet where they ran every test possible. We were sent home with pain meds and antibiotics to keep him comfortable, and to fight a potential infection until the results came back. By Friday, Cooper was not getting any better and we opted to take him to Blue Pearl emergency vet in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. There they ran additional tests and discovered that Cooper has an autoimmune blood disorder called Idiopathic Thrombocytopenic Purpura (ITP) or spontaneous bleeding. Essentially, something triggered his body to start attacking his immune system, resulting in his inability to clot. Cooper is currently bleeding internally and through a sore in his mouth. Cooper's platelet count is at zero, he needs to get up to 20,000-50,000 to be out of the danger zone.

The vet clinic has started him on extremely strong immunosuppression drugs. Cooper received a double blood transfusion at 3am on September 27th, 2025 to try and replace the amount of blood he has lost. This will be a battle for Cooper, however this illness is treatable and we know he is up for the fight just like we are, but we need a little help. For a stay of 2-4 days we are looking at a minimum of $7,650 which we have already paid. However, as they continue to do his workup and if he requires longer treatment, that price point jumps up to close to 10k. And as much as it pains us to ask for help, we need help.

Cooper is one of three of our dogs. He is our calm, funny, sweet, garden loving boy. He is the calm to our two females. He is our OSHA inspector during all home projects (aka always there inspecting our work). Cooper is truly the glue that has held the pack together and his fur siblings and humans need him to get better. We want to continue to provide the best care for Cooper and these donations will allow that to happen.

From the Silver-Baustian family, we ask that if you can not give please share this widely and thank you.