This is my sweet baby angel Mocha. For those who know us you know Mocha has been apart of my life, family and my entire soul for almost 14 years. She’ll be 14 years old this February 14th, when I first met her at just a few months old in 2012 I knew she would my baby forever. Mocha has been with me on my brightest days and my worst moments, through every pivotal moment in my life she has always been what keeps me going and given me a light of hope. I truly could never imagine a better soul dog connection than the one we share.

About 2 years ago we found out Mocha has pancreatitis. This is a difficult and painful lifelong illness for people and even more so in dogs. I switched Mocha to a strict low-fat diet which she has been doing great on since finding that out.

While I was working on October 24th, Mocha got into my closet and ate some fabric. Most dogs would be able to pass this quite easily without any issues but unfortunately, this caused a big problem for my Mocha baby. She started to become sick a few days after, she started throwing up, having diarrhea and not eating. I was originally worried that she had a blockage and brought her to the ER vet on Monday October 27th. The doctors did the imaging needed to confirm there was no blockage in her intestines however, due to her having pancreatitis she could not process what she ate normally. Basically her pancreas flared up and became extremely inflamed, this also led to her other intestines; kidney, liver and gallbladder to overwork and also become inflamed. Overall this is extremely painful for anyone especially my almost 14 year old dog. The doctors started to give Mocha supportive care to help ease her symptoms she was started on; pain medication, iv fluids, fiber probiotic and an appetite stimulant. While these medications were given to help her get through the most painful symptoms of a pancreatic flare up they continued to run tests to monitor her conditions. My hope at this point after the first and second days of her in the ER was that she would just need the help and support for a few days to get through this bad flare up then nurse her back to her normal self back at home. The doctors did tell me at this point that most dogs who come in with this condition typically need supportive care for up to 7-14 days. That is a long time for #1 my baby girl to be in a hospital without her family present for the majority of the day and #2 financially overwhelming for me and my small family. However, Mocha is and has consistently been the brightest part of my life for the past almost 14 years so I did not hesitate to put down the deposit for my baby to get the help and support that the vets insists she needs to get better. For as long as there is hope for her recovery I would do everything possible to make that happen. After three days into her being at the ER on October 29th the doctors were concerned with her lack of food intake and decided a NG feeding tube would be needed. Throughout these few days she showed some signs of improvement but also had a couple concerns. She had stopped vomiting by her 4th day in the ER, but continued to have diarrhea, started to catch a fever and then discovered she also has a uti. Throughout this time at the ER the doctors are continuously monitoring her vitals and adjusting her medication to suit her ongoing changing needs. On November 3rd they found some even more concerning discoveries, the IV catheter in her neck had formed a blood clot so they needed to remove that one and place a new one in a different vein which was difficult because Mocha had been so exhausted and not able to move as much as normal causing the iv fluid to build up in her body and was not flowing properly. They also found that there was excess fluid built up around her lungs. The doctors moved her IV and started her on blood thinners to help disperse the blood clot. At this time the doctors are growing increasingly concerned with Mochas odds of a successful recovery and suggest that I consider end of life services. The vets told me that Mocha definitely needs a lot of support currently, but whether in hospital or at home, at this point they were not hopeful she would be the same as before when I brought her in. The good news at this time is I can see Mocha is becoming a lot more mentally brighter, alert and more interested in eating solid food again. I was able to feed Mocha about a half cup of food on the evening of November 3rd and again the next night on November 4th she ate another full cup of food, but she would only eat when I fed her, my stubborn girl. The evening of November 4th the vets were able to confirm thankfully the fluid in her lungs cleared. However, it will take time for the blood clot to work its way out and she continues to have ongoing fluctuating symptoms.

If you’ve read through this much of our story, I would like to thank you. It has been a very long week and a half with lots of really highs and lows. As a dog mom, the upmost important thing for me is to make sure my sweet baby Mocha doesn’t suffer. She has been the best dog and friend ever imaginable and I at least owe her a peaceful and loving farewell if these are her final moments, she does not deserve to suffer or to have to fight or to feel alone/scared. I am making this post on the morning of Wednesday November 5th and will be bringing my Mocha baby home this afternoon. My goal is to give her all the love and support possible to make her as happy and comfortable as she has been all her life at home with me. Unfortunately, I do not know when or if Mocha will make a full recovery. However, I am making this in hopes that with lots of love and support from our friends that I can continue to give Mocha the best of whatever she’ll need during these next coming days/weeks or hopefully longer.