My Cup O' Joe

I got Joe, a 3 month old American Pit Bull Terrier, from a friend last year. His wife couldn't deal with a puppy and a baby, and she was threatening to put him in the pound. Here in NC, this breed has certain death at Animal Control, so my husband and I decided to take him. Other than being a little underweight and scared, he was the typical puppy always getting into stuff and making my life hectic, but wonderful all at once.

I named him Cup o' Joe because his fur was as black as coffee, and he always acted like he'd had at least five cups!! Always jumping around, playing and acting silly when company came over. I called him Joe for short. He loved his squeaky bear and his tug-of-war- rope. I trained him very easily; he was very bright and always wanting to please me. Sometimes I wondered if he understood English because he always listened with such attentiveness.

He was one year old January 18th. He turned out a beautiful dog with a nice elegance and strong presence to his demeanor. He weighed 63lbs. In late February, he started vomiting and having bloody diarrhea. This went on for a few days until I finally took him to my job, an animal hospital, to let the doctor have a look. He ended up having two exploratory surgeries; we feared he'd eaten something and it had gotten stuck. Nothing was found, but his intestines, pancreas, and lymph nodes were extremely swollen. The doctor took a biopsy just to be thorough and not expecting anything serious. When the results came back a couple weeks later, it showed he had lymphosarcoma (cancer of the lymph nodes). Dr. Jonas said he was most likely in the 4th and final stage of it, and she had never seen something like this come on with such severity. She said he was most likely born with it, and only now the symptoms were showing. We treated him with a myriad of medicines, but he'd gone from the robust 63lbs. to a dwindling 45lbs. He was skin and bones, and you could just look in his eyes and tell he was suffering. He started getting edgy with people; growling, barking, and sometimes lunging at them, which he NEVER did before. I was due to have a baby anytime, and finally my husband and I made the hardest decision ever...to put him down. That was April 19th, and I really didn't expect to be grieving this long, especially now that I have a daughter who takes up most of my time. But in the quiet times of the morning, I can almost hear his tags jingle as he makes his way to the back door nipping at the cat's heels just to pick on him. I miss him so much...there's a void in my life that I never knew could exist. He was my buddy. I'll always love him, and no matter what other Pit Bulls we may own, there will always be that spot for my Cup o' Joe.

Jennifer
Fayetteville, NC