A few nights ago my sweet Luca dog had a seizure just as I was arriving home. My husband and I scooped him up and brought him to the vet right away. They were able to give him some meds that made breathing easier and he quickly snapped back to normal.
I was lucky all day Tuesday and Wednesday to be home with him. He seemed a bit tired but he wasn’t coughing and he was running around when the mailman walked by. He wanted to snuggle a lot, but that is his favorite way to relax. He seemed like he was going to make a full recovery.
Until this morning at 5am. KP and I both woke up because Luca was panting heavily. As we were getting our clothes on to take him into the vet he suffered another seizure. It was much smaller and he just popped up and was lucid right after it. On the way to the hospital, he seemed to take a turn he looked at me (I was driving) and I reached over to scratch his head and said, “Mamma is here, I love you.”
A few minutes later my husband felt him take his last breath as we walked into the vet. They took him back right away but the doctor returned a few minutes later to say he was gone.
It was an emotional moment. I remember bringing him home almost 13 years to this very day. He had big bug eyes and giant ears. I orginally named him Mickey but a few days later my husband came home early while I was at my sister’s birthday party and they watched The Godfather. From that moment on he was called Luca. A few years later he had knee replacement surgery and I cried all night when the vet wouldn’t let me take him home that night. We never slept apart. A year later he got out when we were at work and we were having some work done on our house. He wandered down the street and a neighbor picked him up and took him home with her.
We spent hours looking for him before having to give up. I slept by the front door all night in case he came home I would be able to hear him. We plastered the neighborhood the next morning with flyers. When the neighbor called and said we could pick him up at noon when she gets out of bed, I thought my Mother-In-Law was going to bust down her door! It wasn’t the last time he ran off on an adventure.
Just last Monday we were all in the front yard taking pics for the blog when he tried to make a break for it. I was stunned at how fast he could run with his asthma! I never would have guessed he would have a seizure just a few hours later.
It was comforting to know how many people loved him. He had a way of making you think you were the most amazing person in history… until my husband or KP’s stepdad came in the door and then you were leftovers! When I was in San Diego for school my sister would take him for a walk twice a day and they were glued to each other… until I got home.
He slept in bed with us everynight, he ate dinner with me every night; basically he was my best buddy. 13 years is a long time. I feel so lucky to have had so many great years with Luca. It is amazing how important pets can become to us. I will miss my little Luca dog everyday but I am so glad I got to have him these past 14 years.
Love you Luca bear.
