Kuba

So I’ve been feeling a mix of feelings today and a little bit of yesterday.  I found out yesterday that I will be co-hosting a blog post link up on Friday, which is very exciting and don’t get me wrong I am still excited but at the same time I also found out that my little white fluff ball might have cancer.  There will be no outfit post today.  I wanted to take the time today to dedicate a post to Kuba (pronounced Kooba, it’s Polish for Jacob).

Eight years ago on July 14th, 2005 a little Maltese was born.  He was kind of the runt of the litter because well he had a defect so he couldn’t be a show dog.  Once I found out about his defect I told my parents “I want him!”  I have a thing for the runts I mean one of our fish had only one eye.  Kuba didn’t develop all of the lining around his one eye which makes him incapable of being in dog shows.  Not that I would want my dogs in a dog show, that’s just too much work and too much stress for me and my dog.  I’d rather see my cutie pies running around in the back yard having a good time.

On my 18th birthday he was finally able to be taken away from his mommy and shipped to my family.  My parents picked up Tinker and along side of them was a family picking up Elvis, one of the siblings.  Tinker was the original name but I wasn’t a fan of it so we changed it.  Unfortunately since I wasn’t old enough yet all of the paperwork and license for Kuba was in my dad’s name.  I wasn’t able to pick him up from the airport because I was in class (I was a freshman in college) but my parents came to pick me up from school with the little guy in the car!  Oh my gosh he was so small and so scared and SO CUTE!  I just wanted to give him all of my love, and I did.

After about a week he was leaving his crate all by himself, we no longer had to force him out.  He was so small that he fit in the palm of my hand when we first got him.  I really can’t get over how small he used to be.  Then the little guy started to grow and boy did he have an appetite and he loved to go for walks.  He may have short legs but that little guy can run.  He even traveled on a plane to Poland in the summer of 2006!  Oh and another tid bit of information, he’s bilingual, well he can understand both Polish and English and takes commands in both languages.

Everything was ok with his health minus being diagnosed with Lyme (we live in the woods and there are a lot of ticks), he thought he was a big attack dog and had such a huge personality.  Then almost two years ago (January of 2012) we had to rush him to the emergency room.  It was one of the scariest moments of my life.  He was having some major problems and we found out he actually chewed at his private parts because they were hurting him so bad because he had a kidney stone.  We stayed up with him all night to make sure he was ok because he was crying and in pain.  We also found out during that hospital visit that he has rotating knee caps which is common in Maltese.  That explains the random skips when he runs sometimes.

He was put on a special diet and we recently took him off the diet because he was ok.  We just went for his routine check up on my birthday (Saturday) and last night we got the worst phone call we could possibly get.  My mom and dad told me the vet said they got his blood work back and his calcium levels were really high which can be a few things but it can also be cancer.  She asked if he has been urinating a lot and drinking a lot which is a big red flag for cancer and he has been.

So, if there is one thing I ask from all of you, if you are like me and treat your pets as family please keep Kuba in your prayers.  His little body can’t handle any more health problems.  I am keeping my fingers crossed and have been trying to be positive because he still has to go in for more testing (nothing is set in stone yet).

I love you Kuba, hang in their my handsome little man.