07/27/2026
Part 3: The Endless Vet Visits
By May 2026, we thought we were heading in for what would be a routine follow-up.
The day before Loki’s appointment, everything changed.
He developed petechiae—tiny red spots that can be a sign of dangerously low platelets. Given his history of IMTP, our priority immediately shifted. Instead of doing his routine X-rays, we decided to avoid the extra stress and focus on getting him stable first.
Since prednisone had worked so well after his IMTP diagnosis the previous October, we started another course hoping we were dealing with the same thing.
The very next day, Loki vomited dark brown blood.
Our vet felt it was most likely old blood caused by irritation to his already sensitive GI tract from the prednisone, an ulcer, or possibly underlying IBD. We started on anti-nausea meds, and he never vomited again.
Over the next few weeks, he slowly started to improve.
Then we began tapering the prednisone…and things went downhill.
This time, he wasn’t coming off the medication the way he had before.
We knew we needed answers, but we also knew prednisone could mask inflammation and alter bloodwork. We restarted the meds and completed an even slower taper so we could get the most accurate picture once he was off.
After he had been off prednisone for over a week, we went back for bloodwork and X-rays.
His bloodwork was reassuring.
•Platelets were back in the normal range.
•No evidence of infection.
•His organ values looked good.
It felt like we should have been celebrating.
Then came the X-rays.
At first, everything looked normal—including his stomach.
Before the appointment ended, Loki’s dad asked one simple question:
“Can you take another look at his spine?”
That question changed everything. We had the X-rays sent off to rad.
The radiologist found an abnormal area around the middle of his back that no one was expecting.
That single finding sent us down a path of advanced imaging, specialists, and potential diagnosis’ that we never wanted to hear.
Next I’ll share the worst case scenario and what we opted to do while we figure it out.
Part 4: The Holistic Route
