08/07/2026
An update on Pharaoh:
For everyone who has been following along or checking in on my boy, Pharaoh is officially spending the night at the vet tonight.
This whole thing started in the most unexpected way. Somehow, Pharaoh managed to get into the garbage on Saturday and eat a corn cob, which is something he has literally never done before. In almost 10 years, this dog has never been one to get into the garbage, so it never even crossed my mind that he could have eaten something he wasn’t supposed to. P**p? Yea sure, that’s his caviar. But garbage?!?! No way!! My boy has standards!!
Over the next few days, he started acting out of the ordinary. He was “lazy”, barely picking at his food, and much clingier than usual.
At the same time, I was babysitting another dog who was making Pharaoh a bit uncomfortable, especially around his own food. Because of that, I genuinely thought his behavior was stress-related. I thought he wasn’t eating because he didn’t feel comfortable going to his bowl and was spending more time laying with us because he wanted reassurance.
Then the other dog went home… and Pharaoh still wasn’t himself.
Around 3 AM Tuesday morning, he vomited up a bunch of pieces of corn cob.
That was the first time I had ANY idea he’d gotten into the garbage, and suddenly I knew we were dealing with something much bigger than him just being stressed by our houseguest.
Yesterday, he also had a very small, almost black, mushy bowel movement, continued barely eating, and remained lethargic and incredibly clingy. Today it was obvious my boy needed to be seen, so off to the vet we went.
Unfortunately, we’ve now discovered that the corn cob may not be the only thing going on.
His bloodwork showed that his platelet count is extremely low — only 38,000 when it should be around 150,000!!! His vet explained that the risk of spontaneous bleeding becomes a concern around 50,000, so seeing him at 38,000 is extremely concerning.
His liver values are also somewhat elevated, although thankfully his liver itself looked good on the scans. The combination of low platelets and elevated liver values can potentially be caused by certain tick-borne illnesses, so they’re testing him for those as well.
Then there’s still the original reason we went in — his stomach and that corn cob.
They can’t currently tell whether what they’re seeing in his stomach is inflammation or if his stomach simply hasn’t completely emptied yet. The nearly black p**p yesterday could potentially indicate internal bleeding, which is especially concerning given how low his platelets are. What we CAN currently tell is that he doesn’t not have a blockage, which is a big relief.
So tonight, my boy is staying at the hospital.
He’s completely fasting overnight so his stomach can fully empty, receiving fluids and GI medications, and then they’ll repeat his imaging tomorrow. Hopefully, with an empty stomach, they’ll be able to get a much clearer picture of what’s happening.
Right now, we just don’t have a definite answer. It could be related to the corn cob. It could be a tick-borne illness. It could be a combination of things. Or it could be something else entirely. For now, we’re waiting on more testing and tomorrow’s scans and hoping they give us some answers.
And as if coming home without him wasn’t already hard enough, Pumpkin absolutely broke my heart.
She and Pharaoh have been together for years. That’s her best friend, her partner in crime, and her constant companion. When I walked out of that building without him, she went blinkers trying to jump out of the window, as if saying “Hey! Wait! You forgot my best friend!!” When we walked into the house, she immediately started running around the house like a madwoman looking for him. She checked his crate, searched the rooms, and even went all the way down into the basement to see if maybe he was hiding down there.
She just can’t understand why we all came home and Pharaoh didn’t.
Watching her search all the places she thought her best friend might be absolutely destroyed me. So I guess tonight we’re both going to be a little lost without our boy here.
I also have to give a huge shout-out to Rockaway Animal Hospital and everyone taking care of Pharaoh tonight. As terrifying as it is to leave the vet and come home without him, knowing that he’s in the hands of people who are taking his condition seriously, being incredibly thorough, and taking such good care of him makes leaving him there a little bit easier.
Thank you for taking care of my boy when I can’t be there to do it myself.
Anyone who knows me or has been coming to The Haunted Hound for a while knows that my animals are my entire world. Pharaoh has been by my side for almost 10 years, and this sweet, goofy, ridiculously loving boy means more to me than I could ever put into words.
So tonight, I’m asking our Haunted Hound family for a little extra love for him.
Whatever it is that you believe in — prayers, good vibes, happy thoughts, healing energy, crossed fingers, whatever you’ve got — please send some Pharaoh’s way tonight.
Hopefully tomorrow brings us some answers and, more importantly, gets my boy one step closer to coming home where he belongs.
His humans need him home, and his Pumpkin needs her best friend back.
Come on, Pharaoh. You got this, buhbuh!!.
