Lil' Bertha
October 13 2003-January 13 2009
It's breaking my heart to write this ... but we've lost our Lil' Bertha. She died of right-sided heart failure caused by pulmonary hypertension on January 13 2009 @ 2:00 PM.
Bertha came to us as a rescue pug with her companion, Molly in November 2006, following the death of my mother in October. Both Molly and Bertha became our "pride and joy" immediately after arriving in their new home.
In November 2007, just a year later, I had to be listed for transplant and didn't really know what to do with my babies. We wanted to take them with us, but didn't want to put them through traveling and living in Toronto ... after all, it's no Newfoundland! Luckily, their previous owner and personal friend volunteered to care for our "babies" while we were away. It was the thought that these two precious girls were waiting at home for me that motivated me to recover and get back to Newfoundland as soon as possible ...
We picked up our "babies" when we returned to Newfoundland in May 2008 and spent a wonderful summer and fall with them. Bertha in particular, just loved dressing up for Halloween and loved opening gifts at Christmas.
Just last week, the two girls decided that while we were away, they would get into a bag of garbage we had ready for the trash. For the next day or two, Bertha wasn't herself ... but she had done this before and wasn't showing signs of any strange symptoms. She was eating, playing, sleeping, etc. the same ol' Bertie we were used to.
On Saturday, January 10 2009 things turned for the worse. Bertha wouldn't eat. I tried feeding her all her favorites (chicken breast, carrots, rice) ... but she wouldn't eat anything. At this point she wasn't her same ol' active self either. We made a trip to the vet. He thought the same that we did ... that this was just an upset belly. He gave her a pain killer and some antibiotics and told us that she should be feeling better within a few hours. This was 11:00 AM. By 2:30 PM things turned bad ... Bertha started breathing differently, collapsed, and upon us reviving her, couldn't stand. We had to carry her to the car where we immediately took her back to the vet. Upon arrival, he wanted to keep her overnight for observation and to do some additional testing to see if she had a blockage (from the garbage). On Monday, January 12 2009 he preformed the ultrasound and by fluke, noticed that her heart was enlarged. As he was busy with surgery's on Monday, he was going to repeat the ultrasound and forward it to specialists outside of the province. He warned us that right-sided heart failure is more serious than left-sided, and that there may be a chance that there would be no treatment for her. He was optimistic though that he would try some drug plan and/or surgery.
We visited Bertie Monday evening. As the vet brought her in, I knew my little baby was so sick. She managed to wag her little curly tail as us, but as I took her in my arms, she just collapsed with weakness. She could barely hold her little head up. She was struggling to breath, and I knew that I did not want her to suffer. Even if surgery was an option, I knew she could not survive it ... she was just too sick. I wanted to know the results of the ultrasound that would be preformed on Tuesday, but Bertie couldn't live like this ... not since she was such an active puggie. Just looking at her in my arms broke my heart ... but still I hoped that there was something that could be done.
The ultrasound was preformed on Tuesday, January 13 2009 and results forwarded to the specialist. As we were awaiting a response, the office called to tell my husband that Bertha had collapsed ... Darren immediately called me, and as he was doing that, they called again with the bad news ... that they had attempted to re-start Bertha's heart, but that were not successful ... Bertha had passed away @ 2:00 PM, January 13 2009.
We visited our baby to say good-bye. We're told that she didn't suffer and that it was very sudden. From the look on her face and her posture, this was indeed the case. From what I can tell, and in my heart, I know she died peacefully. Thankfully we were able to visit one last time with her the night before and give her some last cuddles and "loves". Bertha was 5 years old. We still don't know what caused this heart failure. She didn't show any symptoms of anything wrong (until last Saturday). We are awaiting the results of the ultrasound ... just for my piece of mind if anything.
I've owned and loved pugs since 1992 ... and have gone through the loss of my first 2 pugs. But this was something different ... Bertha just touched a piece of my heart that no other puggie has. In addition to that ... this was so sudden!
We miss you baby Bertie, but know that you're not suffering now. You'll always hold a special place in our hearts ... run and play freely my sweetie.
Lots of love ... mommy xoxo
