Winnie came into our lives shy and timid. We adored her even when she didn't trust us that first year. As she began to trust us, she became even more precious to us. She blessed us with seeing her happy and playful side that has brought so much joy, and pain during her passing. December 8th, 2014, we lost our little girl. We lost her so suddenly it didn't seem real at first. She was lively and energetic when we got home from work. It wasn't until later in the evening that I heard her yelp in our bedroom while she was sleeping on our bed. When I went to check on her, she arched her back and looked very uncomfortable on our bed. She pushed her head into my chest and didn't know how to help her. My husband knew she needed to go to the emergency vet when she continued to walk around very stiff with her back arched. When we arrived at the vet she started walking in a circle dragging her paws on one side of her body. I picked her up and handed her to a man at the vet who took her back. I felt relieved that she was in good hands, and they would be able to help her. When they asked us to go to a back room I expected to see her. They gave us a clipboard to sign giving them permission to do CPR and take other steps in saving her life. I felt numb. Jon signed the paper. I asked if I could go back and they said no. We waited. When they came out and said they would be doing CPR I begged to go back, but they said I needed to stay there. I fell on my knees and cried. They finally told us we could go back where we saw them continuing CPR. I started rooting for her to pull through, but the doctor explained that she was gone and asked if we could stop. I begged him to continue and they did for a while longer. Then he touched her eye to show me her brain was dead. It was horrible. She was gone. They brought her out to us in a room and we held her. Her foster mother, Giovanna came to say goodbye and comfort us. We stayed for several hours. They couldn't explain what had happened to our baby, and it was very hard to leave. They suggested freezing her body so we could take it to Colorado State University to have a necropsy done. We just wanted to know what happened, so we let them take her, and went back to get her the next morning. We drover her a painful 3 hours to the veterinarian college at CSU and gave them her little cardboard coffin. That drive was so painful, and we grieved silently together. Later that night we got an email explaining that they found an enlarged heart during the necropsy. Everything else seemed fine. They couldn't say exactly what the cause of death was, but suggested that she may have had a seizure, and the enlarged heart caused fatal complications. We miss her so much. She will forever be in our hearts.
