Goodbye Win Win, my sweet and loving girl!

My eldest girl Win Win passed away last Saturday (7/7/2012) at the age of 12 years and 9 months old! Our first dog to go to dog heaven and will always be missed by us. She was diagnosed with brain cancer 3 days before she passed over. The cancer had spread to the lung with a tumor and nothing can be done already. The vet advised us to put her to sleep to stop her suffering. It was a very hard decision to make and is  definitely a dog's owner worst nightmare. However, Win Win decided to go on her own which in a way relieved us from the hard decision. She was such a sweet and loving girl even till the end. 

In loving memory of  our Win Win 

(12th October 1999 to 7th July 2012)

Pedigree name: Ch Singlion's Angel from Heaven

Rest in peace! Thank you for giving us so much joy and memorable moments in your 12 years and 9 months with us. Without you, a part of us is lost. Will always love and miss you! Take care and we will see you in Heaven. Love, your family!

Here's a recount of what happen...

All these happen were very sudden as we always felt that her condition was under control. We were rather surprised with the diagnosis. However with all the regular check done, lung and brain were never checked before. Win Win had been suffering from skin problems since 2010 and her condition got worse since last year but the vet diagnose her skin condition due to hormones in balance because of old age. She started on daily medication since then with twice monthly check up. Since then she started to lose weight, no matter how much she ate also won't put on weight though her appetite still very good. However her condition got worse 2 months ago, she acted very weird by always thirsty and was drinking too much water. Every other minute she was looking for water to drink, so we had to control her drinking by giving her some water every 2 hours. As too much water will burden her kidney. Even then the vet did x-ray for her kidney, stomach and heart again. All was fine. So she was just given the usual hormones medicine with an increase dose. 

Still looking good 3 years ago...

One month before she was gone, her eye was infected and we thought was the usual injury, probably hurt by   Sniper or she scratched herself. However the infection got worse and a tumor grew on the eye. Visited the vet, she was given the usual anti biotic, eye gel and drop. The vet said the eye took time to heal so we never think otherwise too. One week before she became very unwell, at times she was silvering with pain. We thought the pain was due to her eye and we just gave her the pain killer given by the vet. Now when we think back, these were all the symptoms. However, she was still eating all her meals very well as normal so none of us would have expected she was already suffering. 

Started to lose weight in end 2010...

The tremor started on the 3/7/12 (Tues) morning, she stopped eating and totally lost her appetite. Started coughing and short breath. We were so worried and had never seen her so restless and in pain. We knew something very wrong once she couldn't eat. We rushed her to the vet the next morning (4/7/12) and told the vet her conditions. She finally took a x-ray on her lung and the result was what I mentioned earlier. There was a tumor in her lung and that tumor was not the first one, it looked liked it was spread from somewhere which they concluded was from the brain. This also explained why she was always thirsty as the brain was not working well, giving her the wrong signal that she was thirsty. By then, the lung and chest were badly infected with excess fluid. The vet told us she can only try to drain of the fluid in her lung to let her feel better while we decide the next course of action. Her advice was to let her go to end her suffering as really nothing much can be done. 

Back from the clinic on 4th July... you can see that there was a tumor on her eye.

We decided to give it a try as we were not ready to make any decision yet so we left her at the clinic for the treatment and brought her back in the evening. She was given a medicine for the lung. The vet told us to monitor her to see if the medicine worked on her, even it worked also won't last her long. She gave us till Friday to make a decision. I took urgent leave on Thursday to accompany her. I knew in my heart it will be her last few days with us. We were hoping that at least she could eat, we can keep her with us longer but to our disappointment, she totally couldn't eat at all. I tried giving her cod fish, porridge, meat, milk and honey water. All she took a bite or sip and stopped. All she wanted was just water. She was getting weaker and weaker, without food for almost 3 days. We knew we had to make the hardest decision, seeing her losing out and suffering was painful. Finally on Friday, we decided to let her go so when the vet called us on Friday, we told her we will bring her to the clinic the next morning (Sat). However that last day, Win Win suddenly looked better though she still refuse to eat. She followed my aunt everywhere she moved in the house. She love my aunt very much too who took care of her so well the last 4 years. My aunt told me this was liked what the Chinese's believe a kind of reflection. 

Getting weaker on 5th July, totally lost appetite... 

On the last evening, when I came home from work. She even rushed out like the rest to welcome me home though she could no longer had the strength to bark which she was usually the loudest, that's why my aunt gave her a nickname as 'Noisy'. I knew she was giving me a last welcome...so sad. That evening, my brother and his friend came over to visit her and bought durian for her. Even my cousin and her parents came to visit her one last time. It was amazing right, she couldn't eat at all but when I tried to feed her some durian that night, she ate 5 mouthful. She really love durian and this became her last meal. That night around 11.30pm I put her in her bed to sleep and kiss her goodnight. Feeling really heartache that we had to sent her to the clinic the next morning. Tears just couldn't stop that night when I went to bed. She seem to feel our pain and that midnight she passed away in her sleep. She slept with my aunt, when my aunt woke up at 4 am to check on her, she was gone. I wasn't too shocked when my aunt woke me to tell me the sad new... I went to her, she was cold and lying in her bed. I wrapped her in a new towel and put her in the carrier. Whispering "Mummy love you and thank you for all the love you give us! Win Win... Rest in peace!" Waiting for morning to come to send her to Mount Pleasant for cremation. 

Last picture I took of her on 6th July night... 

Last picture with her son, Waren...

Win Win was cremated on Sunday, 8th July and we brought her ashes home on Monday, 9th July ... !  

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Win Win at 2.5 months old and Wally at 7 months old... back then Wally was in long coat too...

Win Win was our 2nd dog. We brought her home as a show dog when she was 2.5 months old in Dec 1999. We given her Win Win as pet name because we hope she could win and win in dog shows...lol! She had achieved a lot during her 12 years and 9 months with us. She won numerous award during her show career and also the Champion title on May 2002. Since then, we retired her from showing. We bred her twice with our imported dog, Cooper who was also a show dog back then and once with her breeder's dog. She given us 3 litters of beautiful puppies where a few of them were of show quality, kept one from the 1st litter which was Want Want girl and one from the last litter which was Waren boy. Both are show quality shih tzus. However we stopped showing Cooper, Want and Waren in 2006 due to work commitment as showing dogs in long coat need lots of care and time. In 2006, we neutered all our dogs. 

Win Win's show career from Year 2000 to May 2002...

Win Win was always a very independent and mature girl and she was not like the rest very gluey to me. She liked to be on her own and at times she will play the toys and mingle with the rest. Among all my darlings, she was closest to Waren boy. On her last day, Waren kept going to her side and sat beside her. He sensed something was wrong too. Last week we been asking the rest... where's Win Win and they would turn their head and looked around for her. I believe they miss her too. We will definitely reunite with her again in future in heaven. Win Win hope you find joy and peace in the rainbow bridge while waiting to reunite with us. Will always miss your kisses, barking and sweetness... We will always miss you! 

Beautiful Win Win! Rest in peace!

*** I like to specially thank both my brothers and my uncle, for always driving us to and from the clinic. Especially my elder brother, Ivan who also helped me financially at times on the vet bills, helped us get her medicine from overseas which was cheaper and even paid for Win's cremation.  It's a very costly affair when a pet was ill. We spent a lot on vet bills for the past one year without your help will be even more. Thank you so much for not only doting on me as a sister but also on all my darlings...!