Bree

Bree - July 2011 to November 9, 2013

I called them my Tilt-a-palooza. I was on my way to pick up Sam a boy I suspected had PT, and Vic texted me about 2 poor older girls, who were likely to be pts at her shelter in another city (they were dropped off by their former owner for euth), as they were older, compromised and the shelter was already overflowing with animals and especially rats. One was a colour that rarely gets adopted out and she had a tumour, they both had severe tilts from inner ear infection. I told Vic I would take them and yet again, she came to my rescue...arranged a rideshare and brought the little ladies to me in Toronto.

Formerly Evelyn and Cheesecake I renamed them quickly. Clare, a poor himi, was a manic, head-waving girl with a mammary tumour in her arm pit. Bree, a black hoodie, was more stable but was a lot more tilted. In the early days she kept low to the ground. With antibiotics her tilt improved and so did her stability. Clare was the clown, Bree hung back and just observed for a long time...she wasn't as outgoing as her sister. 

They were like bookends, each tilting in the opposite direction, and very very curious about everything LOL






Smart girl using the sides of the double decker for balance while grooming her "lady bits"








They joined a big happy group of girls with elderly neutered Milton as well. They fit in beautifully. Bree loved her sister and didn't mind being a pillow to Clare.





Poor Bree developed a tumour on her neck, and mammary tumours, so they were removed. She developed a seroma (body fluid build up after surgery) but in time it resolved :D



They lived very happily until poor Bree started showing symptoms of PT in September...she never responded to treatment. 

She was a very tough little girl, and she had to be...having PT and being a tilty makes it doubly difficult. The wobblies they get usually means a tilty falls over...but she would pop up quickly, then off she would go again, til she overbalanced again. I thought it might get her down and she would regress from there...but No, she stayed at this level until the end...able to feed herself on lab block mush, Ensure, etc on her own, HATING the baths she had to get when she got crusty around her face and neck, but loving the cuddles on me afterwards.

Finally yesterday I noticed she wasn't eating much, so decided to top her up with Emeraid Diet, which she loves but she's horrible at syringe feeding...I end up just as messy as her! She was bright and grabbing the syringe and sucking it down happily. Then 3 hours later I noticed she was lying on her side, and her eyes were wide and staring...she wasn't really there anymore so I knew the final countdown had begun. I held her on my chest, stroking her, talking to her, as her breathing changed, then she went into agonal breathing, and finally passed on in my hands, as I sang to her, stroked her and told her I loved her.