Marvin arrived at PugHearts on August 2, 2009 from the Montgomery County Humane Society.  He was in pretty rough shape and it was thought that he was blind, he was also old.  That combination usually equates to “permanent foster” because no one wants an old Pug that is almost blind.

However, Marvin wasn’t blind.  He had seriously impaired vision but he could definitely see and see quite a lot.  He didn’t have any issues with navigation and never even ran into the sliding glass door.  His eyes were in pretty bad shape from the dry eye and we weren’t sure if he was going to be able to keep them or if they would just continue to deteriorate and eventually have to be removed.  But the medicine he uses on a daily basis seems to keep the infections at bay and he blossomed.  He has the best face and he is quite animated when he gets in his playful moods.  Everyone that met Marvin fell totally under his spell. 

Well, it’s now two years later (almost to the day) and Marvin is still a foster and the prospect that he will ever have his very own forever home with his own family to love him is almost nonexistent.  He is now somewhere around 11 years old, he is almost totally blind now and his hearing has also declined.  But he’s still one cool, old Dude! I can’t even begin to tell you how affectionate and loving he is. 

And to be perfectly honest it makes me so sad that such a wonderful, sweet, loving soul like Marvin will never have the life that he deserves.  I love him and I take care of him but I can’t give him, and all the fosters I have, the individual attention they need, none of the foster families can.  That’s why we need forever families for every Pug that PugHearts takes in.  We get cute, adorable Pugs in and everyone wants them and they’re gone almost as soon as their pictures hit the site but there are so many Senior Pugs that have so much love and affection to give someone, and no one wants them.  These guys won’t live as long as the young ones and they will have end of life issues, but they are such awesome individuals.

And Marvin isn’t the only one that is old that has been with us for years.  There are 15+ pugs on the website that have been in our care for more than two years.   Each and every one of those mature adults needs a home and the love of their very own family!  The benefits of an older pet are many, they are housetrained, they don’t chew your shoes, they don’t eat you out of house and home, they aren’t demanding, they love to just cuddle and be close to you, the list goes on and on.

Please take some time to search your heart and try to find a place for such a beautiful soul in your life.  I can guarantee that if you are willing to share your life with one of our Senior Pugs you will never regret your decision.  They give you so much more than you give them.

If you’re out at the Dog Show this weekend, stop by and meet Marvin and our other special Pugs and see what you’re missing.

I received a call from Sugar Land Pet Hospital and Bob is ready to come home. 

I didn't have Bob very long before he left us and I want to share with everyone what a great guy he was.  From the first time I set eyes on him I thought he was great.  He was a really big guy and his fur was in pretty bad shape but he was really cute.  I called him Bob the Bear because he looked like those bears you see on Animal Planet coming out out hibernation after a long winter's nap.  His hair was splochy and a mix of red and black.  But his eyes were bright, alert and intelligent.  And his tail never quit wagging!  He was the happiest old guy that I think I've ever had. 

He stayed at the vet for several weeks when he first came in because of his hernia.  I would visit him when I was there and I really wanted to be his foster (he was a black pug after all).  When we took him outside to potty he would just lumber around (I did say that he was a pretty big guy) and then when it was time to come back in he would follow us right back in.  His surgery was scheduled for a Monday and I took him home for the weekend so he could be in a home.  There was a very real chance that he may not make it through the surgery so Bob got whatever he wanted all weekend.  He didn't really play much but he was really aware of everything going on around him, he didn't miss a thing.  He loved to just lay on the big, green cushion in the corner and watch the world go by.  When I called him he would come over to the couch and I would pick him up to lay next to me.  He would roll over on his back and put his big, very big, belly up to be rubbed.

When it was time go go to bed I decided to see how he would react to being in a human bed.  When he saw that it was time to go to bed and we were going into the bedroom he jumped up (well maybe not jumped) and went right into the room and stood by the bed waiting for me to pick him up.  When he was in bed he just flopped down and was out for the night, he knew exactly what that bed was for.

Bob came through his surgery with flying colors and within a few days was home and acting just fine.  He started to lose a little weight and was walking more and waddling less.  He seemed to be really happy.  Then one day I noticed that he seemed to be having some trouble with his eyes.  He acted like he was sensitive to the light so I took him in and it was discovered that he had dry eye.  He had started coughing a little so he got medicine for his eyes and for his cough.  Over the weekend he seemed to be doing much better, his eyes were less sensitive and his cough was mild.  When I came home from work on Tuesday something had really gone wrong during the day, he was breathing very hard.  I called Cindy and made arrangements to take him into the doctor the next morning.  I still wasn't overly concerned because he still seemed to be happy (tail was wagging) and alert.  When I dropped him off at the vet he walked to the back with his tail wagging all the way.  That is the last time I saw Bob.

Bob was a wonderful old guy!  He was loving and a great companion.  He was never far from my side and loved to be petted.  He didn't act like he was as old as he was and had such bright, alert eyes!  I'll probably always wonder what if but that won't bring him back.  Fostering can be a really hard thing to do at times.  This is one of them.  But everyone who has lost a foster knows that this is part of the process.  The ones that are saved far outnumber the ones that are lost.  Bob wasn't with us for long but he was loved and cared for while he was and that makes it a little easier to bear.  He didn't die alone and forgotten, he was loved! I'll bring Bob home today.

IN LOVING MEMORY OF BOB

Hello!  My name is Mary Ludwig and I have been actively involved with Pughearts since its first meeting.  When Cindy ask me to start doing this I was very reluctant, I'm definitely not a writer and I'm not in the least imaginative.  However, Cindy said all I have to do is talk about my fosters, well duh, that is my favorite subject so I think I may be able to handle this assignment!  I've thought a lot about who to start with and decided that I will begin with the foster I've had the longest, Whitney.  Or as I call her Whitney My Love.

I'll hit rewind and go back a few years and begin the story.  This poor, tiny five year old pug, who was a backyard breeder, came into our care in deplorable condition.  Her feet didn't look anything like they should, they spread out like fingers because she had lived every day of her life in a wire cage.  She had both eyes when she came in but one had stitches in it that had never been removed and they had busted lose.the remains were in her top and bottom lids.  She also had this HUGE mass on her back left hip that looked very bad.  Well the first thing that was done was her eye, it was beyond saving so it was removed.  Then Dr. Hendrix began the process of evaluating her mass.  As it turns out it wasn't a tumor but a huge abscess. He went in and cleaned it and put in drains to let it all get out.  But something wasn't right about it so he sent a sample off for testing.  When the results came back we found that Whitney had mass cell cancer.   We took her to the Doggie Oncologist and he said that there wasn't much that could be done for her but to give her prednisone and to love her.  At this time she was still in the hospital and hadn't been put in a home yet.  I had been hanging out at the vet and getting pretty attached to her so I told Cindy I would like to foster her.  I think Cindy thought I shouldn't take her, she told me that her prognosis was not good and that she would probably only live a few months. I know she wanted to protect me from the sorrow of losing her, but I was already attached to her and I wanted to make sure that what life she had left was going to be the best that any dog could imagine.  So I took her home..

That was almost four years ago, October 2007.  Whitney is amazing.  I call her my little blonde headed cheerleader, she's in her own rosy, wonderful world.  She is not aware that there is a thing wrong with her, she runs around and plays just like everyone else.  Her favorite activity is to play tug o war with anyone that will play with her.  She still has that mothering instinct from her early years, she keeps Daisy's ears spotless.she loves Daisy. For the first two and a half years she coasted along just like any other foster.  She had been taking prednisone every day for her cancer and it seemed to be holding it at bay.  Then she started losing her hair and after testing it was discovered that the prednisone had caused thyroid problems.  So now she takes two medicines every day and is still just as happy as a bug in a rug.  In the last six months she has almost completely lost the sight in her remaining eye (due to taking the prednisone for such an extended time), I think she can still see a little between light and dark but that is about it.  She has lost a little of that bubbly personality along with the loss of her vision, but she is still a very happy puggie. She was never really big into being held and cuddled but lately she has started wanting to get on my lap and just be loved.  I just love to have her sit on my lap so I can look at her cute little face, she is such a pretty little girl.  And she's happy.

Whitney is a perfect example of why there is a PugHearts, she would have died a horrible death without this rescue.  She is in hospice care so she will never be adopted but that hasn't changed one thing about the kind of treatment that has been given to her.  She is just as important to PugHearts as the cutest, most adoptable pug that has ever come in.  No one knows how long Whitney will be with us, but she has already beat the odds that were given to her four years ago.  And the most important thing to Whitney is that she has become someone's Whitney My Love.

PRINCESS WHITNEY