Mona
Date of Passing: 01/27/2026
Message to Mona: I will miss you always, love you forever, and am thankful I found you.
Tell us about Mona: On January 27, 2026, Mona (Desdemona Muffy) passed away in her home with her mama and sister by her side. Mona, a half beagle and half English bulldog, two very stubborn breeds combined into one beabull, was born on January 19, 2016, in Ohio, but she had the good fortune of being chosen by her mama Audra to come and grow up in Western Pennsylvania. Joining her feline brothers in Turtle Creek, Pennsylvania, a little borough outside of Pittsburgh, she quickly decided that she was not interested in sleeping in her own crate but rather in bed with her mama, and she would do so for the next ten years. Soon after coming to PA, she was joined by her sister Margot from Texas (who also decided she would rather not sleep in her own crate).
As a puppy, she attended classes for socialization and training. While her size placed her in the small dog classes, her strength and energy meant she was moved to be with the big puppies where she enjoyed wrestling with dogs much bigger than her. She was a graduate of the AKC S.T.A.R. Puppy Program and was the star pupil in her classes at the Monroeville Petco (she was also the only pupil).
In the years that she lived in PA, she hiked many, many miles in the forests and parks from the south to the north of the western part of the state. Some of her favorites were Duff Park, Boyce Park, Keystone State Park, Dead Man’s Hollow, Cedar Creek Park, Forbes State Forest, Laurel Hill State Park, Pymatuning State Park, Linn Run State Park, and Presque Isle State Park. She swam in and walked in and drank from many creeks, rivers, streams, lakes, and puddles. She got very muddy and relished in rolling in the grass and dirt. And it wasn’t just PA that she explored; she got to hike in Allegany State Park in Salamanca, NY and even visited Alexandria, VA and Washington, D.C. including exploring Rock Creek Park.
Mona was a food lover, you might even say she was a gourmand. She not only ate many kinds of dog treats, but she also enjoyed almost anything her mama was eating and especially loved homemade pizza crust and leftover yolk from dippy eggs. While some folks may have said Mona was a bit too “well-fed,” she really loved her vegetables including broccoli, all winter squash (but especially spaghetti and delicata), but most of all, she loved frozen peas which her vet said she could eat to her heart’s content (and she did).
While still in the Pittsburgh area, it wasn’t just hiking and wreaking havoc in the yard with her digging that she enjoyed. Along with her sister, she hung out in many local breweries (this was before her mama became sober), and her favorites were Helltown in Mt. Pleasant and Four Seasons in Latrobe (well, maybe these were her mama’s favorites actually).
After moving with her sister and mama to Chicago right before the pandemic, she had a couple more years before her autoimmune disease surfaced. While living in the Ravenswood neighborhood, she was so happy to live by Winnemac Park because there were many cicadas (dead and alive) to eat each summer. She was also able to continue her hobby of chewing sticks and tree branches.
Right before moving to her new home on the west side of Chicago in August of 2022, Mona’s eyes started getting red and swollen, and it seemed like she had lost her vision. After many visits to the ophthalmologist and so many eye drops, she was diagnosed with the rare autoimmune disease of Uveodermatologic Syndrome (UDS). Eventually she lost both eyes, but she was a smart girl and found the important things in the house (the food, water, bed, and couch). While her mama was sad that her hiking days were over, Mona was just fine leaning into being a bulldog and enjoyed resting her body for most hours of the day.
If you knew Mona, you knew that she never met a squirrel that she didn’t want to murder but sadly, she was never able to catch one. After she lost her sight, she had many vivid dreams chasing what, one has to assume, were squirrels, and hopefully she caught a few. As she dreamed, she softly howled like a beagle.
Mona’s only regret was never getting a chance visit PA again to see her yia yia one more time who she loved very much and not just because she always gave her way too many treats or foods she probably shouldn’t be eating like spaghetti with sauce. She would have loved to visit her aunt Heather, cousins Max and Lukas, and her canine cousin Onyx again, too.
She is now reunited in the afterlife with her cat brothers Shinji and Sano who are hopefully happy to see her. She is survived by her sister Margot who loved her very much, probably more than Mona loved her, and her mama who loved her with all her heart and will miss her every day forever.
Run free and get those squirrels Mona.