To My Precious CoCo:
How I remember the day you were brought to me. It was the Sunday after Thanksgiving and little did I know what a wonderful Thanksgiving gift you would come to be.
Someone had left you and your puppies when they moved. Someone had found had found homes for your puppies but not for you and you were brought to me. As I looked at you, I saw a scared little brown dog with no hair on your tail and a very serious problem with your eye. I knew you were at least half or more Sheltie. You had one ear up and one ear down.
I took you to Dr. Maret for your shots and to have your eye looked at. He confirmed what I thought, you had to have your eye removed. You also needed to be spayed and your dew claws needed to be removed. Dr. Maret wanted to do everything at one time. I was so worried about you that I called the office several times just to see if you were all right. I didn't get to bring you home that night but I brought you home just as soon as I could the next day. You had sutures everywhere. I made a bed next to the couch for you with your food and water right there so you didn't have to get up for anything. I slept on the couch with my hand on you. If you needed to go out you would lick my hand. When he removed the sutures you were fine.
After I had given you a good flea bath, that skinny tail with no hair became a beautiful plum. After you and I had gone through all of that, you became very settled in. The only thing you had to worry about was Samantha the cat. She had been declawed so she couldn't hurt you. She would chase you and then you would chase her. Everyone that was around you loved you and thought what a special dog you were. You made more noise in your sleep than you made when you were awake. The first year we were together how you had gotten into the deepest part of my heart and there you will always stay. You were my baby.
In December of the following year Mommy met someone. When he came to the apartment how we both fell in love with him. Little did we know that you would become Daddy's Little Princess. He would take you to the grocery but only when you had your seat belt on. When he would take you out after it had snowed, you would come in with a mound of snow on that little nose of yours. You also loved to play in the snow. My Mom's heart condition had gotten worse so the four of us had to come to stay with Mom. You got to be with Shawney, Mom's Collie. You became best buddies. Where you were Shawney wasn't too far and vice versa. The only thing you had never gotten over was your fear of storms. you had medication to take at the first sound of thunder.
You found out that my Mom and your Daddy were easy targets for extra food. This caused you to put on an excessive amount of weight. Your Daddy called me at work and said you had gotten very sick. He took you to the Vet and you were in congestive heart failure. They told us if we didn't get the weight off we would have her for only 6 months at the most. You were put on a very strict diet but the damage to your heart was already done. When I took you to see Dr. Maret he said you weren't losing weight like he wanted you too. I got the blame for it but it was proven it wasn't me.
In January of 94 mom passed away and your Mom had fallen on the ice and really had reinjured my back. In February of 94, five weeks and one day after losing Mom we lost your Daddy. When I helped your Daddy the best that I could to get ready to go to the hospital, we just threw his bathrobe over the end of the bed. When he died Aunt Jean and Uncle John were with me. They were going to take me to their house but I said we had to come by here first to take care of you and Shawney. When we came in you went to the door looking for your Daddy. You came and jumped into my lap and I told you Daddy would not be coming home again and your soft brown fur held my tears. I swear I saw a tear in that one little eye of yours. When I finally got home you were still licking the tears from my face. You slept on Daddy's bathrobe that night.
Because of you, Shawney and Samantha I never came home to an empty house. After Mom and your Daddy passed away, you started to lose your weight until you got back to the weight you should have been. In November of 95 I was only gone one day for two hours and came home and you were holding your rear leg up. I called the Vet's office and said I was on the way. Dr. Maret was in the hospital but there was a new Vet there. He asked me if you had done this a day or two ago. I said, within the last two hours. Since I didn't know this Vet and Dr. Maret would not be back for a while I called and made an appointment with the specialist for the next Monday. You had torn your cruciate ligament and had surgery that same day. Again, I bring you home with sutures and a shaved leg. I took you there because they could monitor your heart.
In March of 96 you started to have a lot of trouble. Again I took you to another specialist for ultrasounds of your heart and kidneys. The report was not good. Down deep I new our time together was becoming very short. We were either at the vets or I was picking up meds.You had your good days and your bad days. Mom had to have surgery so I was home with you all the time. You would jump into my lap and I could feel your heart skip a beat.
You were doing good until December of 96. Your heart and kidneys had gotten worse. You had to spend two weekends at Dr. Maret's. I knew our time together was getting much shorter. The last weekend you were with me you had stopped eating. You did eat some ice cream and a little bit of jerky. I laid on the floor and held you so close. On Monday morning I called Dr. Maret's office and said I needed to bring you down. You had told me with that little brown eye that it was time but I also needed to hear from Dr. Maret that everything that could be done, I had had done. You pranced into the like you had so many times before. He confirmed what I knew and I couldn't see you suffer any longer. You and I had been through too much together. I was holding you telling you how much I loved you and again that soft fur was holding my tears. I asked you to give Mon and your Daddy a big kiss from Mommy. You went to the Bridge with my arms around you and still that fur was holding more tears. We had taken a sheet to wrap you in. All the way to the Pet Cemetery, where I had you cremated, I held your now lifeless body close to me.
You are in a safe place where you can see and not be sick anymore. I said good=bye to my precious CoCo on January 13, 1997. I know someday you will see me at the Bridge and cone running to me with those ears blowing in the wind and everything will be as it was before.
You will always have the deepest place in my heart and how I miss Daddy's Little Princess.
Cindy