I have sad news about our old Cocoa. For new people on the lists, we took Cocoa in on February 1, 2002 when her master was terminally ill; he knew that he was going to die before she did, and that she would certainly be put down if she went to a shelter, because she was fifteen at the time. MaPaw was contacted by his companion and they put out a plea over various lists. She was close to us, in Harrisburg, PA, and finally I couldn't stand it any longer and said "OhhhhhKaayyy. If you can't find anywhere else for her, she can live out the rest of her life with us." We had to do a lot of veterinary work for her when she first came to us, and she was 30 pounds overweight, but green beans and determination got her down to an ideal weight, help from Sibernetters and TOTTSHR members as well as MaPaw paid for initial medical care, and we came to love the stubborn spunky sweet old girl a lot.
This weekend we had to go out to a funeral in Missouri and we left Cocoa on Wednesday night to be boarded at our vets' office because we were worried about the way she'd been acting. She'd been very unsteady and confused, wandering into corners and not being able to get out, losing her back feet out from under her, and had started having some bleeding from some growths that had returned around her eye. The vet was very kind in finding a place for her even though their boarding was technically completely reserved, and while she was there, they were going to look at the growths on her eye and try to find the source of the bleeding. They did blood work on Thursday to see if they could do surgery on Friday to remove the growths.
We were awakened by a phone call on Friday morning (just before the funeral) from the head veterinarian at the clinic with the news that when they came in that morning, they had found Cocoa all curled up peacefully having departed sometime earlier that morning toward the Rainbow Bridge in search of her master, Mark. She had apparently gone to sleep and was not to awaken. The supper song has been stilled.
As usual, she was a typical saucy and independent Siberian bitch; she made up her own mind. There was to be no more surgery and no more nursing of the eyes and ears. She was going to escape all that and run free again to find Mark. She had an extra year and a half of pretty healthy and happy time before it came time to leave, time she would not have had without the help of a lot of caring people.
Go, Cocoa, and may your journey be swift and easy. We will not be insulted if you go straight across the bridge with Mark. It was our pleasure to know you. We will look for that silver harness in the moonlight.