oh cokie...

remember on tuesday, when i was blogging about CoCo? well, it didn't turn out like i hoped it would. we returned to the vet that evening at 7:30 to pick her up and transport her to the hospital for tests and and an ultrasound to determine if she had congestive heart failure or pneumonia.

after the short consultation w/ the doc, the vet tech brought CoCo in and handed her to lois. poor cokie, she was gasping some and had a slightly blue tongue. upon seeing that, the vet advised us to haul some ass to the vet hospital, which was about 5 miles away (no highway access though).

so we jumped in the car and sped off. sigh... it wasn't enough. we had only made it about six or seven blocks when CoCo's tongue had turned black and she peed on lois. in a panic, i asked lois what i should do (turn back or floor it). lois still felt a heartbeat, so with that glimmer of hope, i drove on...desperately weaving through the Hampden traffic.

of course, it was to no avail. lois was imploring CoCo to hang on and started singing songs to her that she had so often done in CoCo's thirteen years. god, it was downright heartbreaking. i don't know how i didn't crash the car on the way there; our nerves were so shot.

as the dogs before her, CoCo will be cremated. i'm not sure where the ashes will be spread though. unlike Suzy (lois' shepard/dobie mix), whose ashes were spread at Rocky Mtn. Nat'l Park, CoCo's favorite place was probably on the end of the couch...on the right side of lois.

it's going to be some time before we get over CoCo. Suzy lived thirteen years too, but we were prepared since her health had been compromised by diabetes and cataracts; we knew she had to be put down. we were not ready for CoCo's passing. up until sunday, she was just fine...same ol' demanding little bitty...her HIGHNESS.

as you may know, the household i was raised in had no pets, so i never understood the rapport between humans and their pets. sure, dog is man's best friend...it's so cliché...but so true. cokie, suzy, and annie (the silkie who's going through some major shock now), are(were) so loving, patient, non-judgmental, and loyal that few humans could compare. dogs are even okay with it if you don't reciprocate in kind...they'll always stand by you.

so, all you dog owners out there, give your canine babies/pals an extra hug for me today because they deserve it for the waiting game that they are always faced with when you're at work; we take their loyalty and love for granted far too much.

you know, even in the throes of death, Lois' dogs always waited for her one last time. with suzy, we were in mexico for almost three weeks, plenty of time to check out while we were gone. no, she held on until we got back. and cokie probably shouldn't have lived out tuesday, but she toughed it out and longed to be held by her mama, just one last time.