Cocoa & Time

In January, Ruby was watching Judge Jocelyn humiliate two gentlemen whose dogs had caused each other physical harm. One dog in question was a Chow-Chow. Ruby remembered that when she was a child she had wanted a Chow-Chow but her mother protested that Chows were dangerous and she had instead been given a toy poodle named Sassy. Now that Ruby was elderly, it didn't seem fair to risk dying on a new dog. After the death of Elizabeth her first senior rescue, Ruby had solemnly declared that she would never have another dog so that should be the end of it. Nevertheless, there seemed to be no harm in just looking on the Internet for a senior dog that might need a home for just a little while. Ruby thought that she probably had at least "a little while" left on the Earth. Thus began the innocent Chow-Chow search.

Cocoa was one of many that popped up; however, Cocoa's picture stored in Ruby's brain was the one that woke up Ruby the next morning. She began by announcing to her husband Arthur that they would have to find money for a fence.  After making pickup plans with the woman offering the dog, Ruby and a friend set off on the 280 mile round trip to pick up Cocoa. Having lived for two years in a ten by ten kennel on a bed of straw, the dog stank so badly, both feared that on the long drive home they would not be able to breathe, but lowering the back windows a little solved the problem –mostly.

That evening, the vet pronounced Cocoa fit as a fiddle. Unfortunately, because of the smell, she had to live in the garage until a grooming appointment two days later. When Cocoa came home from her first trip to the groomer, she slept about twenty four hours lying on a quilt in the bedroom. Every grooming appointment was a triumph in the restoration of her beautiful coat; the groomer pronounced her “a delight.” Matthew the cat spent most of his waking hours licking Cocoa which she either suffered or enjoyed. Ruby and Arthur certainly enjoyed her from January until April. Ruby was impressed by how not dangerous Cocoa was.

On April 14, between breakfast and dinner, Cocoa could not stand up which is how she came to be under the care of the local animal emergency hospital. Ruby and Arthur were both astonished when the veterinarian explained that Cocoa was suffering from one or another of two types of cancer that had created a fluid buildup around her heart and that one of three treatment options was compassionate euthanasia. The other two treatment options would provide only temporary relief.  The news broke their hearts. Before Cocoa was helped to peacefully pass away, Ruby and Arthur thanked her for the opportunity to spend her last days with her. They draped themselves over her body and pressed their faces into her fur as the technician administered the drug that would release Cocoa from suffering and allow her to drift off into that last and long sleep.