Wednesday, July 11, 2007

In Loving Memory...

Yesterday we lost a member of our family. Coco, one of our two 8 year old cats died during a dental cleaning and tooth extraction at the vet yesterday. Our vet cried on the phone as she told me that she had been doing so well, she was fine during the procedure, the tech said she was almost ready to wake her up, she had turned her over and then she went into cardiac arrest. They tried for 15 minutes to save her, tried CPR, they did all they could but she was gone. They were just as torn up about it as we were, the doctor was crying on the phone and later when we went in, the technician who did the cleaning was crying too. They don't know why it happened unless maybe there was some heart condition/heart disease we didn't know about or just the stress did it.

When we went to pick her up, they gave us a little heart shaped clay plaque that they had put her paw print in, with her name and the date etched on it. That brought us to tears all over again. There will be a memorial in the newspaper from the vet too with her name and ours too, which is nice. They also offered to let us borrow any books for us or children's books for Emma about losing a pet that they have in their office. I thought that was nice and it might be a nice idea with Emma's age. So far, she hasn't really asked questions yet, I suspect in the next couple of days she might when she realizes Coco is not around.

She will be missed, we had a few little nicknames for her...Mrs. Meow or just Mrs., Cococat, and most of all whiner (she was the vocal one that whined for food all the time and Emma's most used phrase in terms of Coco was "shut up coco"...as much as we tried to teach her not to say shut up, that one stuck! And actually, Cosmo, the cat we still have is really Emma's buddy. Coco wasn't Emma's biggest fan, or even her smallest. She wanted Em to keep her distance and would hiss and meow and growl at her, never bit or hit her but would run off when Emma was near. So, now she is at peace and can catnap in kitty heaven without a 2 year old chasing after her. You can see in the photos below how she kept her distance from Emma, but she was still a big part of our family and we'll miss her.

So, today's post is in loving memory of our Coco Cat!

9 comments:

Ginamonster said...

oh, I'm so sorry. What a wonderful vet!

Mary said...

Oh Michelle, I'm so sorry. I know how bad it hurts to lose something you love, even furkids. My heart goes out to you and your family, consider yourself (((hugged))).

Email me if you need to, ok?

Anonymous said...

I'm sorry to hear about Coco! You have such a wonderful vet, too.

The Cat Realm said...

We are so very sorry, that is aweful and sad and just outright bad to lose a family member. We never met Coco but she looks like she would have been a very good friend! We will keep her in our thoughts and send you many many loving purrs in this hard time!
Huggs Purrrs
Karl and Anastasia

Unknown said...

OMG! I'm so sorry! Losing a pet is always hard--they become members of the family, don't they? Sigh. Hope you and your family are okay.

Melissa said...

Ohhh, poor Miss Coco Chanel! She was such a diva, but I liked her.:(

It sucks so hard to lose a member of the family. I think the furry ones are almost worse because they never say anything stupid to you that hurts your feelings. You know where I am if you need to talk. ((Michelle and fam))

Anonymous said...

You poor dear. That's terrible. I can't believe that something like that could happen. It's so sad. I know this is a tough time for all of you. My thoughts and prayers go out to you and your family.
(((Hugs)))

Slackermommy said...

Here from Mert's place. I'm so sorry. It is so awful when a beloved pet dies. I just found out yesterday that my dog has cancer. I hate that these sweet animals don't live longer. All my best to you and your family.

Anonymous said...

Oh Michelle!! I am so sorry about Coco!!

You know, we lost our dog last week. Losing a pet is so hard.
=( My husband is a vet and he has such a hard time when pets die. Especially when it happens like Coco...totally unexpected.

(((HUGS))) My DS1 still asks about our dog, but I still don't think he quite gets it. Hopefully Emma, will be ok with her buddy being gone. =(