Having read any number of heart wrenching posts about beloved fuzzies
crossing over the Rainbow Bridge, I never thought that I would be writing
one as well.  My best little girl, my always sweet and affectionate
Cleopatra passed over the bridge this morning while I held her and cried...
 
Over a year ago, Cleo was found to have a huge adrenal tumor and multiple
mammary tumors.  Our wonderful ferret wise vet, Gretchen removed Cleo's
diseased adrenal and did multiple '"radical mastectomies." Because of
this... my sweet girl was given more than another full and joyful year of
life.  She recovered fully from her surgery and within a month was growing
a fresh new coat to replace the one she had lost.
 
During this past year, Cleo was active and healthy and became ever more
proficient in doing the Happy Weezul Dance... chirping with joy at the
prospect of being given a "cookie" (red licorice bits were her favorite).
It is now with an all too heavy heart that I realize that Cleo will never
again chirp and dance and crawl up into my lap while I am under a deadline,
trying to work on some web site.  Never again will I awaken to little sweet
weezul kisses given when she crawled up into my bed an hour before dawn and
decided that I had certainly slept enough and that now it was time to play.
 
Cleo was my oldest... I adopted her 5 years ago from a young couple who
could not keep her because of landlord problems and I had no idea how old
she was when I adopted her.  Gretchen (our vet) felt that she could have
been as old as 6 or 7 when Cleo had surgery early last summer.  If so, she
lived well into her "golden years" which nonetheless are all too short in
human terms.
 
There is no moral or story to this message... but rather just me, sharing
my grief and loss with people who have come to be sort of friends as I read
their words of joy, sharing and "fuzzie wisdom" and yes, sorrow and sadness
every morning.
 
Thank you for letting me share this sad day with people I know will
understand... at some point I imagine I will be looking to adopt a new
playmate for Nefertiti, Cleo's little 3 year old "sister" and constant
companion.
 
El Capitan Perro Loco & loyal crew Nefertiti
S/V Marsha Edmonds
[Posted in FML issue 3536]