Our Pets
In loving memory of Cocoa, Louie & Nutmeg

Pets may come and go, but they will always leave a mark in your heart, and a fond memory in your mind. Over the years of our relationship, we have and have had an odd assortment of pets. Anyone who knows me well, knows I'm a sucker for animals - even "ugly" ones as Mark puts it. There's been Louie, who most can probably remember from when he (she) was just a foot long, all the way to her death at 4.5 foot long. And I can't recount the times I ran Cocoa to the vet, told her to stop eating grass, or snuggled up with her in the bed (to Mark's disdain). I'm just an animal lover, and Mark is coming along too. :)

And though they don't have bios or pictures, we do have a freshwater fish tank with 2 gouramis, 2 swordtails, a pleco and a cory cat. We also have a saltwater tank with a damsel and a clownfish.

Loki
aka PITA-boy

Yes, our bleeding hearts saved another pound pooch! Loki was a one year veteran of Northampton SPCA in Easton. He's a pit bull / black lab mix, and a total sweetheart. He just turned two last month, and is definitely going through the "terrible twos." I didn't think it applied to dogs, till I met him! Loki is mostly black, with white on his chest, and white stripes on his weiner. *laughs* He has awesome orange tiger stripes and some white on his muzzle. He has intense brown eyes that will either stare right through you, or sparkle with playfulness.

After we lost Cocoa to the MCT, I was lonely. We just

bought our first house, in a neighborhood I don't know, and I would just feel better with a keen set of ears and a loud bark. So, I began my search on Petfinder.com, and found two pitty-bulls at the SPCA who grabbed my attention. When I went to meet them, though, one snarled at me, and the other barked at me for a few minutes, then totally ignored me. So, I walked the row, and saw this adorable black dog sitting there, looking at a man who was standing next to his pen. The man had a biscuit in his pocket and a camera in his hand. My guess is that he was the Petfinder.com photographer.

I told the woman at the SPCA, Joan, that I wanted to walk Loki. Mind you, they were closing in about 10 minutes. When she heard I wanted to walk "Blackie," though, her ears perked up. She said "You want to walk BLACKIE?!?" Of course, that put a little concern in my mind, but yeah, I wanted to walk him. :) It was love from then on.

The next weekend, I brought Mark back to the SPCA to meet Loki. We adopted him that day, and though the first few days at home were a bit rocky, it all worked out perfectly in the end.

Athena
aka Theeny-Beany, Mini Beast, "No!"

Now we have trouble times two. We adopted Athena from my friend Terri. Terri's collie Mollie got knocked up by Copper, the neighborhood black lab, who gets loose quite often. Eight puppies were born, seven lived, and the runt came home with us at 6 weeks old. She puts Loki in his place, sleeps a lot, and pees even more. I find myself laughing quite a bit more, and it's thanks to her. It is definitely comical to watch a puppy as they learn the limitations of their bodies and the objects around them. The biggest thing I can say, is thank goodness we need a new carpet anyway! I've only ever had to housebreak pound pooches, so having a puppy is truly a challege. But we love her anyway.

Cocoa
aka Cocoa Bean, Beaner, Lickitung, Snorlax, Snowplow, Cow, Horse, Druggy Dog, and far too many more

Mark and I adopted Cocoa, the pit bull, in 2002. She was our first pet together. We adopted Cocoa from the Randolph Animal Pound, where she had been living for close to a year. The day we adopted her, I was on a major dog hunt. I had FINALLY convinced Mark that we needed a pooch in our lives, and I wanted to find him or her THAT DAY. We went to the PAL (Pet Adoption League) adoption day, to meet one dog I found on Petfinder.com. That dog didn't work out. We continued our search at Noah's Ark, but alas, came up empty. They gave us a list of local shelters/pounds, and we went from there.

It was already getting late in the day on a Saturday. We stopped for lunch in Ledgewood, and Mark tried to convince me that we should just wait. The one pound was close, though, and I just wanted to look. We weren't supposed to be bringing a dog home that day - we were simply going to meet a dog, and if we liked him or her, we would go home and ponder, then go back for a second meeting. Everything changed in Randolph.

We pulled up the the pound, parked, and got out. We went inside, where we met Erika, who told us they only had a few dogs. One could be heard from his own room behind her - a great dane mix that didn't sound all too friendly. I don't even remember there being other dogs. We went outside, and walked along the run till we saw her.

There stood this adorable pooch looking at us, desperately wanting to come out for a walk. My first statement was "she's too big." We were looking for something small, since we were renting a tiny house. But Mark said "why don't we just walk her?" and so we did. She wrapped us around her little paw so fast! She sat patiently with us as we talked about her with Erika. We spent about an hour with Cocoa in the doggy playground. She was just the perfect dog. Erika told us of Cocoa's chronic ear infections, but since the only medical necessity was to clean her ears every so often, we gladly took her home,

Cocoa was our world - our baby. We let her share our bed (sometimes begrudgingly), we moved over when she wanted to be on the couch, and we chided her when she ran away to Grandma's (thankfully across the yard).

I could go on forever about her... I still cry somtimes. She left such a mark on our hearts - she was a human in a dog body. She was smarter than any dog, or some humans, that I have known.

Cocoa succombed to a Mast Cell Tumor in January of '04. We were closing on our house that month, and things were hectic. The loss of our beloved pooch caused us to step back, to realize that everything moves too fast.

The part that makes it all okay, though, is that we gave her our all. And when it came down to the final minutes, she painfully walked up to Mark and I, gave us each a kiss, then laid down on the blanket and put her paw out. I could tell she was thinking "alright, if this is what's gonna happen, I'm still going to be in charge!" With a few quick snores, she was gone.

Cocoa's lesson to the world - though loss creates great pain and sorrow, you must always remember the life inbetween. Smile at the memories through the tears, and remember, every rose has it's thorns - but always be sure to stop and smell it.

We love you Beaner... hope you're giving those squirrels a run for their money!

Louie
aka Fat Boy Slim

Well, in the end, it turns out Louie was a girl. Thankfully the name was transgender. *laughs* I purchased Louie the summer of '98 at the local flea market. A nearby pet store had set up for the day (only that once... odd!) and I just fell in love with her. I spent the remainder of the day scurrying around to find her a tank to live in.

She was tiny then - measuring no more than one foot. She lived with me in all the places I ever went - at home, my first apartment, my second "apartment," then back home. I had adopted another iggy, Juliet (who turned out to be Romeo) long enough to find him another home. Louie was very patient with me then... She didn't like to share my attention. Louie was great with dogs, both Koty and Cocoa. They both loved to terrorize her, and she just wacked her tail at them and reminded them who was boss.

Mom grew affectionate towards Louie when I was extremely busy. She would hand feed Louie bananas and other fruit, and Louie would just love the attention. Even when Louie got Mom's finger by mistake, she admitted it was her own fault and didn't hold it against Louie.

Louie tolerated baths and being held. She loved getting out for a run around the house, and was very good when I would take her to the vet for her checkups. Dr. Cojocar always loved seeing her - he always complimented me on how beautiful and well cared for she was. Unfortunately her last trip to the vet was for an infection that had just gotten too far before it was noticable. She died in my arms at the vet's office, when I had taken her in for her second antibiotic shot.

I came home that day in tears. I had a hard time driving back... Many can't understand how I could become so attached to an aloof creature that wasn't "cute," but we all do it. Mark and Mom comforted me, and when it came down to it, Mark admitted that Louie was growing on him.

I learned a lot about iggys and educated everyone I met. I also learned never to buy one again... There are far too many that are up for adoption because noone realized how big they get or how much attention they need. They need a large cage, two or three salads a day, and a patient owner.

Every human and animal is on this earth for a purpose. Louie's was to educate those I met, and to educate me at the same time. I will always miss her.