REMEMBERING COCO (1994-2014) - FELINE FRIDAY COMES ON A SUNDAY THIS WEEK

Coco is the kitty who did the impossible: she entered my household six months after Pyewacket crossed the rainbow bridge, and she more than filled that “ecological niche.”

Coco in my office window at the old house.

We met Coco when we went to the local Petco to get some cat supplies. A group of rescuers were there, offering cats to good homes. As I went off to get what we came for, Jurate wandered around and found the rescue kitties. She immediately came over to me.

Coco on a storage box in the office

“You have to see this cat.” She dragged me over to the front of the store, where there was a large black cat curled up in a cage. “Isn’t she beautiful?” At that moment, the cat stretched out, revealing herself in all her glory. Indeed, a beautiful, shiny black cat. The tag on the cage said her name was “Coco” and that she was approximately 10 years old. She had outlived her human and been placed in a kill shelter, where she was rescued four days before she would have been euthanized.

Coco on Jurate’s Afghan

That’s an important point. If an older kitty goes into a shelter, the chances are 80% they won’t come out alive. Everybody wants a young kitten. An older cat is a collection of unkown problems - behavior, medical conditions, etc. Plus, putting a nice kitty from their home into the bedlam of a shelter is a traumatic event for the animal. Rather than sit at the front of their cage where they can be seen and interacted with, they will curl up and try to hide in the back of the cage. Often, they’ll be overlooked. That was what had happened to Coco, had Susan her rescuer not spotted her.

Coco in a sunny spot - her favorite place

Yes, Coco was a nice kitty, but I wasn’t ready for “Pyewacket II.” She looked too much like my favorite girl.

Jurate was persistent. We went back every weekend for the next six weeks. Coco was still being shown in her cage. We got to know Susan and learned Coco’s story.

Coco on the couch

Then one day we got a phone call from Susan. Something had happened in her life (she didn’t provide details) and she had to get rid of the kitties she had rescued. Could we please take Coco?

Coco on the bed

I still didn’t think I was ready, but the thought of this very nice cat going back to a shelter was a convincing argument. We went and got her and brought her home.

Coming in the house was a big deal. There were five other cats in residence. Would they accept her?

Coco on the bed the day after she arrived

Coco turned out to be a diplomat. She didn’t try and take any spots previously occupied. When she came to the bedroom the first night and jumped up to find two others there already, she crawled under the covers and curled up with me. She couldn’t have made a smarter move. By morning, she was “my kitty.”

Coco on the bed

Coco was with us until 2014. She slept curled up under the covers with me and in the morning, she had gone to the Rainbow Bridge.

I’m sure she’s patiently sitting on the other end of the bridge, keeping watch for me.

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