Our Chloe

She has no reason to trust humans. She survived her five years of life in conditions that most humans would be unable. She was used and abused and totally at the mercy of bad people. She has breast cancer. She was pulled from this horrible environment and taken to a shelter. They fixed her up--took care of things that had never been cared for. She'd never seen a vet, had a shot, had a healthy meal, but somehow she was willing to trust these strangers implicitly. She was taken for surgery yesterday to spay her (removing the estrogen which feeds the cancer) and had the worst two of her six tumors removed. The two that were removed were external and necrotic and caused her pain for god knows how long. She awoke from her day-long surgery in a cage, where more strange humans poked and prodded her, but they also took care of her needs. Throughout this entire process, she never showed one bit of aggression, still offering love and trust to those she encountered. Two more strangers came to pick her up today, took her for an hour-long ride in a car, and brought her into yet another environment. She was in tremendous pain and discomfort, despite her pain medication. She has 10 inches of stitches on her belly. She still managed to wag her tail whenever we walked into her sight and cry whenever we left her sight. She asked to go potty outside. She's a stronger and kinder being than I will ever be. She's more forgiving and loving than I will ever be. She should hate our species, but she doesn't. She makes me ashamed for so many reasons.

She may have a few weeks left, perhaps a few months, and if all the planets align correctly and fate smiles down on us, she could have a couple of years. Though the length of her future is uncertain, there are some guarantees. She will be loved beyond all measure. We will, every single day, try to give her the love and attention she should have had every day for her first five years. She will live with us and be part of our family for as long as she is able to have quality of and enjoyment of life. And when it's time to let her go, she will be able to die with dignity and her family by her side. We will have a gaping hole in our family. We will miss her, continue to love her, mourn her, and always remember her as the hero that she is.