Dear Kopi,
I felt like you deserved a blog post of your own because Instagram's word limit was too short.
I remember when Dad first told me about you on Valentines Day, 5 years ago, you were outside the house, under my car, since early in the morning. I was reluctant to feed you and take you into safety, because the last time I did that to our neighbour's dog, it bit my neck when I carried it, so I had that fear of it recurring.
Seeing you were still there in the afternoon crouched under the car, I got some bread to lure you out. After much hesitation, you crawled out to eat the bread and we took you in. You had leaves and twigs in your chocolatey brown and white fur, and your fur was so long that it covered your eyes. We also weren't sure what dog you are, because you were furry, but too big to be a shih tzu.
We kept you in the detachable fencing, but you were quick to master how to jump out of it. We informed the security guards, put you up on PetFinder and Facebook, but no one came to claim you. On your first day with us, we gave you a bath and dried you with our hairdryer. To our amusement, you just lied down on the floor comfortably and look like you really enjoyed the warmth from the hairdryer. (In fact we discovered later on, this happens every time after a bath and you loved towel time! But hated the bath.) After that, we took you for a walk around the neighbourhood to see if you knew your way back to your own home.... But apparently you don't. You also don't seem to understand any English, Mandarin, Cantonese, Hokkien or Bahasa.
Days passed and still, no one came to claim you. So we decided to keep you, even though we told ourselves we wouldn't get any more dogs after losing Tigger. We named you "Kopi" because we loved our coffee, and your beautiful chocolatey brown coat reminded us of coffee.
Brought you to the groomers to get a trim, and discovered that beneath that coat of fur, you were sort of one eye blind, your eye was injured from your long fur constantly poking your eyeball. In the 5 years with us, every few hours or so, we had to wipe off the eye wax from your eyes. You knew that after we cleaned your eyes, you would feel more comfortable, so you often looked forward to that even though the process of cleaning the eyes could feel uncomfortable. You let me pull out the flaky bits of eye wax that have dried up, even though it tugged at your fur. And you won’t eat your food unless Dad have cleaned your eyes.
We kept you outside the house because Mom didn't want any dogs in the house, but you were quick to even try to make a move. On one of those days during your first week with us, everyone in the family was out. I still remember coming home, it was raining really really heavily to the extent where when I opened the gate, Goldie ran out. My cousin got out in the rain to chase her in, but she wanted to jump into my car. You, however, were no where to be found outside the house. That was odd.
So, I opened the door and got into the house. To my horror, there was pee every where. But you were still nowhere to be found. I found you upstairs, with more pee everywhere, and you shat on my sister's bed. You must have jumped in through the window and was looking for someone to be your companion during that rainy day. From this incident, we learned that each time we head out, we had to close all windows and the sliding door, if not you will jump in.
But we also learnt that, you were terrified of the rain, lightning and thunder. There were times we came home to soaking wet dog and had to blowdry you. You soon won your way into the house, little by little. During rainy days, we would let you in, but that slowly turned into an everyday routine. Of course, you had me who will let you in the house for cuddles, you were my late night OT companion during my audit days and the best part is you let me annoy you as I like.
From the beginning, I felt that Tigger sent you to us. You came to us on the same day of Tigger's birthday, and you were in many ways, very similar to him. You looked alot like him, except that you were twice his size. You loved sleeping in the curtain, loved being left alone when sleeping, snored in your sleep just like him, and were friendly towards strangers. How can it be such a coincidence that you were so alike?
We learnt that you were a fussy dog. You did not like dog food. You didn’t like porridge because it will stick to the fur on your face. Rice was a more preferable option, until dad started to feed you chicken or pork. Then you would pick out all the good stuff and leave the rice behind. Dad had to mix your rice really thoroughly before feeding you so you will finish everything. And you’d always look forward to meal times, patiently waiting for dad as he makes your food, and when he brings it outside, you will turn in circles again and again, because you were so happy. Oddly, you always believed Dad will feed Goldie the good stuff, so you would always growl at her and chase her away from her food! You were a feisty one, despite only coming to the house after Goldie and being less than half of Goldie’s size, you bullied her.
A year ago when mom and dad went on holiday, I initially thought that you were not eating because you merajuk that your favourite person was away from home. When it was visible that you were less active and losing weight rapidly, I brought you to the vet. It was my first experience of bringing you to the vet alone.. You were having fever. And I thought the vet was trying to rip me off by ordering a blood test to be done. It should be a normal fever, I told myself. Also told the vet how you came into our family, and the vet says that judging by the condition of your teeth and your dry eyes, you were probably very very old and not only 4-5 years old.
Gave it a few days of trying to feed you medicine, it was really hard for me to stick it down your throat and also coax you to eat. Resigned to bringing you back to the vet for a blood test after talking to mom and dad on the phone. Then you were positive for tick fever and had to stay at the vets on drips. I still remember visiting you and you were whining and barking, something like complaining. We couldn’t wait to bring you home, but I also chided you for the expensive vet bill that could buy me a new dog. We were told to feed you some dog food which is good for the liver, and for some reason you really loved that expensive bag of dog food. Also didn’t know why your fur turned really brown after that.
Soon, En En came into this world and you were allowed lesser into the house, only on rainy days. We often taught her that she shouldn’t touch you, and you, the same. You knew you had to avoid her when she comes nearby. And we let you in the house more often after that.
It broke my heart to learn that you got hit by a car on your usual morning routine of strolling outside the house. I really felt really angry at ourselves then. Why didn’t we leash our pets and walked our dogs? But I can’t turn back time. What I know is that we definitely gave you the best 5 years of your life with us.
I didn’t even get to say goodbye to you or give you a proper burial. I cried so badly. This is why I don’t want to get a new dog. Saying goodbye is so so hard.
For some reason, the night before you left, I walked outside to disturb you when you were asleep. I’m really glad I did so.
Hope you are doing well up there, Kopi.
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