Monkey passed away on Friday, February 16, 2007...and on Monday, February 19th, she sent us Sparky.

Sparky came in to be euthanized because she was 15 years old and had "lost control of her bowels." Her owners had tried to work with her, but were finally ready to give up. Having just lost Monkey to a similar condition, Dr. Larry couldn't put her down. So the owners decided to give her one last chance by surrendering her to Valley View.

Sparky instantly knew who she had to thank for her new lease on life, and is totally devoted to "her" Dr. Larry. (Fortunately, at least in this case, Dr. Michelle seems willing to share.) Each morning, she (Sparky - not Dr. Michelle) rushes to his office to sit on his chair and wait for him. Upon his arrival, she gets down just long enough for him to sit, then promptly jumps back up to his lap. If he gets busy and doesn't stop by his office between appointments, she'll track him down, meow pointedly, and run back to his office - stopping to look over her shoulder several times along the way to see if he's coming. On Thursdays and the rare occasions when he's sick, she's utterly lost without him.

While we haven't seen any signs of her suspected condition, she's doing fabulous, with a beautiful, silky, clean coat and sleek new figure. She's a typically talkative tortoise-shell/calico, whether she's greeting her favorite doctor or berating other staff members for trying to get some love.

She keeps Monkey ever-present in our hearts, with a nearly identical voice and utter disdain for Tater Tot. Our suspicions that Monkey sent her to us were recently confirmed: Monkey and Tater used to share counter-space at Valley View's front desk, albeit as far away from each other as possible. Monkey would wake up from a deep sleep, walk over to Tater's basket, smack him across the face, then return to her basket and go back to sleep. One day, when Tater was sleeping on the scale and Sparky was in her usual spot, she woke up, ran over and hissed loudly in his ear - scaring him awake - then ran back to the doctor's office and hopped back up onto the chair. Poor Tater - he has no idea what he does to deserve this animosity!

If you'd like to meet Sparky, just ask Eva or Nicole to bring her out for an introduction. She won't stay long, but she always has time for a quick chat.