CoCo was eight years old when her owners surrendered her to a local shelter because they were moving. CoCo was extremely stressed in the shelter environment and when she came into rescue, it took three or four days of constant reassurance and nurturing before she could finally relax in her foster home and stop panting, whining and pacing. Her ears were chronically infected and had been neglected for years. As a result, they are now permanently disfigured despite treatment.  When CoCo arrived in her foster home, she was urinating almost continuously. After examining Coco and performing an ultrasound, the vet determined that CoCo's uterus was filled with pus and was putting pressure on her bladder. CoCo had never been spayed and this had led to a life-threatening condition called pyometra. So CoCo was spayed immediately and several mammary tumors were removed at the same time, along with a few rotten teeth. Thankfully, the tumors were benign and once CoCo had recovered from her extensive surgery, she felt much better. After all they had been through together, CoCo's foster parents couldn't bear to part with her and decided to adopt her permanently. CoCo is now enjoying her new life on Vancouver Island and her medical needs will never again be ignored.