Caliope “Cali” Malkowski

We lost our sweet Cali on 1/24/2024. We adopted her in September 2018 when she was we believe 6 years old. We were told she was from a house with around 23 other dogs and was abused. They said she could absolutely not be in a house with another dog and a small child. When we took our dachshund Moose and 5 year old daughter Addyson to meet her, she was around 4-5 pounds, shook and hid, and her tail was broken at the end as of someone slammed it into a door. Moose sniffed her, then continued his never ending search for food. Addy was very gentle, and changed the shelter staff’s mind. We went home to think about it not knowing if we could take on a dog that scared. I couldn’t get her out of my mind, so the next day I went and adopted her. As I was finishing, another lady arrived and asked for her. I got there in the nick of time. Cali didn’t know what grass was and screamed if you surprised her or moved too fast. At first she would only sit in my lap and shake. The occasional shaking continued, but our sweet Cali blossomed. She learned it all from Moose-how to go potty in the grass ( or driveway as she eventually preferred lol), how to eat (especially chicken!), and most of all how to love on us and find the most comfortable spots to nap. We joked that she was like the princess and the pea because she would always be on our bed or couch curled up on 2-3 pillows. She cried when I brought our second baby home from the hospital because she so desperately wanted to meet her. She met me after work with those same cries while shaking her little butt, so happy to see us. She loved to sleep with our girls, and particularly loved to bow to and kiss my husband. He was the love of her life. Anytime you whispered “hi” she would run to you so fast her head whipped back. She also loved to have “rumpus time” with moose in the evenings and snuggle him after. She loved being outside in the sun and sitting on our patio furniture. She seemed to smile in the sun.

Cali was fine the early morning of 1/23 but by 9am my husband found her struggling to breathe and barely moving. Our vet thought she had a seizure and wanted to watch her while she recovered. We picked her up at 4pm but by the next hour I knew I had to take her to an emergency vet. By 10pm we all knew she wasn’t going to make it. The hospital told us she had likely aspirated during a seizure, developed pneumonia and was now going septic. As soon as they took her out of oxygen and gave her to me, I knew she was at the end. I drove her home to wake up our girls to say goodbye. We all cried and told her how much we loved her and how sorry we were and that we hoped we gave her a better life than she had before. I took pictures of her with my family and with Moose kissing her goodbye. She almost passed on our bed-her favorite resting place, and I would have let her if I knew she wouldn’t suffer much longer. I sang “you are my sunshine” and “raindrops keep falling on my head” the whole way from and back to Medvet. We helped Cali finally rest after the worst day just after midnight on 1/24. 1/23 was my husband and I’s anniversary. She held on until the next day for us. Cali, you were such a blessing and sweet sweet angel here on earth. We miss you every day and always will. We hope you are up there with a new tail eating all the chicken you want and snuggling up in a ball on the fluffiest pillows. We hope to see you again and cross the rainbow bridge together. We love you always.