Miss Cleo

Photo winter 2008

Cleopatra Amber Joy
1993 - 2009

We adopted Cleo from BRAT (Basenji Rescue and Transport) in 1999 as a one year anniversary gift to ourselves (oh, along with the new house we'd just bought). D wanted a dog now that we had the house, but I was more of a cat person. I researched breeds in my down time at the vet clinic (there was a lot of that) and came upon the basenji. A very cat-like breed they were known to keep themselves fastidiously clean and they were often aloof like a cat. Cleo was both.

We drove to Philadelphia via D.C. to pick her up from her foster home. She was cool as a cucumber. It was the 4th home she would join in less than a year. Her first owners divorced and there seemed to be an opposite custody battle over her. She wound up with grandma who could not properly care for her. Next off to the foster and then to her forever home with us.

Of our three basenjis she was by far the closest to typical. She was just naughty enough to let you know her brilliance and competency. She was aloof indeed but would happily lie next to you. She was always calm and collected though would change in a second upon seeing wildlife in the yard. She was a hunter. She baroo'd and yodeled and often on command. She hated water. She was a basenji through and through.

A few months after she arrived we adopted a brother for her (Jeremy). They got along wonderfully and often cuddled together during car rides and near heating vents around the house. In 2000 we fostered Zulu and he's never left. From the get go he was the annoying little brother. By now she was nearing 10 years old and was becoming less patient with things she did not like or approve. Zulu fit both categories and she snarked at him anytime he came near. Sometimes he really just wanted to be near her but all too often he seemed to enjoy annoying her.

If I walk into our bedroom I will step in the crumbs she left on the floor from her biscuit - still not vacuumed. If I walk into the laundry room I will see her sweaters awaiting the wash. Her food stand still sits by the backdoor. Her home was not ready for her to leave though we and it had been preparing for months. Cleo was 16 years old this year. A fierce warrior basenji she clung to what grace and strength she could to the very last moment. She will always be with us in spirit and thought.

We love and miss you, Miss Cleo.

Cleo the weekend we picked her up (pictured in Ashburn, VA)

Cleo after she broke her back leg jumping off the deck (circa 2000)

Showing she can be naughty indeed - that's a blue highlighter she gutted.

Basking in the sun. Basenjis (and Cleo) love sunshine.

Circa 2007, she's backed up to a heating vent.