Pepper

What an overall crappy weekend. Of our three vehicles (all beaters 10 years or older, and two with over 100,000 on them) only one was up and running this weekend. Mr. Pete spent lots of his time on his back under a car changing gas filters and fixing brake lines. He ran out of weekend before he ran out of work!

Our baby girl has also been sick. She was so hot last night that we gave her a bath at 2:00 a.m. as nothing seemed to be bringing her fever down. So of course when I tried to make an appointment for her to be seen today, my digital phone, along with my internet were both out of commission. Not a very good start to the new week.

But the worst was our dog Pepper. Pepper quit eating on Thursday evening and had a lot of bloody diarrhea and nausea. Sam didn’t bring it to my attention until Saturday afternoon though – too late to get into see the vet. I thought she must have had a particularly nasty tummy bug, so we just kept an eye on her over the weekend. This morning though she clearly was not feeling well and we knew we had to take her in. It turns out that she had a uterine infection. This surprised me because she is an indoor dog and we have taken superb care of her. But nonetheless this infection was overtaking her system and she would require immediate surgery. The vet thought her chances were good, but not great, of surviving the surgery. We were all shocked. Pepper died this morning.

It really is hard to comfort everyone after the death of a pet. It’s not like the death of a person with the hope of reuniting in heaven. It was hard to know what to say. Noah asked, “Shouldn’t we pray the rosary or something mom?”

And so we did. Pepper lived in our Catholic household, so we prayed for our Catholic Dog. We started out with the joyful mysteries and I did some improvisation. The first mystery we prayed to thank God for the gift of having Pepper for a pet. The second mystery was a prayer that she didn’t suffer too much. The third mystery we asked for the intercession of Old Testament Noah and St. Francis, because they loved animals and know that they are God’s creatures too. The fourth mystery I reminded the children that they could ask for their little brother’s intercession too. Izzy said that maybe Pepper would be Raphael’s dog now. I just said that we had to hope in God’s mercy and love. The fifth mystery we prayed for Dr. Gates, our veterinarian, in thanks for all of the good care he has given our pets over the years and for the comfort and care he gave Pepper.

So it’s been kind of a glum day here. Mr. Pete and Sam came back from the vet’s visibly shaken, although I think Mr. Pete was slightly amused to see his tearful wife and children having a rosary for the dog! When Calvin came home from school I told him. We hugged each other and cried a little. Then he closed the door and wept. I have raised a sensitive young man.

This is not the first time I have lost a beloved pet. I am amazed that despite knowing how much it hurts to lose a pet, I know that we will probably get another dog someday. But not for a while. We need to feel this loss a little bit first. It’s fitting I guess that we get to do it during Lent.

Our Domestic Church seems a little emptier now.

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