I keep flinching these days when I see ads for toys or treats for dogs. The dogs in these emailed ads look super energetic and happy. And then I remember my darling Nelly, a beautiful black and white terrier who died on Good Friday this year at the age of 12.
Nelly had a history of congestive heart failure, so I gave her medications twice a day to control her condition. In April I flew to Brazil for two weeks to have three dental implants. The price in Brazil was around one-third what I would have to pay in the U.S.
I hired a pet sitter to visit my pets twice a day, to feed them, give Nelly her medications, and to let Penny, my other dog, and Nelly out into my backyard to go to the bathroom. There were also three cats to feed and their automatic litter box to be taken care of.
The woman I hired had already taken care of my pets last year, so I was confident leaving them in her care. I installed a camera in my open plan living room so that I could watch her and my pets from Brazil on my phone app.
The first week went by with no problems. I would see the sitter lying down on my couch watching TV, which was fine by me. And she would send me photos of my pets eating.
With just four days left before my return to Houston, I received frantic messages from my sitter saying she thought Nelly was dead! I was shocked and immediately called her. She said Nelly had been fine in the morning, but that when she came back in the evening, she found Nelly unresponsive under the coach. I told her to take Nelly to an emergency vet so that they could arrange to have her cremated.
The sitter sent me a picture of Nelly after she had put her into a box. Nelly looked still alive, perched on a pillow, and her black eyes still open.
I cried, thinking that if I had been there, I could have rushed Nelly to the vet at the first sign of heart failure. And then I started to feel paranoid, that perhaps my sitter had not given Nelly her medications diligently every day.
The emergency vet called me later and I paid them for their services. They assured me Nelly would be cremated and that her ashes would be ready for me to pick up in around ten days.
My mother had adored both Nelly and Penny. We first got Penny in 2009 when I found her in a box at my vet in Brasilia. She is a long-haired Dachshund, and I saw her when I was taking my late dog Nog-Nog for an appointment. She was in a cardboard box near the entrance with the rest of her litter. I asked about them and they said they were free for adoption. I looked closely at all the puppies and settled on a pretty one that I took home to my mother. It was love at first sight, and my mom immediately named her Penny for her red hair.
Four years later our former maid Nilda, who lived in Goiania and would come to visit my mother regularly, brought us a puppy in 2013. My mom named her Nelly, and loved her as much as she loved Penny. I have a beautiful picture of Nelly lying on her back, on top of my mom, who was sitting on her favorite sofa. It was the last picture I have of my mother before she passed in December 2019.
When I moved to Houston in August 2021, I had the hardest time to bring Penny and Nelly with me. Because of strict Centers for Disease Control and Prevention regulations I had to initially leave them in Brasilia at the house of a dog sitter, who took great care of them, before they were flown to me in Texas in January 2022.
They adapted to living here, and I would regularly walk them to the small park near my house. They enjoyed the walks, but I was sure they missed the open spaces of our property in Brasilia which extended for nearly 4 acres.
I picked up Nelly’s ashes in late April and took her home in a wooden box. The box has been sitting on my coffee table ever since. I didn’t have the courage to even take the box out of the bag it came in.
Penny is now 15 years old and has slight dementia. She spends her days sleeping under my coach, coming out only to eat and go to the bathroom.
For a month after Nelly passed, I would say “I’m home! Nelly and Penny!” as soon as I walked into my house, I was so used to saying both of their names. Now I catch myself and say Penny and the cat’s names. But once in a while I include Nelly’s name, sure that she is hearing me somewhere in the afterlife that we are all sure to be in after we die.
Comments
Leave a comment