Marigny, my pretty princess, passed away one month ago today. (Long rambling narrative and photos)

Today marks one month since my sweet Marigny left. The first part is about her final days. The second part is about her life and the joy she brought me, my husband, our pets, and those who encountered her.

The Final Days
Sitting next to me, as I stroked her frail body, Marigny passed away, likely due to sudden kidney failure, at 5am on Monday, January 6th. She was 15.5 years old. She went to join her partner in crime, Zatanna, her big brother, Voodoo and her favorite being in all the world, Tony. She had a host of medical issues for the past few years from joint issues, heart problems, eye problems, and finally kidney issues. Even with all her problems, she was always plucky until the start of the year. She had over 10 different types of medications in the past two years; eye drops that had to be five minutes apart, one in one eye, one in the other, one in both, two were once a day, three were twice a day, and one was three times a day! The eye medicine routine sometimes took up to 40 minutes. Several different types of heart meds, as well. I actually had to create a special calendar just to keep track of her medications.

As the new year rolled around, she became more and more lethargic. She already slept quite a bit, but I thought she was just getting her strength back after a really bad bout in November. Her blood panels, in December, came back and they were a remarkable, even miraculous, improvement. My vet was shocked. She was eating regularly again, even quite a bit. Then, on the second, she started to stumble around. She was almost completely blind at this point, but now she couldn't keep her balance and was running into objects. So, on Friday, the 3rd, we met with the vet to discuss "end of life". She got some fluids to flush her kidneys, and went back on Saturday morning for another round, and just like that, she was her old self! Still blind as a bat, but eating, wanting to go outside in the sun, her favorite past time. Then Sunday morning, the bottom of the barrel fell out. She wouldn't eat, she whimpered, and she was like a limp doll. I contacted the vet, gave her supplements, got her heart meds down the night before, but she wouldn't take any food at all, so we couldn't get her meds to her. When I saw blood coming from her mouth, her gums were bleeding, I freaked, but it was 11pm and I didn't get a call back and the nearest animal hospital was an hour away.

My husband went to bed because he had to work in the morning. I am a night owl, so I was up anyway. She was downstairs in a special pen that limited her movement and prevented her from running into something. I bundled her up in her favorite blanket, put pictures of Zatanna and Tony in her bed, kissed her and told her it was OK if she had to leave. We would miss her, but we would always love her. When I came down at 2am, she had got out of the bed and collapsed in her food bowl. I wrapped her up and took her upstairs with me. Around 4:30am, I saw she was struggling, so I went downstairs, sat on the sofa, with her next to me and turned on the TV. I just stroked her and told her how excited Zatanna will be to see her. At 5am, I no longer felt her chest rising. I listened to her heart...she was gone. I just continued to stroke her, until my husband came down at 6:30am. The other dogs ran up to me, tails wagging, until they saw me crying, then all tails stopped. They all got off the couch and stared at me. Marigny's sister, Laveau, wouldn't even get near her, she ran and hid. The strangest reaction was Nyx, who, after being put on the sofa (she is too small to jump onto it), she just nuzzled Marigny and then laid down. She and Marigny had a turbulent relation, the only time Marigny never really got along with someone, but I think it had more to do with Marigny's decline in health.

My husband picked her up, placed her in a cage, and then in the special pen. I was still crying and then my Darkness, my nickname for Erebus, got up on the sofa, got behind me, stood on my shoulder and licked away my tears, then nuzzled my neck. I finally went to bed at 8am. My husband took Marigny to the vet. When I got up, we went there to see her one more time and make final arrangements. She was so cold. I cried so much my vision was blurry so I can't really remember what I saw. I cried all day.

Two days later, I got the call her remains were back. I decided to go get her and a good thing I did because it snowed the next day and everything was shut down for two days, so she would have had to stay at the vet's office by herself for two days. I cleared off a bookshelf in the living room and started putting up her pictures. A week later, her urn arrived. It is a crown, with a chihuahua sitting on top. She is now with Tony, Voodoo, and Zatanna.

The above was the end of Marigny's life, so let me tell you about her life and the joy she brought us.

The Joy of Marigny
My husband and I were living in New Orleans (NOLA) at the time, but we were still good friends with the woman who brought most of our pets into our lives. We wanted a mate for Voodoo and our friend picked out a perfect mate. We named her Laveau, after Marie Laveau, the Voodoo Queen. Get it? Anyway, Laveau had a younger half-sister, and they were raised together and very close. Our friend asked if we would take both. We agreed. So, May 11th, 2010, Laveau and the now-named Marigny, arrived in NOLA. Marigny was the name of our street and our neighborhood. I think it is actually the name of French pirate.

After picking them up from the airport, and bringing them home, Marigny burst out of the cage, shit on the floor, and ran all over the house. She was a bundle of energy. Laveau had to be coaxed out of the cage. Voodoo and Tony didn't know what to make of this soon-to-be one year old pup. Marigny fell for Tony immediately and followed him EVERYWHERE. We soon learned Marigny was a lover dog. She loved everyone and everything. Showed her attention? She loved you back, then made you putty in her paws. She was super friendly. When a rooster, Waldo, took up residence in our oak tree and would come on the ground, Marigny would chase him and get frustrated when he didn't chase back. She befriended several stray cats, especially kittens. This was after Katrina so there was an overpopulation of feral cats. They were usually skittish around me and my husband, but if Marigny was in the yard...cats and kittens popped out of the bushes to play. It was nuts! She even made friends with a mother racoon, but I was ALWAYS nearby.

While living in NOLA, we had several neighbors who just adored her. The man who did our laundry, loved to stop by and see her. Marigny loved when Ralph came over. One day, he couldn't come so he sent someone else. Marigny growled and walked away from him. I called Ralph and said I never wanted that man in my house again. When he asked why, I said Marigny growled at him and walked away. Ralph said he will never come back in our home and later fired the man. Princess knew something was off with that dude! Oh yeah, her nickname was "Pretty, Pretty Princess"! Within a year or so the nickname was just "puh-puh princess" basically running the "prettys" to basic syllables.

When we moved back to Oklahoma, the movers were bringing in items to the house. I noticed, at some point, all four of the men were MIA. I looked around and found them all sitting on the breakfast room floor, cross-legged, like cardinal points on a compass, with Marigny in the middle. They were all playing with her! Each trying to get her to come to them. "Who's my sweet girl?!" "Who's the prettiest baby in the world?!" Four grown, big-ass men fawning over a 4lb chihuahua vying for her attention! She loved it. I, however, was pissed as my furniture was still in the front yard!

Of course, anyone familiar with Oklahoma knows we have some serious weather here. Thunderstorms where the thunder will cause the house to shake. Marigny hated thunderstorms. She was terrified of them and fireworks, but storms much more. I used to tease my husband as they went to bed; "Well, someone is getting a hat tonight!" . See, during thunderstorms, Marigny would crawl on top of my husband's head to sleep (and shake). My husband was born deaf in one ear, so if he has his "good" ear to the pillow, he can't hear shit, but during a storm, a "vibrating hat" that was our Marigny sitting upon his head, often woke him. If storms were during the day, she was my shadow. She never really shook once I was near her. I guess I am just meaner than my husband (this is true) and she felt I could take on the big, bad rumbblies! LOL!

Marigny, my sweet princess, really was a ray of sunshine. If she were converted into human form, she would never understand the word "stranger". She just didn't understand the concept. Every new person or animal was just a chance to make a new friend. There were rare, very rare, exceptions. On a few occasions, I would see her darting back and forth. I couldn't figure out what she was doing. Turns out, she was trying to get a salamander to play chase with her. She did that with the bunnies that lived in the yard and even with birds. Sometimes, I felt she look "defeated" when they wouldn't play with her. Oh, and she had NO CONCEPT of the fact she was only 4lbs and 7 inches long and stood about 6 inches off the ground.

We didn't often dress up the dogs, but sometimes, on Halloween, we would pet the dogs in costumes. Marigny was really the only one that seemed to enjoy them. She also had a few cute little outfits we would put her in and it just made her even more precious. She was the cutest when in her French Maid outfit. She also loved seeing the kids coming to the door. When she realized they would make a big deal about her, soon as she heard them coming, she was ready at the door!

She was also a favorite of my brother the doctor. He loved her! He spoiled her rotten and anytime he visited us, she stuck to him like glue because she knew he would pet her, love on her, and feed her, and that girl could eat! My husband and I often joked we wish we had her metabolism because she could eat and eat and never gained a pound. When we went to his house in Illinois, she followed him all over the house, sometimes even ignoring my husband. Then, one time we visited, my brother's friend Sam came over. Sam is a nurse and he is extremely good-looking. Marigny was in love! She literally jumped in his lap and when my husband tried to pick her up she started to cry! When Sam's wife bent down to pet Marigny and kiss Sam, Marigny pushed her away! LOL! My princess had great taste in men.

The last few years were filled with vet appointments of all kinds. From our local vet to the eye doctor, to the heart doctor, she was a favorite. We went to the eye doctor one time and the receptionist said, "Oh look! Our princess is here! Hey Sarah (vet assistant), Marigny is here!" I had to call them to cancel an upcoming appointment, letting them know she had passed. They were very comforting, and I heard the receptionist tell one the vet assistants passing by that Marigny was gone. I heard her say, "Oh no! Not the puh-puh-Princess." I just lost it. The vets, the assistants, and other office workers, loved her. They said she was one of their best patients and just enjoyed seeing her anytime she came. Some would even pop in during an exam and say they just wanted to see her. She was such a good girl and people knew it.

The love this dog had for us and others was unreal, magical. This was so obvious when our cat, Tony (see link above for his memorial) passed away. Marigny loved Tony. She was his annoying little sister, and he was her can-do-no-wrong awesome big brother. When Tony passed away, not far from where she would breathe her last, she sat next to me and shook and cried and laid across his body. For almost two months, she would search the house for him. I would see her pop up from various hiding places that Tony liked with tufts of his hair in her mouth, which she would never surrender. The hair had to be fished out of her mouth. She mourned him almost as long as I did. Sometimes, she would sit and stare at one of his favorite hiding spots, like she was waiting for him to come out. It always made me cry and sometimes, I would sit with her and tell her, "He's not coming, baby." I will never, ever, believe that animals can't feel the pain of loss. They may not understand it, but they feel it!

Finally, as I have rambled on and this post has taken me days to write. I would start and stop so many times because it was so hard to write, even the good parts because I know there will be no more good days with her. I wanted to say I will always have a special place for her in my heart. She was a ray of light, which may explain one of her favorite pastimes, laying in the sun. Whether it was in the house in front of the open door or sunning in the yard, which was her all-time favorite. And that will be reflected in the last picture I post. When you see it, you will instantly know, Marigny was light and joy. She will always be my Pretty, Pretty Princess!

Marigny: June 6, 2009 - January 6, 2025


Marigny and Tony


Marigny and Zatanna









My Pretty, Pretty Princess at her best...