It was just any ordinary morning. I let the dogs out as usual and stood in the garden watching them rush for that first morning wee. That's when I noticed it. Pepper's urine was suddenly dark orange. It hadn't been the day before. She didn't look unwell, she ate her breakfast as normal, she gav
e me my usual morning welcome. But instinctively I knew this wasn't right.
I rang the vets and booked her in. Next task was to take a sample. Following a dog around the garden, hovering, waiting for them to dip down for a wee whilst armed with a shallow receptacle and trying to look nonchalant is never easy. We managed somehow and next morning, armed with sample and Pep, we set off.
A quick stick test of the urine showed bile which accounted for the colour. The sample was then sent off to the lab for further tests. The vet decided to do nothing with Pepper as we both agreed she wasn't ill in herself. We'd plan what to do when the results came back.
The results came back a few days later and in that time, Pepper had developed Jaundice. Never before have I see a jaundiced dog. Her skin was yellow, the whites of her eyes yellow and her flews and gums where she had lost pigment with age were now yellow too. The minute the jaundice appeared I rang the vet in a panic. Again, instinctively I knew this was a bad sign.
Suspecting blocked bile ducts, the vet referred me to a specialist in urology at Newmarket and within the week we had an appointment. A morning of blood tests, scans and biopsies were all born with incredible good grace by my girl. The specialist was a little wary of Pepper but as ever, provided I was there, you could do anything with that girl. Even taking blood from her jugular was simple with me holding her head and talking to her.
The specialist suspected Leptospirosis and gave Pepper a course of antibiotics whist we waited for the results. A week passed and the results came back. It wasn't Lepto, it wasn't blocked bile ducts, her kidneys were fine, her bladder was fine, no cancer, and equally no idea.
I emailed Dr Jeff Vidt in America who had been so helpful when Pepper had Mast Cell Tumour three years earlier. I sent the lab results and asked his advice. He too suspected Lepto or hepatic amyloidosis. I rang the specialist putting this to her but she dismissed it saying Pepper wouldn't have lived this long with hepatic amyloidosis.
The next step would have been to take a bigger piece of her liver to test. I decided not to. I instinctively knew there was no coming back from this one - dogs with Jaundice invariably die - and didn't want her to go through any more than she had to.
Pepper meanwhile was no better, no worse. Her jaundice varied in colour and some days she seemed less yellow than others. In terms of temperament she was still the same Pepper. Then she began to get picky over her food, so sensing we didn't have much time we threw the rule book out the window and Pepper ate what she wanted, when she wanted.
The strange thing is that right up until the last few days, apart from her picky eating, Pepper was to all intents and purposes her old self. If she hadn't been yellow, you wouldn't have suspected a thing.
Every Sunday come rain or shine, show calendar permitting, Pepper and I would go to the Sunday market and boot fair. Then early in April, we went as usual but Pepper held her tail half down all the way round. Still affectionate, still wagging her tail, but something wasn't right. We cut our visit short and when we got back she took herself to bed for most of the afternoon. This, I knew, was it.
Still with no answers, I rang my vet on the Monday morning and arranged to take her in to see him. He said enough was enough and we had to open her up and see what was going on. But, he cautioned, I had to live with whatever we found. He knew she was my favourite and didn't want to be the one to give me the bad news.
Next morning I took Pep in and stayed with her whilst her pre-med took effect. Giving her a big cuddle and kiss, I left. That was the last time I saw my girl.
Jim rang within the hour. It's hopeless, he said, there's nothing left of her liver. It was a third of the size it should be and covered in nodules. For Pepper things would only get worse. Now she was in pain, now she would suffer. Now was the time to let her go. I told him to let her go.
Then I sat and cried.
The lab tests showed Pepper had died of cirrhosis of the liver bought on by hepatitis. Not Canine Infectious Hepatitis you understand, hepatitis. What caused it is a mystery. I did have a test done for amyloidosis - just to be on the safe side. It was negative.
We had Pepper cremated and she now sits on the mantlepiece in the family room she loved. A photo of her sits in my office.
Today - the third anniversary of Pepper's passing and it still hurts, I still miss her like crazy and I still can't talk about her without tears. My once in a lifetime dog. - April 2009