It's Like Having God Around

While my husband and I do not currently have any pets, we have had several in the past including four dogs, three cats, several parakeets, and even a guinea pig for a short while. I know pets can be loyal, and some would even claim--more loyal--than a spouse. While continuing to read Anne Lamott's Blue Shoe during the Christmas holidays, I found this line: "There's nothing like a good dog . . . It's like having God around, isn't it?" I love stories about the faithfulness and loyalty of pets. While I have not yet seen the current film Marley and Me, I have already read a review that suggests it will have some teary moments in it.

My favorite story recently concerns a good friend of ours who has had two knee replacements in the past year. As part of the treatment, he must lie in bed for at least six hours a day with a motion machine attached to his leg to provide bending exercises. The dog in the family, according to our calculations in human years must now be somewhere between 98 to 105. The cat Frisky's fur is stiff, he is thin, and his back is bent. Yet he insists on sleeping on a towel at the foot of his master's bed during this time of his master's recuperation.

Dogs, of course, are not the only animal to be so loyal. My daughter's partner lost her dad to colon cancer several years back. His cat performed the same loyal act as Frisky. Nursing homes also report that some of their live-in cats instinctually know when a patient is dying and also sleep at the foot of the patient's bed during the weeks before death.

While these examples of pet loyalty can never actually replace having the knowledge and belief that God is around, they are nonetheless still very comforting.