12/02/2021
Let’s talk about treating stray dogs in need, well, being so much active in social media we all find numerous of NGOs that look after the betterment of strays and abandoned pets. That’s a really saintly deed. We as a human and being a superior creation of God should look after them and treat them properly.
On 25th Nov 2020 around 6’o clock we hear a faint voice of a dog in pain near Raj’s apartment so, we went looking for it and as it got dark, we couldn’t trace the voice. I stay a few blocks away from his house so we went to my place for a little hangout but around 9’o clock we could hear it again and this time it was louder and clearer. We could feel the pain in her voice. Raj stated that it was time for her to die and she had this agonizing squeal. But we couldn’t ignore the voice and we rushed back to his apartment . So, basically his apartment is on the main street and there is a pond at the back of his apartment, and they made a passage joining the pond and their apartment . We kept looking for her near the pond and as we got closer to the voice , she stopped making any . It took almost an hour to find her finally . The first look at her we thought she was pregnant and about to deliver but then we noticed that the poor soul was hurt and gravely wounded. I soon could recognize the dog; she uses play with me sometimes whenever I came across her I use call her Sweetheart because honestly that name fits her perfectly. I couldn’t imagine seeing her like that, but reality is , she was hurt, and she couldn’t be pregnant as because she has been neutered in the past. Then we noticed that she couldn’t move, and she was laying on a drainage out route with continuous flowing water so, the water soaked into her body causing her inflation . We had to do something to pull her out so, I asked Raj to get a rope and a blanket to pull her up. He arranged those as fast as he could then we had to cross the wall, get down, tie her mouth to avoid getting bitten and pulled her up to this side of the apartment . And we successfully did that, but it was not enough. As we examined her wound, we could see maggots all over her body and trust me not just her would but her whole body . We were shocked . Maggots are basically larva from flies . when there is an open wound which is’nt treated the flies tend to lay eggs inside the wound and soon maggots start dwelling into the flesh and they have an extremely high appetite. Well, we keep treating strays in our day to day lives and maggots ain’t something new to us, but this was different in my whole life I have’nt seen anything like this, the dog was covered in maggots . We panicked and we didn’t know what to do at that time of night , we felt helpless, but we kept our hopes high by doing as much as we could . We kept spraying ‘ D-MAG ‘ & ‘SCAVON’ soon we ran out of it and we were not even nearly close to get rid of those crawly creatures. So, we got hot water buckets after buckets with a little Dettol and phenyle mixed (DO NOT USE PHENYLE ON OPEN WOUNDS ) We had too because of lack of medicines and utilities that was a mistake, but it felt right at that time for washing out the maggots, but we instantly washed it with clean hot water. We repeated the process for more than 7 times and still halfway through . Then we started counting the wounds , there were 6 open wounds – 1 on her neck,2 on her hind legs and 3 beside her re**um. We were devastated but we kept going . Cleaving her up . I got restless so I wore my gloves and started brushing out the maggots. Honestly if you want to work for the strays you have to keep your disgust aside. I brushed out kilos of maggots and that malodor can make you puke but keeping all these aside our goal was to keep the baby alive and start a proper treatment . After almost two hours we got rid of 80% of the maggots. Then we got a sack and some old clothe dried her up completely and laid her on the sack. then we gave her rice and chicken to eat while we kept covering her wounds with turmeric and grinded camphor (kappur), homemade fly repellent. Thank god she ate her food, later that night I went home around 3:00 am after tucking her in a warm place in Raj’s garage . We still hoped for her survival all night long. Next morning, she started having seizures frequently and we could still spot maggots coming out of her eye lids and jaws. We thought of euthanizing at first because the sight was unbearable, but she was trying her best and we didn’t want to give up yet. We called one of our friends, Shayok who was a vet’s assistant and now works in NGO for help. Though he couldn’t come by himself as he was a fever. So, we had to get the medicines to rise her body temperature and stop the seizure. We fed him a medicine for stabilizing her nerves and then sprayed the wounds with ivermectine , this works like wonder on maggots . Then I had to inject a medicine. Thank god it was IM(intermuscular) , never did I inject a dog before, but we had no option we had to do what we had to. She was calm and content after the medicines and I think it worked but by afternoon she stopped eating and her situation wasn’t improving at all. So, we had to arrange for Intravenous sugar solution or saline DNS. We bought the whole set up and required injections. Then Raj injected the saline, it was IM because IV was a tough call as we couldn’t find her nerves and I injected the medicine required to rise her temperature. Shayok was a great help he kept assisting us in video call the whole time. We let the saline run for 15mins. Then we got Bacticon oil as fly repellent and poured in on the sides of her wounds and sprayed ivermectine on the wounds and negasunt after than for healing. We cleaned her bed and replaced them with new sacks and clothes and tucked her in. Because her seizures were more frequent than before. We were sure she might fall into coma. But she kept responding, her senses were okay. Then next morning we see no difference, and still we see maggots coming out, so we sprayed ivermectine in open wounds and sprays dmag on the rest of the parts. We kept her clean as much as possible. I had to go to work that day so I ran her saline while Raj prepared the injections then I injected her and all I could was to look in her eyes and asked her to be with us. Then I left for work and asked Raj to take care of her and keep her warm. But around 3:00 PM I get a call from Raj’s mom informing me about a sad news. Sweetheart passed away. My heart broke, my eyes filled with tears asked her to re check her breathing and pulse, she said it was still and cold . I felt like a failure. I called Raj and asked him to ra check and sadly he informed me the same. She was no longer with us. Someone later informed us that she was stuck in that drain for 5 days thus causing lungs congestion and manifestation of maggots running into her organs. It makes me sad how people choose to ignore these animals in need if she informed us sooner that poor soul might have been still alive. How do we all forget that it’s our sole responsibility as a human to be a little more considerate and help these innocent animals. But all we do is to ignore or look away consoling ourselves that it’s their fate or they were born to die on streets with misery. Trust me it’s a BIG NO. Do not look away when these animals need help, try calling a vet or NGO for help at least informing them. Though we couldn’t save her but gave her all the love and care during her last days. I hope wherever she is, she is in peace now. She was a 14-year-old girl who fought hard and we were proud of her. And we do not intend to stop treating them ever there might be some other Sweetheart in need.
