I still remember that day, I had parked my car in the basement of my residential apartments, freshly showered and tired after gyming, I was walking towards the lift, it was dark and dingy, when I heard a puppy’s cry which was so loud and painful that it echoed in the parking. I ran to look for the puppy, thinking someone might be hurting him but I found a tiny, lonely, scared fur-ball who ran under the stairs to hide in the corner. I tried to scoop him out but he was too scared. So I decided to let him be. I called the security guard to enquire about the puppy. The poor baby had been roaming around in the basement for a week, children were feeding food from their homes. Apparently, someone had intentionally left the puppy in the parking which was 2 floors below the ground floor. There was no potential dog-mother to be found around the society.
We guessed that the puppy was probably bitten by some of the other big dogs since his tail had unhealed injury marks. I had to quickly decide what to do about him. I was not keen on adopting any pets because of my on-the-move and uncertain lifestyle. But I love animals and pets. If you ask my close friends, what is Devina’s one dream which she has mentioned to you, you would hear one dream for sure, ‘Devina wants to live at a beach with 2 dogs and 3 cats, not sure about husband though’. I think animals should the purest and most innocent form of affection.
I decided to taken in the puppy for a day and then get him adopted or sent to NGOs, who take care of such small pups. Catching hold of the puppy was a challenge but when he caught him, he was rather calm in my arms. I remember, one of my close friends, Rohan (or Rohanskie as we call him) was visiting me, he had to rub his eyes twice to believe that I actually picked up a puppy from the street and gave him shelter. The puppy and I both, had the scared puppy look, with ‘What next?’ written on our faces:)
The puppy decided to hide under the sofa and sleep, he kept sleeping for hours. Rohan and I tried hard to feed him but he was too scared to even come out. He would only come out when there was no one around. I did not have the heart to relocate him the next day, I wanted him to calm down first, he was too scared. I did take him to the vet, got him cleaned up, vaccinated, fed him some treats. As per the doctor, he was about 60 days old and surprisingly quite healthy.
In the coming days, I fell sick unfortunately, I had severe stomach infection, was puking every 10 minutes and had to be admitted to a hospital. And ofcourse I had to call my dad, who hates dogs/pets. Since I was weak, my parents pushed me to come stay with them for a few days. I finally told them about the puppy and after a lot of scolding, I was asked to get him along. This is how the puppy ended up in my parents’ house (photo above). I recovered in about a week’s time. By then, the puppy was already named as Bruno. His name was decided by everyone around, all my mother’s friends, their daughter-in-laws, their children. Bruno became a star celebrity within a week’s time. Even my parents, who hated him initially, started warming up to him. He was a cute and naughty fellow, running around in and around the house, playing with everyone, chewing everything around, we had to Bruno-proof everything around.
Bruno (photo above) was perfect for my parents initially, low maintenance, sturdy breed, loved playing with everyone, would go out to do his business on his own. One week got extended to three weeks, Bruno was more confident, open, social and more naughty. His real characteristics also started showing up, he was quite smart, alert, ferocious and territorial, he would bark and shoo away dogs much bigger than him. I was happy for him, he was becoming normal, I loved him and treated him like my baby, he looked the cutest when he would sleep, wrapped up in towel in my arms, after bathing time. But I still wanted to get him adopted though mom and dad had become attached to Bruno. The general environment of the house was better, more happy, more positive but I knew he was quite ferocious for my parents. I thought of two options, we either get him adopted and get a puppy of a calmer breed or invest in a dog-trainer. I decided to go for the first option because I was not sure if a dog-trainer will be able to control Bruno. I put up ads to get Bruno adopted. We were receiving a lot of calls, Bruno was very cute, thus people wanted to adopt him.
Unfortunately, before we could get Bruno adopted, one morning, he was bitten by another street dog, when he was playing around and doing his business outside. The bite marks ran deep into his stomach, his spine broke, his hind legs lost movement and he became paralytic. It was a very shocking incident. We admitted to an animal hospital because he needed multiple injections daily. Dad and I ran around vets and surgeons seeking advice, praying to god, hoping he gets some sensation in hind legs but no luck, vets had lost hope. For vets and doctors, Bruno was just a street kid but he was my baby, I took him in, I wanted to save him. We used to visit him daily, give him treats but it was very painful to seem him cry when we would leave, he would drag himself and crawl using his front legs, he would cry. Upon seeing his bad condition, I made the decision to observe him for 3 weeks more, if his condition would not improve, it was wiser to put him to sleep. It was a very difficult decision but I knew that was the right thing to do.
Meanwhile, we had brought another puppy home, a Beagle puppy, named him as Oreo (photo above). Mom was totally against the idea but my dad, brother and I knew that everyone was happier with a dog in the house.
My brother: Arjun (photo above) especially took in Oreo under his protection, he loved and cared for Oreo the most. Unfortunately, Oreo fell sick within 3-4 days, would not eat, was sleepy and started vomiting. We took him to vet, he was given medicines but he would still not eat. The vet started putting him on IVs so that he would atleast have some energy. We decided to consult another vet who unfortunately gave him an overdose of injections. Oreo’s organs failed within 5 minutes, at the vet’s table. He was going to die then and there but my dad and my brother ran to another vet, Oreo was saved that time but he started getting fits during which his body would become stiff, he would howl and crawl in pain. We got him tested for diseases, nothing got detected. His fits continued, my brother and I would remain awake throughout the night, feeding him cerelac, water etc. Oreo would wake up only when he would get fits else he would just sleep. During fits, he would sometimes run across the room with eyes closed, howling in pain and his heart beat would shoot up. Our life had become a living hell, seeing the poor baby in pain. No one was able to help him…
Both Bruno and Oreo died around the same time. Bruno’s bite marks ran very deep, the infection had already spread, he died peacefully. Oreo died in my arms. I saw Oreo shivering and jerking in the last 30 seconds of his life, his heartbeat became slower, I woke up my brother in panic, told him Oreo is dying. Oreo died in his sleep too, peacefully.
I am a strong woman and a happy woman, you would hardly ever see me crying but all this…was a very traumatic expression, not just for me but for my family as well. I still shiver when I hear a howl similar to Oreo’s howl during his last few days. My brother and I had always dreamt that there would be a family dog in our house but we have now decided not to get any more pets. I have heard people say that dogs absorb all the negativity in the house and then die. I sometimes wonder if Bruno and Oreo did so, does our house have a lot of negativity? no family or house is perfect (but we are still a cool and an awesome family). If Bruno and Oreo did absorb all the negative energy, I am thankful to them and I am sorry, I got them home, it was probably my fault. I sometimes wonder, would Bruno’s life have been better on the street? He would not have been bitten if I had not taken him in. I did have good intentions for Bruno and Oreo both but sometimes bad things happen and one has to learn to move on, thought I am not sure if I have moved on completely because I have tears in my eyes right now as well, while writing this blog 🙂 Hopefully, with time, we will be okay.