Why I DON'T Need a Dog

1) I am only here 18 more months

2) Harder to get away for a few days

3) Feeding them (I barely feed myself)

4) Flea and tick meds, long way to get them and $$

5) Housebreaking is never fun no matter what hemisphere you are in

6) Less time for you

7) I already have a cat (Squiggles and she is really really cute!!!)

And on….

And on……..

And on…………....

I have list at home that is a lot longer, I just didn’t bring it to the boma today.  And I stand by it.  Dogs are nice in the States.  I know breeds, I know what to expect of these breeds.  The village dogs are pretty feral and can be unpredictable. I know volunteers who, for the first time in their lives got a dog, I do not recommend that! You start out with a shelter dog or something that is already trained, preferably a Labrador.  Something easy, you don’t walk into the math department and say, “I want to take advanced differential calculus because I saw someone else do it and it looked like fun!”  (If you are doing that may I seriously suggest you have your head examined.)

But they did it anyway and I have become the Dog Whisperer via text messaging.  It’s fun though, you get to hear about what is going on, how the dogs are, you get a feel for what works and what doesn’t.  I will say this, the dogs here are highly food motivated.  People keep asking me why I don’t get a dog if I love them so much and I give them the list.  Sometimes though, despite our best efforts things slip though the cracks.

So I would like to introduce you all to my puppy.  She doesn’t have a name yet.  Benson (my neighbor) has a dog, Tiger and back in early August she had a litter of 5 puppies.  Everything was going really well, 2 boys are on hold for Erin, until they hit about 6 weeks old.  This little girl suddenly got sick, really sick.  At first I thought she was blind, she would stumble around, walk into things, walk off of things (like a porch), wasn’t eating well, was extremely dehydrated, the whole smash.  So I started giving her milk in a syringe, oral rehydration solution, antibiotics, and she did get a little better.  Then I went off to IST, got back and found her a mess.  Apparently she fell down a chim (pit toilet) for two days, eeeewwwwwww. So she got a bath, more fluids and more antibiotics.  She still walks funny but not as bad as before.  She holds her neck out straight, still wobbles and occasionally runs into things.  I think she had a bacterial infection that went to her brain or inner ears. 

And here is the kicker, she stopped growing.  At 9-10 weeks she is the same size she was at 7-6, her brothers are huge, maybe a foot at the shoulder and she is still a tiny 9”.  Maybe the infection took out her pituitary gland and she stopped growing? I don’t know, I’m out of guesses for this dog.  

So long term diagnosis; who knows. I now have a kitten who barely leaves the house and a puppy who can hardly sit straight with little bladder control (name to consider; Puddles).

Mary’s Home for Wayward Animals: Africa is now open, our newest branch office is located just outside Nkhotakota in rural Malawi, please no Mambas.