I made two mistakes around my pet during the last year. The same mistake, twice, to be correct. The first time, I guess, the shocker wasn't enough for me to learn my lesson. So this time I got a real big one!
But, let me start at the beginning...
Last February, while visiting my family in Austria and before really emigrating to Panama, I mentioned to my sister, that now I might be able to finally have a dog myself, too. I have been travelling a lot throughout my worklife. This kind of life doesn't suit having pets. It would be rather unfair towards them...
My sister just laughed and told me: Just wait! A dog will find you and adopt you soon!
And so it was.
When I arrived back in Panama, my friend Kyle, with whom I was staying most of the time when in Panama, lamented about a dog who had shown up about 2 weeks before I arrived. And she wouldn't let him chase her away! He didn't feed her anything, even shot with his slingshot metal balls at her! To no avail! She would just keep on coming back.
While he was telling me this story, there she comes running down the driveway, onto the terrace where we were sitting. She totally ignored Kyle and came straight to me, putting her chin on my knee, looking at me with those beautiful brown eyes, as if she was saying "What took you so long? I've been waiting for you!"
And so it was, that I was adopted!
| Weibi - happy to finally get some food and love |
In order to stop myself calling her "Kerlchen" (which is Austrian for little fellow, I decided to name her "Weibi" - which is Austrian for "little woman".
With her I made the first mistake.
I was so busy looking for land, purchasing it, dealing with the legalities, and then later helping Iris with the construction of her house, that I never found the time to take her to the vet. I had no clue whether she was sterilized or vaccinated. I just embraced her in my life, without taking care of her needs!
Well, that was in April. By October she became very "fat". And on 15th of December last year she gave birth to 7 puppies.
We had just come to Camarón Arriba, Chiriqui, and were living in the container, which I had purchased a few months before and remodeled into a workshop/storage space and a little living area, with mattress and fridge. That morning, around 4 am I woke up from her making a strange chewing noise.
Turns out, she had delivered one puppy and was trying to bite open the placenta-bag. She wasn't successful fast enough, and we didn't notice early enough, so the puppy died. But, when the next puppies came, we were alert, and Iris knew what to do. As soon as the puppy came, she opened the bag around the mouth of the puppy, so it could breath.
| Two of the ultimately five already there |
Over the whole morning, one puppy after the other was born. The 6th around mid-day. Since there was nothing happening anymore for hours, we thought she was done birthing. But, by 16:00 (4 pm), the 7th puppy came - again unnoticed by us. Again, the bag wasn't removed quickly enough, and it died.
So, here I was, having to take care of a mother with 5 babies!
| Tiny furballs - eyes closed only sleeping and nursing |
| about 2 weeks old - eyes still closed |
What to do with them? Who could I entrust any of them? The locals don't treat dogs the way we in Europe consider to be well. And the foreigners I knew all already had a dog! Aye aye aye!
| nothing but a handful of cuteness |
| Nursing is very exhausting, it appears |
| Growing up soooo quickly! |
| Just like human babies - no care in the world! |
| Trusting that everything will be taken care of for them |
| She must be thinking: What did I get myself into with that! How did that happen? |
I read up on puppies, and promised myself to take them all to the vet as soon as they are ready for it. And I did for the first visit. Weibi was sterilized, and the young ones dewormed and whatever else is done on the first visit. But it was still too early for them to get vaccinated.
By the time vaccinations were possible, we were back in Santa Catalina, Veraguas. To reach the vet, it takes 2.5 hours of driving each direction. The dogs - both the mother, as well as the babies - get car sick and throw up. It's a torture for them. And a lot of work for us to clean up the car afterwards. Also, I had "guest-workers" from Chiriquí here, who wanted to maximize their income and worked from 6:30 (am) to sometimes 19:00 (7:00 pm) or even later! Every day, except Sundays. I needed to be there, so they knew what to do, and to answer questions and make decisions when they arise.
And I postponed the vet. And I postponed. And postponed, and postponed.
Then we went back to Chiriquí. The dry season has almost ended, and I didn't want to wait another year to get the slap for my house done. During the rest of the year it starts raining almost every day by 13:00 or 14:00 (1 resp. 2 pm) in the afternoon. A slab needs to be cast in one sitting - so this is only possible during the dry season.
Having up to 14 workers there again every day, Monday through Saturday, was very exhausting again. And, it prevented me from going to the vet... (check out "kindergarten - herding cats - fighting bad old habits and ignorance" to understand the dilemma I was in).
This is an explanation, but no excuse, of course!
Well, last week, I got my second lesson about the same topic...
Thursday evening, I noticed Patas Blancas to be kind of low key. Friday, he didn't eat much, but was just laying around looking miserable. Saturday, realizing that Monday is a holiday, I decided to face the 2 1/2 hours of driving in the heat, with dogs puking everywhere in the car (they didn't want to stay in the back, where I had placed a sheet of cardboard) and take them all to the vet: checking out Patas Blancas, and vaccinating (finally!) all the other ones.
When Iris asked me to come inside to hear what the vet has to say, I thought, that doesn't sound good.
And, yes, it wasn't good at all! The symptoms of Pata Blancas pointed strongly at Canine Distemper , about the most terrible disease for dogs. Highly infectious, and in 99% of the cases deadly.
There was no sense in trying to vaccinate any of them at this point. We got some medicines - for Patas something to ease the pain and discomfort. And for the others immune strengtheners and other stuff. Iris is very good with that - I am terrible. I don't want to take pills myself, and have a hard time managing 4 medications for 4 dogs 3 or 4 times a day. But, Iris handled that situation very well! So glad she is in my life! She complements me so well, filling in where I am weak, and supporting me even more where I'm strong!
Patas got fluids and some IV medications. When we drove home, he appeared a little better, and we got a little hope. But, that dissipated quickly, when we tried to give him some food he had absolutely bo interest in it. He tried to drink some water, but through it all up again 5 minutes later. It was terrible to watch!
And I couldn't get the picture out of my head, when we were in Chiriquí just 2 weeks earlier, and the three little ones followed Weibi roaming the fields, barking at some of the cows and horses, and just frolicking around. As they were walking through the high grass, the little ones were jumping rather than walking to be able to get ahead. all of them happy, full of life and energy!
I felt really terrible having wasted their life so carelessly by not making it a priority to go to the vet. It's too late now. There's nothing more that could be done...
Iris sat up with Patas until the early morning, when he finally fell asleep and never woke up again!
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