One hot day in January 2008, Bruce and I had a chance to drive to Prajinburi, a province about 2 hours north-east of Bangkok. There is a KMUTNB campus in Prajinburi, and we were going to attend an evening event held by some of my colleagues at the campus. So we set out late morning, went to see a waterfall (cascade, really) in the area, and arrived at the campus a little before the event started--it was a little language contest among the students there. While I was inside watching the students compete, Bruce was outside looking around the campus and waiting for me.
When the contest was over, I called him on the cell phone, and he said "There's a dog here. She's really sick. You should come and see her." The dog, a stray dog who was living in the campus area whom we had never met before, had gone up to Bruce and cried for help. She had almost no hair left on her, and her arms and legs were all swollen and bleeding. She had a high fever, and was in a severe and miserable condition. While waiting for me, Bruce had given her food, but she was too sick to eat.
A colleague of mine, Pung, who was at the contest too that evening was called over to look at the dog. I didn't know what to do and thought Pung--who teaches regularly at that campus--might be able to think of something that could help us know what to do with the dog. Bruce finally said he wanted to take her to the doctor, and Pung helped us find an old cardboard box for us to put the dog in so that we could take her in the car.
Around 10 p.m. we arrived at our vet's in Bangkok and the dog was admitted to the hospital that night. She had mange, and was suffering so much from it. Bruce named her Molly. His hunch and observation were also correct: she was pregnant.
A week later on January 29th, 2008, Sophia (see the picture to the right) was born. She was this tiny little cow-like thing--with dark brown spots on white skin--small enough to take up so little space in the palm of my hand. When I showed her cell-phone-picture to one of my colleagues, she thought Sophia was a stuffed animal. Of course, Bruce and I fell in love with her, and so did everybody at the vet hospital. Despite Molly's sickness, Sophia was raised with her mother, drinking her milk and being cared for by her--with the help of all the staff at the hospital. Molly's treatment for mange was put off until later as the medication, which would be in her milk, was deemed too strong and dangerous for the puppy.
One month after that, the doctors decided it was time for Molly to receive her medication, and so Little Sophia had to come home with us. By that time, Sophia, who was Molly's only child and was really fat and so much bigger than one hand could hold, was starting to teethe and was wobbling around sniffing at everything with curiosity. The doctors wanted to give her nasal vaccine for bronchitis, but they had seen her sneeze at the hospital, so the vaccine had to wait.
Now Sophia is spending some time alone in her own room at our house in (our and the doctors') fear of getting diseases from the adult dogs because she couldn't get that vaccine. But she also is starting to learn to mingle with five of the dogs (that sleep with us each night)... and the cats. She is doing great--although she is being treated against the attack of mange she might have had gotten from her mother. She knows her name, and likes to be around us and everybody at home. She also loves biting our clothes, my slippers, and the grownup dogs' tails.
Meanwhile, Molly is doing better and better every day. We visit her every day at the hospital and we can see that her hair is growing back and her arms and legs do not have mange eruptions anymore. Despite her being a stray dog whom we'd never known and who had probably never been touched by anybody before, she is the sweetest girl any dog could ever be, and we love her very much.
No comments:
Post a Comment