My dad thinks the life of a stray dog is more fulfilling on the streets. I disagree. Simply because their life expectancy without a guardian is less than 50%. Did you know a bitch will birth 4-6 puppies at a time, but only1-2 will survive to grow into adults? Betty was born in 2016. She passed away on 31st Aug 2022. Sunetra and I have taken her to Ida 3 times at least, for various reasons. She has had a tumor removed from her belly. She has seen extremely bad days, but since she had a few dog lovers watching over her, she survived at least 6 years.
We had no idea what was wrong with her. We were vigilant. Shweta’s instincts were spot on about Betty. Usually, Shweta is hyper when a dog is sick so, at times I don’t entertain her as much, but this time my gut told me Betty needed assistance as well. I mean, I usually meet the dog myself to affirm that the dog needs further assistance. And that’s when my gut told me, Betty needs medical attention. We called Ida, but Ida does the bare minimum to save the dog. If a dog has a slightly complicated medical condition or issue, Ida clearly tells us, that they don’t have the equipment or the means to treat the dog. In such a scenario, we have to go to a private vet.
Shweta told me Betty was disoriented, hasn’t been able to see, and howled in pain when she tried to eat a chicken bone, but I didn’t think Betty was so severe that she only had hours left. On 31st August, Shweta observed that Betty is not able to move at all. I was relaxing and had no guitar sessions, so I thought we should take her to the vet while I have the time. Betty was so weak she couldn’t resist the chaining process. We put the muzzle on her, got the auto-rickshaw, and took her to the vet. Every time I picked Betty up because she couldn’t walk, something hurt her deeply, so she squirmed. I’m guessing the issue was in her intestine, kidney, or some other organ in her belly. The vet couldn’t figure out what was wrong with her, so he suggested a blood test. He also noticed the decomposing stench coming from her, but there was no open wound, so he said the stench is coming from her mouth. This information leads me to conclude that the problem was in her digestive system.
By the time we brought Betty back home, she had collapsed in the auto-rickshaw. I think she died in the auto-rickshaw, but we couldn’t tell because of the whirring of the engine. When we placed her back on the street floor, she started going cold. Her heart was beating, but her eyes and jaw had frozen. I felt her heart racing even though she was dead. And gradually the heart gave way. When we closed her eyes her tongue popped out and it had gone completely purple. We left her there for the housekeeping to do the needful. We did not inform the watchmen that the dog is dead because then they ask us to get rid of the body. And the fucking Municipality garbage collectors don’t pick the dead body of the dog without a bribe. I had been forced to pay the bribe once during Bharati’s death. I was completely against it as it’s not my responsibility to pay bribes, but since Aunt Samrita pushed me and it wasn’t my cash, it belonged to the Stray Care Fund, I didn’t bother. But, I am completely against bribing people to do their job well.
I hope more people adopt street dogs, cause the dog lives a very safe and happy life at home than on the streets. And if someone has adopted Betty, she would have lived a lot more than 6 years.
