However, like so many animal people, it doesn’t matter what you plan for, they seem to find you no matter where you go or what you do. Enter, my dog, Dora.
Late July of 2011 my neighbor Benson’s dog, Tiger, gave
birth…again. One of the things about
Malawi, if it can be pregnant it either is pregnant, will be pregnant or just
got done being pregnant. There were 5
puppies in the litter, the usual mix, girls and boys. I had been on the lookout for a couple of
male puppies for another PCV (Peace Corps Volunteer, try and keep up with the
acronyms) and wouldn’t you know it there were two males here! So once they were
a few weeks older I started bringing them over to my house a couple times a
week to give them a little extra food, socialize them, keep them hydrated, you
know basic stuff that in America would be a no brainer, not here, they need
extra attention here.
Pretty soon, their little sister began tottering over to
my house with her brothers. Early on she
seemed ok, kinda runty but cute, she had a ridge of hair going the opposite
direction up her spine (like a Rhodesian ridgeback) however a couple weeks in
she started getting weird. A couple
calls later and we had a diagnosis, canine distemper virus (CDV). At 6 weeks old she had CDV, my heart dropped,
this kills most dogs that it infects and we vaccinate for it like crazy back
home, many dogs that do survive it have residual nerve damage their entire
lives. I was worried but I decided that
if she was willing to give it a shot then, by golly, I’d help her fight it if I
could.
Being in the middle of rural Africa, that didn’t mean a
whole lot. Everything I could do
basically turned into giving her oral rehydration solution (ORS) and food, and
since it’s a virus, that’s really all you could do in America. Wouldn’t you
know it though, she kept going. The nerve
damage stuck around though. Her balance
was really really bad for a very long time and she couldn’t control her bladder
at all. Through all of this my neighbors
kept insisting that she was my dog, I kept saying no, I was just helping her
until I could find a home for her. And I
did mean to, I was going to find her a home.
Then I had my epiphany, that came in form of another puppy at a
neighbor’s house. Couldn’t have been
more than a couple months old, dehydrated, sick, hungry, covered in fleas and
ticks. I started second guessing giving
my puppy away, with her disabilities what kind of a shot did she have? The
answer came in mid September when I had to leave for two weeks for a training
in Dedza, a town in south central Malawi.
When I got back I saw the puppy stumbling around my
neighbor’s yard looking, if it was possible, worse than when I left. I asked
what happened and why on earth was she so filthy? Apparently she fell down
their chimbudzi or, pit latrine toilet, for two days! What?! Imagine, this
little thing, barely over her CDV, still suffering massive nerve damage,
picture walking into trees and chairs and falling off steps, fell in a toilet!!
Actually if she was going to fall in a chim this would have been the one to do
it. they knew I like her and actually
got her out with some rope. I think a
lot of people here would have left her.
Poor kiddo, she was a mess, really dehydrated, and had
picked up a bad stomach bug down there.
So I got her home, washed her off, got some more ORS down her, some
cooked rice and some antibiotics from my medical kit. I sat down and came to the conclusion that ,
yes, the villagers were right, she was my dog. I named her Dora, after another
famous explorer.
So what is the point of this, why have two blogs about
living in Africa (the other one is www.thenext2years.blogspot.com ) well, the
way I see it I can explore the weirdness of having a dog here and just talk to
dog people. Believe it or not, not
everyone cares about that. I figure some
people do so we’ll chat for a bit. So if you have questions about dogs in
Africa, my dog, or anything else, feel free, ask away!
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