I often hear people say that Guyanese learn to dislike or mistrust dogs and cats as children and that is why they treat them so poorly when they become adults. I believe that is true because I was over 30 when I lost my fear of dogs and could stand to touch a cat. However, with the right opportunities anyone can change.
A friend called me requesting help for a woman who had 3 adult dogs (2 females, 1 male) and 8 puppies and needed help for them. I took the lady’s number and we chatted for a long while, I was pleased to hear that she loves her animals but was stressed out because the 2 females dogs were pregnant. She wanted to stop them from producing again but didn’t know what to do. She pointed out that the dogs were adopted by her after the original owners left for greener pastures and just released the dogs on the street. When the adult dogs bonded with her family, following them everywhere, she had no choice but to take them in.
When I told the owner about the GSPCA free spay and neuter programme, she said she did not have money for transportation or vaccination. I told her I would assist in transporting the dogs to the clinic and pay for the vaccinations. We decided on a time for me to come by and pick up the two female dogs for their first shots.
Animal rescue volunteer Natasha and I headed to the location. Two blocks before we got there we saw a very sick mangy female dog on the road; we stopped and gave her some food and continued on. When we got to the right location, we saw the woman at her gate waiting for us; she led us into the yard. We could hardly believe our eyes, 8 very sick and weak looking puppies (born in June) with mange and pot bellies. When we looked around the yard we could see why the animals were in such poor shape: animal faeces (which the puppies were eating) and the smell of urine all around. The only kennel in the yard was filthy and the entire yard looked like it had not been cleaned in days. One mangy, sick looking female dog sat in the yard looking at us in despair. When I asked for the other female dog, the owner said she probably went for a walk and would be back shortly; as she spoke another emaciated dog appeared at her gate. Oh no, I thought, it was the same mangy dog we had fed just a few blocks away! She had two water bowls for the animals, one was clean but the other was full of algae attached to the sides.
I was so upset with the condition of the yard and her dogs I just let her “have it”. I said I could not understand how people into animal welfare and claiming love for their animals could keep them in such conditions. To make matters worse the woman said she suffered from asthma and had two young kids. I could not imagine them playing with the dogs in such horrible conditions. I told her if the public health department would see the condition of her yard she could be in trouble. After thinking about it she agreed to send 3 of the puppies in the worse condition to the GSPCA and treat the others at home.
Very upset, the next day I called my friend who had put me in touch with the dog owner. I told her of what we had seen and asked her to accompany me to see for herself. We went back in the afternoon and I could not believe my eyes, the yard was transformed, the mess picked up, urine smell gone, water bowls clean; even the dog pen had been scrubbed. The woman was apologetic and said she had been thinking about our previous conversation and decided to get her family involved in cleaning up the yard and improving conditions for the dogs.
On a later visit the two females, one male and remaining five puppies were found to be looking better and the yard well taken care of. Consequently, arrangements were made with a private vet for the two females to be vaccinated, de-wormed and spayed. After the surgery the vet said that had the two females given birth there would have been 18 more puppies in the already over-populated environment.
Spay your female dogs to avoid overpopulation and improve conditions for the animals you love.
The family is thankful to the private donors for helping to have their dogs spayed and the rest of the animals treated.
Yours faithfully,
Syeada Manbodh
