Tidbits From the World

If you are too sensitive about animal suffering, do not read any further. You should wait for my next article which will come out next week.

In Xi’an, you can find pets for sale very easily on street markets. One can purchase any kind of animal: turtles, fish, hamsters, dogs, anything.

This guy is selling puppies and kittens.

One puppy is being purchased.

Puppies are cute when they are still young, so many people give in to the temptation of having a puppy at home and buy them without further thinking about the long term responsibilities of having a dog.

As Ying and I were on our way to a restaurant, we saw this poor little dog who was left abandoned on the sidewalk inside black garbage bags. He had his rear legs inside the bags so he could not move forward; while his front legs and his head were outside. We took off all the garbage bags, so he could walk again. Then, he walked a little and stopped… and he put himself in defecation posture and blood came out of his anus. Ying knew there was a veterinary clinic very close, so she went in and asked if we could bring the dog over. The veterinary told her he knew the dog. His master could not afford the treatment, which cost 65 yuans, so he put the dog in some garbage bags, inside the cover of a box. He left a notice that read: “I am a poor student, I cannot afford the medical treatment for my dog, please help this dog”. It happened at noon and we found the dog at 7:30pm, without the notice which was removed by a street sweeper. Ying really wanted to save the dog, so she offered to pay for the treatment, which consisted in three injections over the time span of two days. Before she came back to me and told me the news, the dog had vomited on the sidewalk. He looked very weak. Then, we put the dog in the bag again and we went to the clinic.

The name of his disease, as told in Chinese by the veterinary was 细小病毒 （canine parvovirosis), an illness due to a very aggressive virus. The mortality rate in untreated puppies is 91%, while the survival rate resulting from effective therapy is 80-95%. The illness is not transmissible to humans, but only to dogs, from the feces.

The veterinary estimated the puppy’s age to be less than 90 days. He told us his sex, male and his race, a young Siberian Husky. An expensive dog that was introduced in China only a few years ago. Upon its introduction into the Chinese market, the cost for one Siberian Husky was around 10000 yuans, but today, the price has dropped to 1000 yuans.

He lost hair on his head, above his eyes. This is a typical symptom of canine parvovirosis.

The veterinary is smoking a cigarette and wearing Cultural Revolution jacket. He got his diploma in veterinary medicine in 1957.

The veterinary said: “If the dog doesn’t die within two days, he will live forever”. And then, the treatment began. He installed the solute.

But there was a problem with the solute. Some bubbles were stuck inside the tube.

But in the end, the veterinary successfully removed the bubbles.

The solute was successfully inserted.

It’s time for a cigarette break, after injecting the solute into the dog’s leg.

And now, the treatment.

After the shot, the veterinary administered the dog an oral medication. I was to be the one to administer the second dose the following morning, so the veterinary showed me how to secure the dog’s head in my hand and how to administer the medication directly on the gums.

Then, the dog was put back in the bag, so I could bring it home. The following morning, I was to administer myself the medication in my house and at 10am, I was to return to the veterinary clinic to have the dog get the second of three treatments.

At home, the dog made himself comfortable.

And he came to me. It was as if he understood what was going on. He knew that he was being saved, and he wanted to be caressed. To show me his ’gratitude’, he lied on his back as a sign of respect.

He was gradually growing stronger. He stood up and he walked around a little. Now he seemed willing to survive, which was not the case when we discovered him on the street. Ying suggested me to name him “Wiki”, because she thinks that I spend a lot of time on Wikipedia. Now Wiki had a name. There was no doubt in my mind anymore that he would survive. Only two difficult days were ahead, then I would have a healthy dog, that I would probably give to Ying’s mother, who wants to have a dog. I looked for some informations on the Internet (on Wikipedia!) about Siberian Huskies. Life expectancy: 15 years.

But little Wiki would not live that long. He lived at most three months. At one thirty, at night, I was awakened by a sound, which at first I thought was coming from the fridge, but when I went to check, I realized that it was Wiki who could not breathe anymore. His heartbeat slowed down gradually until completely stopping. He died in his sleep of heart failure.

I put him in the same garbage bag that he came from, and then in a box.

“This box contains a dog that died of a disease”.

Rest in peace.

The following afternoon, Wiki was gone.