I am one of the luckier Rescues... One of the Happy Tails!

I was born in a township, and although my family didn't just leave me on the dusty streets but handed me over at a Community Led Animal Welfare (CLAW) Outreach Clinic, I still felt very much abandoned.
 
The day I arrived (the 27th of January 2009) there was a new lady, D, wanting to do some voluntary work for CLAW, and she took a pic of me... 
 
She then bathed me and did the best she could to get some of the matting out of my hair. I loved the contact but battled with eye contact. I did not dare to hope... A day or two after my arrival I was released from the cage and put in the general CLAW population outside. And though I'm a bloke, I became the new bitch on the block... D came a couple more times that week, and seemed to take special care with me. Before she left on the 2nd of February, I heard her talking in hushed tones with the powers that be... And then I was put in a collar and on a leash... I just cowered, not understanding what to do (I had seen so many of my township friends in unsuitable chokechains and collars which often became infected or embedded (a huge cause of suffering and even death in township pets). Eventually I was carried out to D's little purple car. Another new experience for me... I found the vibrations on the floor the best and fell sound asleep.
 
So it was that I went into foster care! Next day I was taken to the poodle parlour and cut and coiffed... And a million pics of the new zhoozhed up me were taken and posted onto the Internet... Within hours a suitable forever home was found, only to be discovered that I WAS IN FACT HOME and there was no way D and the Pana clan could pass me on... We went to Walkhaven to celebrate and I jumped in and out the water and chased butterflies... I was kaput!
 
...And then I started coughing, reverse sneezing, real sneezing ... Wheezing and unable to catch my breath I was rushed at 2 in the morning to a 24hour Emergency vet. He callously said I had Distemper and should be dumped where I was adopted from and if I were still alive in three weeks time, then I could be collected. He gave me a jab of powerful antibiotics and a brochodilator which at least saved my life. D took me to CLAW's supervet the next day, and she reckoned that, as sick as I was, it was not Distemper ... But some weird mutation of kennel cough...and gave me all sorts of meds. Also it was organised for me to get a 3rd opinion from yet another vet. The next vet also diagnosed Distemper but added that it could be a false-positive test result from the bloodtest because I'd recently had my vaccinations. So the see-saw of life and death, hope and hopelessness went on. The coughing made me gag, the gagging made me vomit, I couldn't eat or drink and became weaker, and so I was put on a drip and D was shown how to work it and add the antibiotics to it. D wouldn't leave me at CLAW because there wasn't around-the-clock care, and many other diseases and parasites lurk in any shelter... And it is no place for pets to LIVE or DIE... She and her husband would carry the drip bag as I went outside to piddle and poo. (I never ever could do in inside, and even in a cage it was an issue as desperate as I'd become... Interestingly too, it took me a long time to do my business on the grass - we don't know grass in the townships, at least not THAT kind!).
 
Less than 24hours after the drip and many, many pills and potions (homeopathic powders and drops) finally I had a new lease on life. I went from strength to strength... I gained weight steadily (in fact some people now refer to me as a salad dodger... Although my family just see me as well-rounded!). I never developed any of the neurological symptoms and complications of Distemper and both the Pana-clan's other two dogs and D developed a nasty cough... So it seems distemper was not only the wrong prognosis but  disability and/or death was the wrong prognosis. Not only did I now have a forever home but I also have a future!
 
I now live a "Dog's Life"...I go for regular walkies and swims in dams... 

 

 
Holidays to far-away places...
 
I'm a Canine Good Citizen:
 
And I'm a spoilt brat:
 
I hope to live HAPPY and LONG because now I BELONG!
 
I feel now, I need  to chat to people to explain that life in s shelter is really not all it is cracked up to be... Even if it is the most caring bunch of people running it... We furry four-leggeds, need more than just nutrition and nurturing... We need to be cherished and adored as INDIVIDUALS. It is so hard at CLAW, or any other animal rescue shelter, to stand out and be counted... We are just one of the pack, and if not particularly ill or injured, it is easy for us to be over-looked, over-shadowed and over-run.  The other thing humans...even the most humane and clever ones, often don't realise, is that the chances for picking up a serious (potentially life threatening) illness or infection increases for every day one lives in a shelter!!! Apparently the chance of contracting Kennel Cough increases by 3% for every day one stays in a shelter. I got seriously ill just after I went home to the Pana clan... In fact I was knocking on doggy heaven's door (two independent vets even diagnosed Distemper... THANKFULLY they were not on the mark!). The hard truth is, that I may not have made it if I had been at a shelter. Most non-profit organisations don't have the funding for round-the-clock veterinary staff, not can they afford quarantine quarters (if we have contagious diseases or severe injuries requiring a completely sterile environment). Many of the CLAW bratpack had never been vaccinated until they got to CLAW... and sometimes then it is too late. Often my brothers and sisters have only drain water as drinking water and dustbins as food bowls, they are starved of nutrition as well as any human caring. They arrive at CLAW weak, ill and with compromised immune systems, and sometimes being saved doesn't guarantee survival... and also suiviving is not the same as LIVING. Newborn pups whose mothers were never innoculated are far more succeptible to the deadly diseases like Parvo Virus and Distemper... And so many of them cannot even suvive the awful parasitic infections they get... I have seen tiny pups die from worms, simply because they get de-wormed too late and have compromised immune systems because of neglect and malnourishment Another thing people don't realise about us CLAW kids (and many rescued animals) is that we become extremely well socialised... Cats, dogs, pups, kittens, staff, volunteers and community kids... We become one big pack. Of course if overcrowding happens or it rains for days on end, or perhaps someone new arrives that doesn't know where to toe the line - the potential for violence and fights break out amongst us... This is why so many shelter workers try SO hard to find everybody homes, and why you need to be tolerant and accepting if you get the same e-mail or facebook message a dozen times. Most of us envy the cute adorable pups and kittens... It is heartbreaking when a prospective adopter arrives and heads straight inside, not even looking over our fence to give a kind word or passing pat to any one of us. We all have had such tough lives, our tales are ones of abuse, neglect, disease, abandonment... But many of us in the end have HAPPY TAILS. We learn to love and trust again AND WE LIVE IN HOPE that we too will get a FOREVER home where we can be cherished and adored for US! Living is about LOVING and companionship, loyalty and trust... it's not about beating the odds or just surviving... I am now (to be honest) a spoilt little rich (well enriched) kid, but I will never forget my roots, and I will never forget the tough lessons life so far  has taught me. I  I am now so happy and healthy! I was vaccinated and neutered by CLAW (as is their policy) Must say, there was a little resentment there for a bit... hey I was just getting the hang of the pee-on-the-tree thing with lifted leg... I was getting good at it and was learning to branch out (and even alternate legs)... Anyway, as with everything CLAW does, it is for my own good! I see clearly that the need to breed is no good indeed... because while all these puppies are getting born, so many sweethearts like me are simply abandoned. Many of my CLAW buddies were picked up of rubbish dumps... Rummaging and scavenging to stay alive! Sadly there just aren't even close to enough homes around for all of us as it is! I do realise that I am one of the lucky ones and have been blessed with a home where I am nourished, nurtured, cherished and adored... I have the kind of life most dogs can only dream of. Finally I am living life and loving living!