Diabetic Dog

One day a saint from a temple nearby brought a lovely dog (which was a mixed breed of a stray and golden retriever). A handsome guy, but unfortunately was diabetic. Apparently he was fed every morning with a big Ladoo (which was obviously made with sugar and lots of ghee). This 'Prasad' was offered to this dog every morning. One day he fell ill and no medicine would help him recuperate. He was admitted in our shelter and our vet patiently tried every medication to treat the dog, but in vain. On diagnosing, we discovered that it was highly diabetic and that it was incurable. Every day the priest from the temple would visit the dog and spent some time talking to it and petting it. However, one day the dog died in its sleep. This was a sad day for all of us and the priest was uncontrollable.

SBM

SBM (Single Black Male) was the name given to this baby buffalo. A warm and gentle creature who was picked up from the streets as a hit-and-run case. We had to treat him for some major injuries and also castrate him. Every day at 1.00 p.m. he would walk to the window which was behind my desk in the office. He would push his wet nose and sniff and snort to announce his arrival. I used to feed him 2 chappatis (which of course was not sufficient for his diet J)), but perhaps served as a snack. 

The ritual continued every day, and soon I did not have to check my watch for my lunch time. At the stroke of 1.00 p.m., I would have this wet nose snorting and sniffing through the window and I would feed the 2 customary chappatis. The sweet and gentle looking SBM would just stroll around the campus, checking on the other inmates and minding his own business the rest of the day.

Minkey

Not Original Minley and Ma

This was one of my cherished rescues. I remember it raining heavily and we received a call for the Railway Administrative Quarters, stating that there was an abandoned baby monkey which had fallen from a tree. Along with my driver of the ambulance, l went to the rescue the monkey with great apprehension. The rains had blocked and flooded the roads and it was difficult to reach the quarters. However, once we reached, we swung into action. The family had carefully wrapped the little one, since the baby monkey was completely drenched.

At the shelter, we prepared a large cage and put in a branch with leaves, to give the monkey a ‘’homely’’ atmosphere. We decided to call it minkey (based on Peter Sellers movie-Pink Panther).  We tied a red ribbon on its neck to give it a nice look.

Every morning, I would feed it bananas, actually I used to peal a banana in front of it and it followed the action and learned to eat the same. We fed it on some other fruits and it started linking wafers (which of course was given very rarely).

We used to remove its cage and place it in the sun while cleaning the shelter. One day we saw a group of monkeys coming and sitting on a well which was lose to the shelter. They used to chatter and minkey used to respond to the same. These visits started becoming regular and minkey started looking forward to the same. After a lot of deliberations, one day, we decided to release minkey from the cage and hand it over to the group of visitors, specifically to one female (who I assumed was its mother).

With a heavy heart and apprehensions, my team and I gently took minkey to the well and waited for the reactions from the group. It was such a wonderful sight when the female just engulfed minkey in her arms, and minkey likewise hugged the mother.

Immediately the whole gang left the shelter with minkey (with her red ribbon). On the one hand, it was very a very sad day for us, but on the other, minkey found a family and which would care for it.

Lalyo

One of the gentlest and kindest dogs I have ever seen, despite his fierce look. Lalyo was rescued from Shiv Mahal, when one of our well-wishers called and said that there is this huge dog, could we come and take it to the shelter. Initially we were all apprehensive when we saw Lalyo, and I suspect he was equally reluctant and apprehensive to see us. We used a muzzle to close his mouth and took him in our van to the shelter. The first week was tough for both, Lalyo and us. Every day I would go to the place where he was tied and talk to him. He would look at me with his soulul and gentle eyes. This routine, helped me to get closer to Lalyo and win his confidence and Lalyo also started looking forward to these sessions. This 2-way interaction helped both of us to accept each other and soon Lalyo decided to accept his new home and settled very well. Children who visited the shelter would feel happy petting the wonderful , gentle and gigantic Lalyo.

Ruby the Bitch

Ruby was the one of the 1^st rescues that I attended when I started working with an SPCA. She was abandoned at the gates of one of our Executive Member in Alkapuri along with 6 puppies. We did not have a driver for our ambulance, so I took one of our helpers (Khodabhai) and went in an auto rickshaw. Initially Ruby was very scared and protective of her pups, which was quite understandable. For me it was my 1^st rescue, expect for loving animals, there was no other experience whatsoever, and I guess it was the same for Khodabhai. However, all the 3 of us braved it, trusted one another and ensured that the rescue was completed without any mishaps.

Ruby was brought to the shelter, and fed, bathed, vaccinated and over a period of time she became a friendly dog walking like a queen. Ruby was not in any way worried about her crooked ears or her (so-called) not so pretty face. She use to strut along the campus, stare in to every other four-legged creatures, threw her authority around.

Every day when I went on my rounds she would walk along and inspect (go alone knows what) and have that satisfying look which probably said, Ok everything seems to be under control”. However, one thing that bothered was her scabies, which did not seem to reduce or vanish with all the medications that she was administered to.

Solution came in the form of a student from a homeopathic college student, who said that he would give us some medication, which may help Ruby. After consulting my vet, we saw that with homeopathy we were not going to lose anything. The medicine worked wonders and Ruby got a nice brown shine and smooth hair which helped in reducing scabies.