Last Saturday, I discovered that Lucky, one of my two dogs, was sick after it refused to eat. The female dog normally has a good appetite and when it did not even glance at the bowl of food I served, I was really worried.
Yesterday morning, I decided to take not only Lucky but also Cookie, another younger male dog, to the veterinary clinic.
Since I did not know why Lucky was sick and why it vomited yesterday morning, I thought it was safer to take both dogs, my best friends, to the vet.
When I rushed to the veterinary clinic where Lucky and Cookie had been treated for past ailments before, I was surprised to find it closed.
I do have the veterinary clinic card somewhere in the house. If I had looked at it, I would have known that it was closed on Sunday.
But I did not look at it and that was why my 19-year-old niece and I ended up with two dogs on leashes outside the veterinary clinic at Jalan Tun Jugah at about 10.30am.
The car ride from my house to the clinic was quite traumatic for me, my niece and the dogs.
Before we began our journey, my niece had laid out sheets of newspapers on the car seats. During the journey, which lasted about 20 minutes, the dogs changed places a few times. Initially, they sat with my niece in the back seat as I drove the car.
Half way through the journey, Cookie vomited and luckily, I had brought along a big plastic bag and a piece of rag. It jumped from the back seat to the front passenger seat where it continued to pant and salivate.
According to dog whisperer, Cesar Milan, dogs are prone to motion sickness. This was something I learnt too late.
Standing outside the closed door of the veterinary clinic, I had to make a choice – either go home and return another day or look for another veterinary clinic and have the dogs treated.
As I drove the car to another veterinary clinic at Tabuan Road, I prayed that it would be open.
We arrived at the clinic just as one of the staff was about to close the clinic door. It was not even noon yet.
“Is the clinic still open?” I asked him. “Yes, if you come in now,” he replied.
The minute my niece and I and the dogs were inside the clinic, the staff locked the door. My dogs were the last customers for the day.
I was glad to discover from the veterinarian that Lucky was not suffering from distemper, a viral disease which affected the gastrointestinal, respiratory and central nervous systems in dogs.
Lucky was instead suffering from a tick-borne disease. The veterinarian gave it an injection and some pills.
I also requested for Cookie to be vaccinated against distemper. The veterinarian suggested that the dog be given deworming tablets.
I left the veterinary clinic about RM180 poorer but happier. When you love your dogs as much as I do, you do not mind spending money to make your best friends are healthy again.
I have lost a few dogs in the past to distemper and other illnesses and even today, I still miss Buddy, Bobby and Tiger who were like members of my family.
Believe me, my friends, losing a pet can be heartbreaking. That is the truth straight from my heart.
My friends, if you have to send your dogs to the vet, try to do so on other days except Sunday.
