A GENEROUS DOG

My elder son informed me about a dog who was acting as a foster father to this orphan kitten. He told me that one can often find the little kitten sleeping on this dog’s oversized furry tail and you try to take a peep, the dog generally gets angry fearing disturbance. I took it as one of those cooked up tale from my son as kids of his age group generally come up with such imaginative stories and funniest tales.
But when I witnessed it myself, I didn’t find it amusing. I rather found it amazing and it was true. This kitten was merrily sleeping over rather unusually overgrown and fury tail of this old and fragile looking dog. I thought of clicking a picture but due to my own busy schedule and also dullness, this opportunity was missed. This dog was a kind heated soul and the kids around occasionally fed it with bread and leftovers. I kept hearing occasionally about it from my son. He even forced me to buy tick powder fearing that the dog was suffering. That’s a different story that the tick powder is still lying in the cupboard unused.

Months passed since then and one of these days, which also happened to be occasion of Diwali, I was going for my routine morning walk along with my spouse, when we encountered our building’s sweeper. I wished him happy Diwali and expected the same in return. He however informed me that one dog is lying injured in our building’s parking lot for last 1-2 days and will probably die and stink thereafter. He wanted me to inform the concerned authorities to arrange lifting of the dog so that his headache is over. We heard him and after we completed the walk, we decided to have a look at the dog. We were terrified to see that it was same old and kind dog and his one of the leg which was probably bitten by another dog had developed gangrene with flies and maggots all over it. I immediately brought Betadine solution that I keep with me for emergencies and some broad spectrum antibiotic mixed in the milk. It was probably too late as the dog was in extreme pain and could not even lift it’s head to drink milk though he had been lying there without food for last 2-3 days. Betadine solution certainly helped the wound atleast in a way that the flies kept away due to it’s smell. I then called volunteers from a NGO called PALS which generally take care of stray animals in our area. They wre prompt and within 30 minutes, two young volunteers were at building’s doorstep. It was probably a late call and they assessed that the dog was in final stages with low heart rate and extreme pain. The maggots had entered all over his body including eyes. The gangrene also probably had affected other parts. The dog was put to a peaceful sleep by the volunteer by giving an injection to save it from further agony. We sprinkled Gangajal over it praying to the god for it’s soul to rest in heaven away from the agony of this mortal life as it was such a generous and kind soul.
I still remember a dog with a small kitten sleeping merrily on it’s furry tail and regret not clicking a picture that day.