Wednesday, April 25, 2018

It's now the 9th day since Kosbaar has come to live with us.  She still spends quite a bit of time in her kennel (after all, she is still a patient and needs lots of rest after her ordeals), but smiles and wags her tail whenever she sees us.  Her appetite is very good, and she is quiet - so far we heard her bark only once, that was at dawn, several days ago.  I went outside to see why she was barking, and realized that she had heard our neighbour going to his car.  I spoke to her, said it was okay, and she went back into her kennel.  When she's recuperated well, we'll start training her to only bark when necessary.  We don't want her to annoy our neighbours by barking at every bit of movement and noise.

Initially, when we found her, her body was full of ulcers.  But because of her weakened condition, she probably did not have the energy to bother about it.  Now that she's getting better, she tends to scratch them severely, often until they bleed.  On Sunday morning Pierre went to the emergency chemist and bought a soothing ointment for the ulcers.  But as soon as it's been applied, she starts licking it, and they end up bleeding again.  Then we noticed that in the mornings, when we remove her jacket, the ulcers look less inflamed.  But a few minutes later, they're back to being inflamed and some even bleeding.  We came to the conclusion that the jacket (apart from keeping her warm during the cold nights) also helps prevent her from licking the ulcers.  So now I made her another jacket (again from one of her gift blankets), so we can leave it on during the day too, and can wash and rotate the jackets.  Hopefully it will help the ulcers to heal sooner, and with our weather becoming cooler by the day, the timing suits us.  We still continue with her medicated shampoo twice a week, as prescribed by the vet.

Here below is a snapshot of Kosbaar in her new jacket. 




Riana

Friday, April 20, 2018


Friday, 20 April 2018


Kosbaar has been with us now for 4½ days.  She rests a lot (enjoys her kennel) and had her 2nd bath today with special medicated shampoo for her skin condition.  She seems relaxed, and smiles and wags her tail a lot.






Whereas during the first two days she looked ravenous each time we fed her, she is now eating more 'decently'.  Perhaps she's starting to realize that the food won't disappear if she does not gobble it down fast.

Last night it was quite cold, so today I made her a coat, because she has so little hair.  It's slightly oversized, but it should keep her snug during the night.  Pierre captured it on video when I put on her coat for the very first time.





Wednesday, April 18, 2018

KOSBAAR (PRECIOUS) - STORY OF A RESCUED STRAY DOG

On Saturday afternoon (14th of April 2018) my husband (Pierre) and I were driving along the Theronsberg Pass road, about 21 km outside of Ceres, when we saw an animal crossing the road (in an unsteady gait).  At first we thought it looked like a hyena, but as we passed, we saw that it was a dog - but VERY neglected.  The type of animal one does not even want to see in pictures, because it breaks ones heart.  We stopped immediately, because it is unthinkable to leave any animal in such a condition.
She immediately started walking towards us, but clearly she was afraid (because of possible abuse previously?).  Moments later another vehicle passed us, then turned around and stopped.  It was Rassie and Malinda Bester from Wolseley. They had passed the dog moments before us, then turned around and came back to help her.

The dog did not want to come close to us, but sought shelter underneath our vehicle.  We tried getting her to come out from under the car, but to no avail.  I knelt behind the car, and spoke to her.  The fact that her tail was moving (ever so slightly) indicated to me that she would possibly not bite.  We offered her some water (in the cut-off bottom of a plastic cool-drink bottle), but she ignored it.  Also did not want a piece of bread.  She was possibly too weak (and perhaps afraid) to eat and drink, so I dipped my fingers in the water and moistened her lips and gums.  After doing that several times, she licked the moisture from her lips.  Pierre slowly drove the car forwards, so we could get closer to her.  She did not resist.
The poor animal was in a terrible state, and surely stood no chance of surviving for more than a day or two, if she did not get help urgently!  The expression in her eyes was that of pain, rejection, desperation, uncertainty and fear - but there was also a glimmer of hope.  Her poor body did justice to the expression, "bag of bones"!  Virtually every bone in her body was clearly visible and palpable, and her skin, which to a large extent was depleted of hair, had a rhino-like appearance, was broken and had ulcers in several places, some of which were bleeding. We could see fleas and ticks moving around in the little hair she had left.  







Malinda called the veterinarian and spontaneously offered to pay the bill.  But it will surely amount to a few thousand rand, so we decided to pay half of it.  The vet said that she would see the dog as soon as we could get her to the animal hospital.  Our new friends helped us lift the dog into the back of our station wagon, where Pierre had spread out a groundsheet.



Dr. Hannelu de Villiers treated her with lots of compassion.  Put up an intravenous infusion, and gave her several medications e.g. a painkiller, antibiotic (she had a fever), and the first of several treatments for her skin condition and ticks and fleas.  Also took a blood smear to test for possible tick-bite fever.  All the time the dog showed no resistance, and Pierre and I kept stroking her gently.

After the initial treatment, we gently lifted her into a kennel.  After having washed our hands and forearms well with germicidal soap, I went back to where she was lying in the kennel.  When she saw me, she wagged her tail very definitely, about 10 cm high with each wag - that made my day!! :-)

After our previous dogs had passed away, we decided that we would not get another dog again, unless one crosses our path, and had nowhere else to go.  She has crossed our path both literally, as well as figuratively.  Now we know that God has sent her to us, so we can take care of her.  We still had the dog kennel from our previous dog, and our new friends gave her blankets as a "welcome" gift when we fetched her from the animal hospital. After only a few hours in her new home, her bare, sunburnt doggy-face started smiling. 
It's now been three days since her discharge from the hospital, where she was treated for almost 48 hours, and she seems to adapt well. At this stage we're still giving her 4 small meals a day, so her body can gradually get used to it.  She enjoys walking with us around the yard, she's eating well, and the only fear I have, is that her tail may come off ... because of all the wagging!  :-)  The road to full recovery will be long, especially as far as her outward appearrance is concerned. 
Somewhere I read or heard something to this extent:  "You may not make a difference to the world, but perhaps you can make the world's difference to one being."  We feel privileged that we can make a difference in this dog's life.  We are also thankful for the kind and compassionate emergency treatment Dr. De Villiers gave her, without which she probably would not have survived.  Our thanks also goes to Rassie and Malinda who helped us with her, in more than one way.
This foundling is precious to us, and will always be. "Precious" would have been an appropriate name, but since Afrikaans is our mother tongue, we named her “Kosbaar”.

Riana Joubert