My Canine Cuties

My summer vacation arrived and I was so eager to return home to spend time with my cute doggies Rock and Linda. They were Dachshunds, I loved them. They were so naughty. I bought them from a pet shop. They had full brown coat, a long body and short legs. They were shy when I brought them home; little by little they began to play with me. They cuddled closer to me while sleeping, they used to chew newspapers, my dad got irritated by that, but on seeing their innocent eyes he wouldn’t do anything.

My mom loved them a lot. She fed them on time. Dad and I took them for walks. They chased grasshoppers and other insects in the garden. Even though, they were little they were so brave. As they grew up, their naughtiness increased. Rock stole garlic and onions from our kitchen and hid it under his bed. Linda hid chicken bones and other small objects in the ground; I used to do investigation of that. It was so fun. After my college reopened, I was so sad to leave them. I was waiting for summer vacation and it arrived and was very excited to play with them.

      I left my hostel, bid goodbye to all my friends and went home. My dad picked me up from the Railway station. I arrived home and when my mom opened the door

“Yap, yap” the two puppies ran and humped at my legs,

“Hello you two cuteeeeessss”

I lifted them and kissed them. They licked all over my face. I was so delighted.

“Welcome back home honey”

 My mom greeted me with a warm hug. The puppies wouldn’t leave me. I refreshed and took the puppies to the garden and played with them. I bought them two brand new collars, red one for Linda and Blue for Rock. They were so happy and excited.

“Yip, yip” they cried in joyfulness.

I was so eager to celebrate their first birthday. I decided to get their favorite ice creams and cakes. Rock loved Pistachio and Linda loved Butterscotch flavor ice creams. Both loved White forest cake so much.

      Days passed with merry. One day mom told me that Linda didn’t had her lunch also didn’t drank tea on that evening. I didn’t take it seriously. The next day, I and dad went for shopping. When we returned home, I was shocked that Linda was lying on the mat so tiredly; she was unable to walk, “What happened to you Lindie?” I patted her head; she rested her head on my palm. After some time she vomited. I cleaned that, again she vomited. She was weak; she neither ate nor drank anything. Rock was so sad, “Yip, yip” he cried.

The next day Dad and I took her to the veterinarian, Dr. Anish. He examined her and told us that she was affected by Parvo virus, a most dangerous virus. He asked us whether we vaccinated her. “Yes” I replied, on hearing that he was intrigued, as mostly vaccinated puppies was immune to Parvo virus; at times vaccinated ones would get affected and he started the treatment. He called the nurse and asked us to lay her on the table. He injected IV fluid through her vein to increase the blood glucose, she winced in pain “Yip, yip”

I patted her head, “Don’t worry Linda, you will be fine” tears rolled over my cheek; Doctor gave some other medications and asked to give egg white as food. I and dad took her home, she didn’t seemed to be normal, Mom cooked some egg white and gave her to eat, but she didn’t even smelled it. Her conditioned worsened, she suffered from prolonged vomiting, I cleaned her and laid her on her bed. Rock was so sad, he didn’t eat anything. He cried “yip,yip” on seeing Linda. The next day she pooed blood. She suffered from bloody diarrhea. We cleaned her up and took her to the vet; he was surprised that the conditioned got worsened. He said that bloody diarrhea was the fatal symptom of Parvo disease. He injected IV fluids for two hours and asked to bring her for the next five days, to continue the treatment; and told us that her condition was very serious, she had only little chances of survival. My heart sank, all of us were sad.

The next morning, Mom saw Rock vomiting, we were afraid that he might be also affected by the virus, so Dad and I took him to the vet along with Linda, to our surprise he told that Rock was also affected by that virus. My heart broke, I was speechless. “Why this is happening?” I questioned myself and was worried. Doctor injected IV fluids for both. We brought them back home, Dad carried Linda and I carried Rock, we laid them on their beds. They slept, later I brought them some water and fed them through nipple bottle. I cried tears rolled down my cheek, on seeing that Linda tilted her head and licked my tears; I was so amused on seeing her affection. I smiled and stayed with them.

      The next morning I woke up and saw that Rock was unresponsive. I checked his breath and was shocked to find that he was dead. I couldn’t control my emotions, I cried aloud; hearing my cry Dad and Mom came in and was so sad to see Rock dead. Dad buried him, near a tree in our backyard. Darkness consumed that day. Then, we took Linda to the hospital, the vet was sad on hearing Rock’s death, he said that sometimes the Parvo virus could cause heart attacks in puppies and cause death, I nodded. Back home, Linda wasn’t improving. I thought that Linda would also die like Rock. My mind didn’t rest. I searched about the complications of Parvo virus in internet; I was shocked to find that only one percent dogs survived it.

      With ache in heart, we took Linda to the vet next day, Linda excreted bloody diarrhea in the clinic, and I panicked. The doctor suggested that Linda might survive. On the next day, her vomiting was stopped, and that gave me a relief. After the treatment, she somewhat appeared to be active “Yip, yip” she cried on seeing another dog at the clinic. I was so happy. Little by little her condition improved and by the twelfth day she was cured. All of us were very happy that Linda survived the Parvo virus. After some days, she began to eat and drink little. Later she was normal and was full of energy. I felt like a new energy had come to me on watching her running and barking. “You’re back Linda! Thank god” I hugged and kissed her.

She was excited, “Yip, yip” she licked all over my face. Dad and mom were so happy; Mom said that we had only two days for her first birthday. Hearing that a sudden darkness consumed me, thoughts of Rock filled me, my Mom seeing my grief, comforted me and told me not to worry and to be happy as we had Linda with us, I wiped my tear of pain and we celebrated Linda’s birthday, she was so happy. Thus my summer vacation was bitter first and ended sweet.