Flood

This is the Secretary thanking everyone who have been concerned of our situation in the midst of the devastation happening in our country. For someone who has been shielded all her life from calamity, the past three days have been surreal for me that I did not have the knee jerk reaction to blog about it.

We are safe inside our house, the flood missed it by a foot thanks to the elevated flooring. But the dog's pad was not spared. But then, in the middle of the raging typhoon last Saturday, we have already relocated the dogs one by one to the Pet Clinic where the ground is higher.

For two days, we had no electricity, telephone lines or mobile phone signals. We had no contact with the outside world. Our food supply, toiletries, and batteries were dwindling. In order to access the main high way leading to commercial areas, the residents in our subdivision had to pass places where the water was chest deep. We were trapped inside our homes.

On the second day of the power outage, when our ice supply started to drop, the Animal Doctor and our assistant veterinarian decided to brave the flood to bring the vaccines and other biologicals to a nearby village which had electricity. It took them close to six hours to and fro. On their way, they spotted dead dogs floating in the water.

On Monday, when the electricity came back, I saw on national television how far worse the disaster was . Over a hundred people died. Many are still missing. I saw people trapped inside their homes with no food and water. Poor people, rich people, calamity does not choose. When I saw animals trapped, my heart cried out. So many people still needed rescuing, I would risk condemnation if I would even as much plea for the government to help animals too.

I have not been able to go to work for two days now. The flood is not subsiding. I have been accustomed to the comforts of life. But today, when the Animal Doctor rode a large dump truck to get out of the subdivision to replenished our supplies, we had to stick to the basics~rice, canned goods, coffee, sugar, toiletries~ things that he could carry back.

I apologize to all our blogger friends if we cannot visit your blog for a while. I will have to wade in the flood to go to the Pet Clinic where we have internet connection. The is what I saw when I came here this afternoon.


Life is so short and fragile, that's what I learned from all these. Everything can be taken away from you in a glimpse. Lets all hug our loved ones today.

First Update on my wheely dream

Oh, but before that, I have some breaking news. There is a huge flood in Metro Manila, Philippines, where we live, due to Typhoon Ondoy. In low lying areas where the flood reached heights of more than twelve feet, people were rescued from their roof tops, while some were found dead. In our street, the water is knee deep but our hooman's house was spared due to an elevated flooring. Yesterday, Moy, Jappy, Trudis, Bambi and Woody were carried one by one to our nearby Pet Clinic after the flood threatened to enter their doggy pad. Electricity came back just this afternoon, but cellphones still do not have any signal. I'm crossing my paws that the flood will go away soon. I know Trudis hates it very much to live in the Pet Clinic ( I bet she is wailing there right this minute). Most of all, it makes me sad that a lot of hoomans and pets have lost their houses and are in a very difficult situation right now.

For my update - we got another email from the kind lady at the Labrador Life Line. She got my measurements for a full quad wheelchair, and other documents to help her get an approval for my funding. The deal is, if I do get approved( paws crossed!), I will have to shoulder 25% of the cost of the wheelchair. Of course we are already grateful with this arrangement. Better than nothing at all. The Secretary will come up with some ideas how to raise the remaining amount we need. We will appreciate if you have any ideas to share.

I am so grateful for all the doggies who left comments and wished me luck with my wheelchair or gave me helpful information. Life With Dogs told other doggies about me in via Tweeter. Then I also got an email from someone who would like to donate an existing set of wheels for me. The Secretary already emailed her to know if the wheelchair will fit me and will be appropriate for my limitations. Again, paws crossed!

Since today, there was no electricity and I was the only dog trapped with the hoomans inside our house, I got extra pampering. The Secretary massaged my legs and gave me lots of treats. I slept all day and wasnt even scared of the rain.

~ its me, Scarlet

A wheely dream

Its me Scarlet with some exciting news! The Secretary sent out several applications for financial assistance from non profit organizations based abroad, with the hopes of getting me a functional wheelchair this time. Today we got an email from a volunteer at Labrador Life Line who said she will present our application to the Board. We know the state of the 'conomy these days so our expectations are not very high, but we consider ourselves lucky that the LLL would even consider helping a dog from the Philippines.

I wasted no time digging for photos in our post archives because I need to submit several recent photos of myself, along with my health record. Please cross your paws!

This is how I ended up at Greenwoods Pet Clinic...

When I was a little pup, I hurt my feet. Next thing I know, my legs stopped working. Then other parts of me stopped working too, specifically, my poop machine.

Fast forward to the day when the Animal Doctor and his wife, the Secretary, took me home to live with them. My original mom and dad decided they could not take care of Scarlet anymore.

My new family took care of me-

and my special needs.

The Secretary even made me a wheelchair from scratch ( unfortunately it didn't work). Since the Animal Doc operated on me, I have been regularly making poopies, but my legs remained busted. My front legs followed suit. I could not even use them when the Secretary tries to "walk" me with a towel placed under my tummy. The Animal Doc said I need to see a veterinary specialist, but I know the Secretary has just enough money to feed me and my brothers and sisters ( there are 20 of us dogs and kitties that she adopted).

So I try to be happy lying on my tummy all day long

With my toys

and pig's ears-

in my soft, comfortable bed.

But whenever I hear my brothers and sisters playing outside, I feel this urge to hurl myself out of our kitchen door...

So I could play with them,

In a game of bitey face or two.

And run so fast and free,

just like how I remember it in my puppy days.
I would give anything to be able to run again.

Dear God in DogHeaven,

Please, pretty please make my dreams of a wheelchair come true.

Lost Dog, Needs Medicine

co·in·ci·dence (k-ns-dns, -dns)

n.

1. The state or fact of occupying the same relative position or area in space.

2. A sequence of events that although accidental seems to have been planned or arranged.

Cases of lost dogs are not uncommon in our community. Once, I even participated in a search and rescue mission( well, it was just me and the maid) that was for all intents and purposes, a search for a needle in the haystack. Imagine my delight with the case of Bamboo*, the next door labradude who went missing approximately two weeks ago and was reunited with his family last Sunday due to sheer good luck.

On Sunday, a black adult labrador went to our pet clinic for routine vaccinations and deworming. According to the client, her dog named "Bart"* went MIA for six months and only reappeared last week. Clueless of what had happened to Bamboo, the Animal Doc did not notice anything strange with this new patient. It was at that moment, however, when one of Bamboo's humans passed by our clinic. She was always interested with the happenings inside the pet clinic, but this time she saw and heard someone very, very familiar.

What followed was a scene reminiscent of a story in the Bible. Two women fighting over a black labrador: one had tears in her eyes, pleading that the labrador was the family dog Bamboo; and the other, had a death grip on the leash, insisting that the labrador was her long lost dog Bart. The Animal Doctor was too bewildered to be Solomonic. In the end, the client managed to walk out with the labrador.

Dismayed, our neighbors ( the entire family) pleaded for the Animal Doctor to give them his client's address. This was one of those sticky situations when the Animal Doctor would seek my legal opinion. But this was not just about the legality of disclosing client information. I knew how AWFUL our neighbors must have felt, I once lost a pet too. Even as a human, I found myself emphatizing with Bamboo and feeling his helplessness at not being able to say "yes, its me Bamboo, please get me!"

It was a good thing that when I checked, there was no Philippine law nor jurisprudence mandating client confidentiality in the practice of veterinary medicine.

Bamboo's family and the client were able to negotiate in a civilized manner, thank God. The latter only asked for a reimbursement of veterinary expenses incurred for "Bart". That rainy evening, the labradude known in our neighborhood as Bamboo returned, his deep howls filling Mimosa Street once more.

* Names of the dogs were withheld to protect their privacy and that of their humans.

Not all stories have happy endings. I hope you never have to put up a sign like this in your whole life.

by: The Secretary