I was so tired and exhausted, my body was in great pain, my stomach hurt so much. My hoomans had brought me to this vet but now for some reason they were all sitting in the car and ready to drive back home and they didn’t even let me in.
They drove away and I tried to chase them but my body hurt so much that I could not run after them to tell them to stop, to tell them to wait for me, to tell them to not leave me alone by myself here on the side of the road... maybe it was too late. I was getting seizures and all I could feel was a thick liquid coming out of my mouth. I could not move anymore, it felt so painful and the only thing I could do at that moment was close my eyes and try to get away from the pain. A little while later, two boys came near me, they were panicking and looked very stressed and upset, one of them took out their phone and called somebody and I was picked up and carried into a car.
They said they were taking me to a vet. They made more calls, I saw a horrified and worried
expression on their faces, I was vomiting and pooping blood, they said. The sky was dark and street lights were shining white light on the roads by the time they took me inside a building. They put me on the examination table, it felt cold and everybody was rushing
around me, but I felt my body getting more tired and more painful. That was when I knew, I could finally rest up a bit in the hopes that my pain will subside and the red liquid would stop leaking from my body.
* * *
It was 11:30 P.M. when I received a call from Fauna Police, the voice on the other end felt panic stricken and the voice call seemed urgent. I was told that a Labrador was abandoned near Moti Bagh Veterinary Clinic. He was found in a disturbing condition, the thought of it alone felt so painful, what might have happened to him, what might have had been done to him for him to suffer this way, I kept thinking. I had no time to spare, this was urgent. I rushed to the vet’s in the hopes that I could help him get another chance at life. Upon reaching to the hospital, there I saw him, with a lean and weak body. I saw the two boys there who had helped him get to the hospital. I thanked them for bringing him to the vet and relieved them of their duty of a selfless human. The kid looked so weak and frail and helpless, I thought to myself, it was a pity that his “family” did this to him. I asked the vet about his diagnosis. I was told that he was having seizures, had an empty stomach and was continuously vomiting and pooping thick blood. After further examination, I was told that he had epilepsy, hypoglycaemia, and gastroenteritis. He was in a terrible condition; I could not
believe that his “family” let him suffer for so long and until he developed so many serious ailments.
The vet gave him drips and medicines through it. He had to stay in the ICU for intensive care at least for three to four days. It was difficult to see him suffer that way, the only strong feeling I had about this was that he did not deserve it. I was hoping he’d get better soon and then I would find a home ready to adopt him after he gets all better. I left him for the night to rest and let the vets take care of him.
* * *
When my eyes opened, I saw the sunlight coming through the small window, I found myself in a room with other doggos and puppers, all of them looked weak and had tubes attached to their paws. I too, felt a pressure on my paw and realised that a thin tube was attached to my paw as well. I was feeling so much better, I felt like I had some energy to get up and move around. I finally mustered up all my strength and sat down, and saw a hooman approaching me with another hooman in blue scrubs. They looked so happy to see me, I wagged my tail, I was excited and happy to know someone was by my side. The new hooman spent some time with me and I felt a rush of energy inside of me to show him how grateful I was for their help. I knew I was in the right hands, I felt cared for.
* * *
I visited Sherlock in the afternoon, and I was met with a pleasant surprise. Sherlock was up and sitting there, wagging his tail when I went in with the vet to meet him. I was so happy to see him all better, I felt like at this rate of his recovery, he would get better at no time and I could start working on getting him adopted soon. I left the hospital after spending some time with him and the visiting hours were over anyway. My phone started buzzing when I was on my way back home, and heard the vet saying hurriedly that “Sherlock had a cardiac arrest”, is what I was told when I picked the call. Learning about this terrifying turn of events, I could feel my own heart trying to leap out of my chest out of worry and panic. The vets somehow managed to revive him and I had no choice but to rush back to the hospital.
* * *
After the hooman left, I could feel my body get heavy and I felt as though I was losing control of myself, I could only see black and then I felt limp. A sudden rush of energy was being pushed inside and outside of me and I came back with a huge puff of air coming out of my mouth. The hoomans in the scrubs were too close to me and I saw them take a huge sigh of relief. I was feeling dizzy but I was not sure what had happened. But I could calmy take some rest again. Although, for some reason, I felt a lot weaker than before and it felt even more difficult to breathe. The hoomans put a mask on my face and only then I felt somewhat more at ease. I was still in pain though, a lot of pain. I saw the new hooman come in rushing, he looked so scared and hurt. And he looked at me with eyes full of worry and anxiety. He then talked to the scrubs hoomans; they were saying something I couldn’t hear.
* * *
I couldn’t believe my eyes, the doggo who looked so much better and healthier until a while ago, how could he suddenly get so ill? I felt my heart cracking, I could not bear to see him that way. “He did not deserve this”, was the thought that kept repeating in my mind. The vets told me that they needed to do a check up on him. He was having trouble breathing, and he had to be given artificial oxygen. The scans and tests revealed that his kidneys had completely failed, and the vets said that he was in too much pain.
I… was witnessing something that wouldn’t have happened had his family cared for him even a bit. I wondered what his fault was for his family to not care about him, so much so that they didn’t even feed him, so much that he ended up here, all alone with so many ailments, so much so that… they left him for dead, and did not even look back. I wondered why Sherlock had to pay the price for his “family’s” mistakes. Thinking about this made my heart crack a little more. The vets suggested that he was going through too much, and it would only be wise to let him cross the rainbow bridge.
I knew that wanting him to stay alive would only mean that I was fulfilling my wish which would have been selfish to say the least, but this was not about me, the best I could do for him was to let him go and give him freedom from his pain. He had been through too many hardships. Accepting this alone, broke my heart into pieces.
* * *
All hoomans around me looked very upset, they had a defeated and dejected look on their faces. I knew that they were thinking about easing my pain and maybe they were about to let me go. I did not want to fight it; they were doing the best for me. I was about to meet my other frens after all. I felt at ease, at my final moments here, these hoomans I never knew before tried to do the best for me and that was good enough to make me feel happy and loved.
Letting a doggo go, was the last thing we wanted to do, but it was perhaps the best thing we could do for him. This is Sherlock’s story. We couldn’t write a part two for him but we hope to give the happy ending many doggos like Sherlock deserve.