Why didn't you slow down?

Did you not see me running across the road? Why didn’t you slow down? I was tired . . . .I was on heat . . . . there were so many male dogs chasing me, taking turns to mate with me. I had spent days on end, running, just to get away from them. It was painful and I was scared.

Male dogs taking turns to mount the black dog (Venus)

Carried onto the table for examination

I ran across the road to get away from the pack of at least 8 males dogs, taking their turns on me. I had not eaten for days because the minute I stood to walk, or the instance I stopped running, they were on me again. Didn’t you see me running across the road? I was terrified, tired and hungry.

Examined by Dr Carmelia

Your car hit me at a very high speed, causing my hip bone to be pushed out of its socket and I was dragged a few metres on the road. I expected you to slow down and help me or carry me to the side of the road, but instead, you drove off as if nothing happened. It was as if I felt no pain, had no feelings and that I was not hurt. The pain when you hit me was indescribable, didn’t you hear me cry out? After your car hit me, despite all the pain, I had to quickly drag myself up and run because I was afraid of being hit again, and I needed to get away from the many male dogs who were after me yet again. They had been after me for the past one week and I was exhausted.

Unable to stand even on her tiny frame

I dragged myself into the woods where I hid for many days, away from the cruel and frightening world. Despite the scorching sun and the cold rain, I was in too much pain to even move. I lost a lot of weight as every move I made sent excruciating pain through my weak body. I could not go to the bins to rummage for food, my hunger pangs worse than ever. I wondered if it was better that you had killed me when your car hit me, instead of hitting me at high speed and dragging my body on the rough hot road.

Abrasions all over her thin body

I suffered a miscarriage and lost my puppies shortly after you cruelly ran into me with your car. Perhaps it was better that way. Perhaps it was better that I didn’t have puppies and they didn’t come into this harsh world where humans didn’t think animals could feel pain and suffering.

After hiding for more than a week in the woods, I dragged myself back to the car workshop, where I was born. I rested in the workshop, safe, and away from the world outside, but when the workshop closed, I had to drag myself into the woods to hide again. I was afraid of the world, afraid of humans.

Assuring Venus she is finally in safe hands

By the volunteers
We saw two puppies, less than 2 months old, playing on the roads one weekend and we thought perhaps we could catch them and try to rehome them. Puppies generally have a better chance of finding a home.

The following weekend we went back to the same place with our pet carriers to try to catch the puppies. They were playing inside a car workshop. We asked the workers if we could take them but the workers said that their boss had wanted to keep and raise the puppies. So we provided them with a small bag of kibbles, some canned food and left. While walking to our car, a mechanic came over and told us that there was an injured dog that occasionally came to their workshop to rest in the afternoon. He said that the dog was bleeding and smelled really bad. We were concerned and asked him for the dog’s description. He told us that it was a black dog, with no tail. We immediately knew which dog he was referring to because we had been feeding her since she was a two month old puppy and we had actually not seen her for the past three weeks and our concerns were growing. In fact, in that last three weeks, we had gone to the workshops more often than usual, just to search for her as we were worried something might have happened to her.

We gave him our contact numbers and told him to call us if he saw her, no matter what time and we would rush down to take her to the Vet.

It was almost a week after we spoke, that he called, on a Monday night. We had just concluded our Dinner with your Dogs event and were in the midst of packing up. It was 10.30pm and the mechanic told us that the injured dog was in his workshop resting under a lorry. We told him to keep his eye on her, while we hurriedly packed and rushed down. Rosina, the animal communicator, was with us, as we were rushing to the workshop and did not have time to send her home.

A mass of bones

When we arrived, we saw the black dog resting under a lorry inside the workshop, blood flowing out of her anus, and we could see how emaciated she was. As we approached, she hobbled upstairs to the office, to run away from us. It was obvious she was familiar with the workshop as she knew exactly where to go. We told the worker to close the roller shutters at the entrance of the workshop, so that she could not escape. With a towel, a catch pole and a leash in hand, we had her cornered into a small area in the office where she could not escape. Obviously she was in great pain and fear.  Her natural instinct was to bite us, to protect herself. We took one and a half hours to calm her down, using our skills in animal communication, we told her we were there to help. Finally we managed to put the leash around her neck and carry her into the pet carrier. By then, it was past midnight and we had no choice but to take her to the A&E at Mt Pleasant.

Initially hiding under the lorry

Just arrived at the Vet

She was then examined by Dr Carmelia. X-ray of her hips were done, blood samples taken and she was immediately put on drip as she was a mass of skin and bones and terribly dehydrated. Her injury was estimated to be more than two weeks old as her hip bone had started to fuse back into the wrong position! Imagine having to live with so much pain in what would have seemed like living hell.

Dislocated hip bone

Dr Carmelia said she was hit on very high impact, pushing her hip bone out of its socket. She was a sorry sight as we recalled with sadness how she used to have a jet black coat and a friend had named her Venus, after the tennis player, Venus Williams. Today, lying on the examination table, we almost couldn’t recognize her – her skin was bad, she had many abrasions and grazes from being dragged on the road, her hip bone was dislocated, she suffered a miscarriage and she had scabies. How much worse could things be? And she was just over a year old.

Venus was warded for the night and the following day, transferred to Mt Pleasant (Redhill) where she remains in isolation for her scabies. Venus should have a surgery as soon as possible, to put her hip bone back into its socket but because of her scabies, Dr Ang and Dr Quek were concerned that if they operated on her, the scabies might enter and infect her internal organs. As such, her scabies has to be treated first and recovery takes almost 6 weeks. In the meantime, Venus needs to be walked and exercised daily, lest her leg muscles deteriorate and she loses the use of her limbs. If that happens, then amputation would be inevitable. However,  if she exercises daily, there is hope that her hind leg can be saved. She also needs to put on lots of weight as she weighs a mere 14 kg.

Finally getting a good night's rest and some relief

Venus needs to have someone care for her, give her short walks daily, provide her with healthy regular meals, as well as medicate her. It will be at least 6 weeks before she can undergo her hip surgery to put the joint back into place.

If you can, please offer your help to Venus – be it fostering, or helping with her vet bills. She is slightly more than a year old and has had so much hardship in this short frame of time. No living creature should live this way, to go through such pain and suffering; neither human nor animals. Please renew her faith in mankind.