A Scary Night With An Injured Pet
by Vinit Taneja (Member of Panchshila Park SMG)
Sona is a female stray living in the lane N 163-174.
On 6th Oct, a guard reported that she was injured in the neck/head region and was hiding in a drain.
We tried to get her picked up for treatment by Pets and Vets Lajpat Nagar, but we could not entice her out.
We left some medicines with Megha (and her husband Amit) Maini, resident of N 172 SF, a dog carer. Sona came out late evening and had the food provided by Megha, mixed with some medication to help. Megha saw that she had a rather nasty wound that was bleeding and had maggots.
She immediately spoke to Friendicoes and they said to bring Sona over. When she and her husband reached there, the place was allegedly shut (we later found out that a new guard gave the wrong information. People were actually waiting but never got to know that Sona was brought to their premises). So they landed up at Max Vets, East of Kailash around 10.30 pm.
Unfortunately, whilst taking Sona out of the car, the leash attachment broke and Sona ran away onto the main road. There was also a large garbage dump cum sewer adjoining the road and she would shuttle between taking shelter there and running around on the road. She was within visible distance but impossible to catch without a collar or a net I picked up a catcher from Pets and Vets around 11.30 pm. Max Vets had also given one person.
Between these two and Amit Saini, they spent more than 3 hours trying to catch Sona on the roads and the sewer dump.
Finally, at around 1.50 am, she was caught and admitted to Max Vets for emergency treatment.
The next day afternoon, Megha picked up Sona from Max Vets and admitted her at Pets and Vets where the doctors say it will take appx 10 days to treat her.
My daughter and I also made a follow up visit to meet and put her at ease. Preeti Khanna, a dog lover from Panchsheel Enclave, had also made a visit to look her up, along with her other stray admitted there, in the interim.
Sona has started eating and is slowly improving. We hope that she will be released sometime in the third week.
I want to take this opportunity to thank a number of people who have been extremely supportive.
- Babu, driver of Mr Jogesh Grover N 167, who came over twice to my place to inform me of Sona’s condition.
- Suresh, who also works with Mr Grover, who helped in trying to catch Sona when the dog catcher arrived.
- Jyoti of Pets and Vets who came fairly quickly to try and pick up Sona for
treatment. She also sent Sudeep from her centre at 11.30 pm to help in catching Sona near Max Vets. Sudeep was extremely proficient and, when we had almost given up, suggested that we hang in there. And that is what led us to success in the end. - Preeti Khanna, deeply connected with our colony on matters of Strays Management and a resident of Panchsheel Enclave. She took my calls late at night and also personally went and saw Sona.
- Abhishek of Max Vets who was engaged in the chase till Sona was caught. Kunal Sharma, owner of Max Vets who, on request, discounted the boarding charges of the overnight stay by 50%.
- Sonali Chopra, an active member of our Strays Management Group, who referred Pets and Vets as a viable prospect (and they have 24×7 services by the way)
- Last but not the least, the husband wife duo of Amit and Megha Saini, residents of N 172,who literally burnt the midnight oil, being on their feet for 4 plus hours to take Sona for treatment and then ensuring that she was caught; and then Megha taking a half day off from work to handle the transfer of Sona from Max Vets to Pets and Vets. Their contribution is just immeasurable and we just cannot thank them enough.
Some learnings from this incident: - We should maintain a lane level strays support team that is always looking out for the Strays and helps manage the situation. They should have a basic first aid kit with them including antibiotic, spray/powder, maggot removal medicine etc.
- Being aware of 24×7 pets services in the vicinity. Friendicoes, Pets and Vets and Max Vets being the known ones.
All is well that ends well is a reasonable summary of this adventurous episode, scary and yet epitomizing the loving nature of humanity when the chips are really down.
