Be careful what you wish for...Please Help!

Last week I was wanting a little more to do here in the village. Well, I got my wish. Yesterday on the way to the village football (soccer) game after a very long day of festivities, we passed a VERY tiny puppy drenched in the rain. It was orphaned or abandoned as no mother was in sight. It was freezing so instinctually I picked it up to warm it up. No one claimed it at the football game. Guess we were stuck with a puppy for a while until someone adopts it here. It is about 3 weeks old. eyes still closed. scoots a few inches but can shiver when cold and pass stool and urine on its own. It cannot however eat. We have been feeding it fresh cow's milk with vitamins with a tincture dropper. We warmed up the puppy. She stabilized and is quite cute, just a little bigger than our hands. I made sure the little ones did not touch her as we didn't know what she might be carrying. We accepted by later last night that we may end up keeping her and bringing her back if no one adopts her. We talked with Csaba and he said no one will adopt her here. Not in the plans but it is what it is.

James and I go out to the village dance that night and what is lying at our gate door? Another puppy! cold and crying and about the same size. Someone, apparently the person who abandoned the first one thought we should have another and literally left it at our doorstep. James and I look at each other. "What do we do? We can't take care of two. And what if there are more?" We can't leave it there either. So in it goes, to get stablized. Only this one was in terrible condition. The whole body was covered with a parasite egg/larva or something. We quarantine it from everyone and only I am allowed contact with it with strict handwashing, etc.

We hurry to the dance to see if Csaba can help us find a vet. There was someone from earlier in the day that was a vet. Csaba, having a little to drink immediately says to let it go and let it die. No one will care for it here. We can't do that. We need a vet. We need medication! He didn’t get it. I return home disappointed and feeling like we will have no support from the village. Yet we can't just abandon these puppies. We just can't. I could never ever live with myself if I did. I thought if we tried hard enough, we could. Maybe in the city. So we decide to find someone the next day who can speak English. I met a woman who used to live in the village that translated for me at the festival. She is here until September.

It was a long night. Puppy 1, the well one slept through the night. Puppy 2, sick one woke every 10-30 min and was not hungry. It was in pain or itching. It could only be comforted with my hand. In the night it crossed my mind to find a vet and just euthanize it. Understand that I have never supported euthanizing animals and here I was thinking, wishing I knew what this pup needed. James stayed up all night researching natural treatments, vets in Hungarian, translating and seeing what this parasite was. Meanwhile my hands are sore from washing so much.

Puppy one seemed clean today, content with no external parasites. This is good. Then I find a few in her bed. Damn it! Though we should never bathe pets this young, I go for it as it’s our only option right now. We have no vet, no medicine, no support only instinct and everything I learned form Willow and my years volunteering at the Humane Society and a wildlife refuge in high school and college. I think through my natural pet book and see what James finds. I make a soap out of dishsoap, lemon juice, olive oil, and echinacea goldenseal tincture. I bathed puppy one and got the eggs off easily. This one only had a little but they came off well. That gave me hope for puppy two. I call my American friend I met in Cluj and ask if she knows any resources in the city, vets, anything. She says she will try to find something as she has a friend in mind but warned me that strays are usually put down in this country. There is a different relationship to animals here. People are poor enough and trying to get by. They don’t have enough to have a luxury like a Humane Society.

At this point after no sleep I was seriously considering the alternatives. I sent an email to a Buddhist nun asking for her guidance. I am still waiting on that. I am exploring deep within what I need to do with this pup. It is so miserable. Do I leave it to die? Do I euthanize it? Do I do everything to help it? And if it heals what if it becomes orphaned again? What if no one adopts here and I can not bring it to the US to adopt out? James is as confused as I.

So back to the bathing. I try to clip and shave puppy 2 with no luck. The eggs are right at the edge of the hair and the skin covering her. It’s awful. I try bathing and it worked! Almost everything came off with some scrubbing. Puppy hated it but I told her she would feel so much better. She (actually I have no idea what gender it is!) looks great now and it out in the yard napping in the sun. I will need to bathe her again later to get any stragglers. I know she must have this parasite internally after having so many externally so she is still quarantined unitl we see a vet and get medication.

James and the kids went to a village festival picnic while I stayed to bathe her. He promised to find someone to help us find a vet. We really need to get her in. We are supposed to rent a car tomorrow for a week or two. It was for our trip to the Black Sea (I don’t think that will happen now.)

At this exact moment I think she will make it if we can get rid of the parasites. Then what? I have hope and determination that we’ll adopt them out here. If not, we may bring them back and adopt them out at home.

Please everyone help us. Talk to your friends and family. We need homes for these two sweet pups. We’ll pay all vet expenses and have them in perfect condition before we leave. We have to! Please.

I’ll get pictures soon. I guess I have a job now and more than plenty to do. I hear a pup crying. Feeding time!