| Marley |
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My greatest weakness, I have to admit is Black Labradors. My first dog and the one and only true love of my life was Bagheera, a beautiful black lab pup gifted to me by my father when I was four. It comes as no surprise then that I delight in fostering the many lab puppies that are abandoned at Friendicoes. Marley was one such puppy that walked in to my home and heart this summer. With the level of over and inbreeding in Delhi reaching new heights, Friendicoes staff found on their hands 4 gorgeous male black lab pups with dysfunctional penises. Due to this problem the pups were unable to pass urine normally and so their stomachs were unnaturally bloated and we feared that if the toxins were not released soon, the pups would fall dangerously ill. Vets at the shelter were gob smacked as they had never seen or even heard of such a problem before. The pups were promptly sent to a foster home while the Friendicoes Vets started poring over medical books and surfing the Internet for information on such cases. Mean while the foster parents had the awful job of cutting a tiny slit into the abdomen of each puppy and massaging the area until a few drops of urine would dribble out. This was working well but was hardly a practical life long solution and the incisions were painful for the puppies! Finally, having gathered a little information and realizing the time was running out for the pups, senior vet Dr. Prabhakar performed the tricky and groundbreaking surgery. Thanks to the expertise of the Vet and with luck on our side the operation was successful and all the pups recovered within a day or two. The next job was in finding a good home for each of the pups within Delhi. Three of them were adopted immediately but for some reason we were unable to find a good home for the last (and cutest) puppy. I came into the picture when the original foster parents had to go out of town and needed someone to take in the last baby. Sure enough I jumped at the opportunity and so Mowgli joined my forces, which already consisted of 3 dogs, 2 cats, 2 guinea pigs and a boxer puppy that I was also fostering. Mowgli fit right in amongst my family - curling up with my cat during nap times, watching TV with my mother in the evenings, learning to dig pits in the garden from my desi's, begging for biscuits from my father and sleeping at night with the boxer. With each day that he stayed with me, I grew more and more attached and I longed to keep him. However because I study abroad I knew it would be unfair on both him and my parents to keep him. |
Days passed, no one came forward and I secretly hoped that I could keep him. Both my parents resolve was crumbling and my sister was actively urging me on from Bombay. Just as I thought the battle was won I received a call from a woman enquiring about puppies for adoption. With great effort I told her about Mowgli and sure enough she was interested. The very same day she and her daughter came to meet me and see Mowgli. As per usual Friendicoes adoption protocol we put them through the third degree intense house screening and I am happy to say they passed with flying colors. Mowgli went home with them the same day.