by Charlotte_Egger » Sun 1. Jun 2014, 17:45
So, ich hab den englischen Text jetzt beieinander. Es gibt im Englischen keinen entsprechenden Ausdruck für "aus meiner Haut", deshalb hab ich's etwas umschrieben.
Ich weiss nicht, für Facebook müsste man es vielleicht ein wenig kürzen?
In German, there is a saying 'no one can get out of their skin'.
We often say it without realising that it can be taken literally. The skin is the most sensitive sensory organ. We only feel well when our skin is in good condition. When our skin is affected by whatever ailment, when it hurts and itches, then we suffer horribly. And it’s exactly the same for our dogs.
The suffering of dogs with skin diseases (mostly mange) always causes me a lot pain. I see pictures of dogs in shelters, and that’s always the first thing I see. They are often in the last row, somewhere in the background. Most of them don’t want to get into contact with anyone. Of course not: every contact must be horribly disagreeable. Some of the dogs only have a few affected areas. But that’s how it starts. After a while the whole body is affected. The fur that normally protects the skin is long gone, the skin is wet, red, hot or leathery, flaky and greasy, full of scabs because they scratch it all the time, hoping to get rid of this unbearable itching.
What can an animal that is caged all its life in a shelter do in the moments it could enjoy life a little bit? Maybe play with its mates, a bit of hustling, feel the boundaries of its body. Lying on the roof of its hut and enjoy the warmth of the morning sun after a cold night. Have a good roll in the dust. Cuddle up to its siblings to feel love and closeness. Grunt and lounge on soft bedding before going to sleep. These are the only enjoyable moments for most dogs in shelters which they defend jealously and not without reason. Mangy dogs don’t even have that. Nothing is nice if you can’t feel it. There is no joy when everything that should bring pleasure only results in pain and itches. Some are remarkably strong and can still have fun for a long time despite their suffering. But after a while they, too, become more serious, their eyes become sadder and eventually they are very quiet. If no one helps them they finally die from it – after years of suffering.
It saddens me so to see this. It also angers me a lot. I’m angry because they are so often left alone in their suffering, because no one helps them. It doesn’t take a lot to treat mange. Even if it’s a persistent face mite, with the right medication it’s easy to treat. But someone has to do it. It takes a pill every day, reliably, during a few weeks. No letting off, though, and it’s important not to stop too soon. It doesn’t cost all that much either, especially in Romania. Two months’ treatment costs between 2 and 8 euros per dog. Of course you also have to pay attention that the dogs don’t lie on old, mouldy straw, in dirty huts and on muddy soil. Too complicated? It seems so. Otherwise I wouldn’t see so many pictures of these poor creatures.
What I can’t understand is that these dogs are not only found in public shelters, where no one cares for them anyway. No, we often find them in private shelters, too, where the operators are willing to care for them. Each private shelter we have supported so far had such dogs. And every time we had to really fight for the mangy dogs to be treated early enough and with the right medicine, that they were not just smeared with some ointment that we were told was the proper medicine. I still remember the state of many dogs in Mircurea Ciuc when we started out there.
I’m happy to say that for a long time now, whenever I visited I haven’t found any dogs with heavy mange in MC. Meli and Sabine, but also Tibi and Johanna start the proper treatment at once when they see mange in a dog. Then it’s usually over before it really starts. In winter they change the straw in the huts regularly and in spring they take it out altogether. This, too, has helped the dogs to healthy skin. Whenever we got dogs with mange from other shelters, they were successfully treated until the mange was gone. This shows that it’s possible to have the problem under control. Dogs don’t have to suffer months, years or even their whole life. Even with very fearful or difficult dogs it’s possible to get rid of mange. We have never failed because of this.
Unfortunately we can’t protect and save all the dogs in Romania. But if animal welfare activists build a fence round them, to protect them from outside dangers, they have to be aware of the fact that within that fence they are at their mercy and they depend on them. Their previous life has been taken from them and the carers are taking them on voluntarily. Therefore a project should never be too big, otherwise they can’t deal with this huge responsibility. Because everything the dogs experience or don’t experience lies in the hands of those who have built that fence. That doesn’t mean only food, but also sufficient, comprehensive and professional! medical health care. And let’s not forget hygiene, because the dogs can’t flee the dirt there.
Why do I write all this? I wanted to do it for a long time now, it’s been present in my mind, it’s not new. But something has brought it out now: We took on 6 dogs from a private shelter in Suceava. I have followed their ordeal for some time. And now we have the space and the possibility to help them. With all due respect to the helpers there and the persons who have supported this project so far: it’s still a fact that these dogs could have been helped in Suceava. It’s always a priority to help the dogs that depend on us. I hope with all my heart that these words don’t offend anyone. I just want to make these dogs more visible because they can’t run away to another place. I hope that these dogs get more attention. I hope that the general conditions can be changed in such a way that no dog in a private shelter has to suffer such a long time of an illness that can be treated so easily. I know that not all the people I’d like to address will read this. But if only one of them reads it, it was worth writing.
Our 6 “problem children” have arrived safely. They are in very bad condition. Some cleanliness and a pill a day is not enough anymore to heal them. Besides medicine they also need special food and a lot of vitamins and minerals to compensate for all the deficiencies. It will also take a lot of care. It will be a long and tiring task for Meli and Sabine until these 6 dogs are fine again. They are still very fearful, they don’t really know where they are, they are incredibly tired and exhausted from their illness, the trip and all the changes. One of them came forward this morning to make contact with Meli. The others need some more time to deal with it all.
I wish and hope for them that they will soon feel how nice petting, the sun on their fur and a soft blanket can be!
Liebe Grüsse
Charlotte und Rocky - Teddy im Herzen immer dabei
Leuchtende Tage. Nicht weinen, dass sie vorüber. Lächeln, dass sie gewesen. Konfuzius