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Gloria Valenzuela Wheatley 101-20410th, February 2015 The Dog with Seven Lives As I got home from school, I felt this eerie feeling in my stomach. I decided to think nothing of it until my dad came home from work. I was in my room cleaning the piles of clothes off the floor when my mother came in. I could tell she wanted to tell me something serious, she had this look in her face when she curls her lip and the look in her eyes soften. And then she hit me with the worst news ever. My cat named Coco of almost 15 years had passed away. I can remember standing in my room eyes filled with tears thinking to myself, “Why do animals have to die?” and then came a puppy of about 4 days old to change my world and to defy life. This story begins with the day after prom, I was sitting at home in my room when my mom called me on the phone, she told me she had a surprise for me and is on her way home. I ask myself “what could it be?” I never imagined what she would bring home. My mother walked into my room with this tiny little cow, well it looked like a cow, but it was this newborn puppy. I could tell he was only about a couple days old because he hadn’t opened his eyes yet. This puppy was a pitbull with white and black spots and a pink nose just like piglet. I would give him the name Tonka. My mom told me that she had found this puppy on the side of the street alone, as if he had been left to die. I just thought to myself “how could someone be so coldhearted to leave a newborn puppy out on the street by himself?” I was going to take on the task of becoming his new mother, I did not know what to expect. The first night was the worst; I would wake up to his squealing every two hours to bottle feed him. Since he did not have his mother’s warmth I had the duty to keep him warm just like his mother would. The reason why I call this dog, “The Dog with Seven Lives” is because this dog has been through everything. Yet it’s like he is destined to be on this earth for a reason beyond my knowing. The first incident we had with Tonka was when he was about one month old, he had already opened his eyes by this time. His eyes two little almond shaped beautiful eyes. I was bottle feeding him and then I noticed he would throw the milk out through his nose. I was very concerned, so I decided to look up in the internet what it could be. I read on the internet that it could be milk in his lungs, he had all the symptoms. Usually dogs don’t survive when they get milk in their lungs. I was devastated I felt like I was going to lose my puppy. I remember I was crying and my mom came home from work I explained the situation and she told me to calm down I was being overdramatic. You see on the inside I was thinking to myself “please god don’t let this little puppy die.” My mom comforted me and told me that he was just a “greedy “dog and he was eating too fast. Days and months passed and my puppy had made it. Everything was going fine until he could not defecate, I was worried because he was bloated and hadn’t defecated in four days. I immediately went online to try and find out what could be the problem; yeah I was that type of mom. I read that they could die, puppies are supposed to poop immediately after each feeding. So there I was again worried and tried to look online for solutions. I decided to call a vet and ask him what I could do. He told me that mothers usually lick their puppies behind to induce the poop so I wasn’t about to go and lick his butt so he told me I could use a warm cloth. That didn’t help, so he suggested that we would get a syringe fill it with warm water and put it up his behind. I was also not too fond of the idea, so my mom helped me out. She put the syringe up his behind while he let out a loud yelp. Then we waited for a couple of minutes and then he magically pooped. I was so relieved. Months past and he grew to be cuter and bigger each day, he would get more black spots and his nose that was once pink would turn black. Everyday this puppy would teach me something new, and everyday my attachment would grow bigger. My mother told me we could not keep this puppy and we would have to give it to my brother. I was really mad and unhappy about her decision. I would cry and beg to her that she would not take my puppy away from me. But we just could not take care of him since we had two other dogs. My mom also feared that they would not get along. But I did not understand her reasoning; I was determined to keep this puppy. A few months passed and my brother had a baby and could no longer take Tonka in. I was happy because it would mean we would keep him. At only five months old Tonka was already a little devil, teething like crazy, getting into everything and chewing on everything. This dog is the most untamable dog ever, he will not listen to any command and thinks he is the boss. My mom and I were getting tired of finding our shoes destroyed. One day I decided to buy him a dog bone, one of those bones that dogs can chew on to help teething. Every day he would chew on his bone and eat a bit off it. His teeth were like razor blades, so he had no trouble getting into that bone. One day we came home to our shoes chewed up, it was clear that he had eaten all his bone. The next couple of days I noticed his behavior was different. He was usually very playful and commanded attention, but instead he would just lie next to me. His eyes looked very different, they looked very muggy and he had lost that spark he had. I thought to myself maybe he is just tired. The next day he did not want to eat, which was beyond weird since that dog could just eat and eat pounds of dog food. Then he also didn’t want to drink water, all he wanted to do was sleep. I was very worried, I told my mom and she agreed to take him into the vet the next morning. So off we go to the vet and while on the ride he defecates with blood all over my mom’s car which made me even more worried. Poor little thing he looked like he was miserable. When we got to the vet he lifted Tonka up and put him on the counter. He examined him and he said that Tonka had a stomach infection. I had done some prior research and the vet and I agreed that it was a stomach infection. The vet said that it could have been something he chewed on. Lord knows what he could have chewed on, and then he gave Tonka a shot with antibiotics to help fight the infection. Since he was not eating we had to force some liquids and baby Gerber down his throat. Tonka was a chubby very muscular dog and since his stomach infection he started to lose weight. We went home in the hopes of him getting better, but he only got worse. One week passed and he was still not eating or drinking anything. And if we did try to feed him he would just vomit it. At this point I thought my dog was going to die of starvation. He was so weak. I would find myself at night praying to god that he would not let my dog die. We decided to take him back to the vet and he decided to keep him over night with a tube connected to his veins in order to give him liquids. Days past and I would call the vet to ask him about Tonka and he would say he was still not eating. It was very hard for me to leave him at the vet overnight, so when he would tell me that he was not showing signs of recovery I would just cry. I had gotten so attached to this dog, he was like my baby. Another couple of days passed and I called up the vet and to my surprise Tonka was eating. It was the happiest moment of my life; my dog was on the road to recovery. The vet said it was best if we keep him over night to observe his behavior. The next day we went to pick him up from the vet, and I looked at his eyes and they had that spark, his tail wagging from side to side. He was happy to see us, but we were even happier to see him. The next couple of days at home he looked so much better, he was back to his old eating habits and was getting into everything as per usual. Two weeks passed and Tonka’s recovery was going very good. One day we decided to leave him outside with our other dog. I was sleeping and my mom was also asleep. When I woke up I went to bring him inside, to my surprise he wasn’t outside. I looked for him in every corner of my backyard and no sign of him. Our backyard was gated and there was no way he would have gotten out. I started to panic and went and woke up my mom. I told her “I can’t find Tonka anywhere!!” I went outside to our front yard and started screaming his name like crazy. I was in my pajamas and didn’t care; all I wanted to do was find my dog. I went all around the neighborhood asking the neighbors if they had seen him and no one had. My mom meanwhile was in the car looking for him. Tonka had never been outside on the street like that so I feared that maybe somebody saw him and stole him. As I screamed his name “Tonka, Tonka!” I heard a close by squeal but made nothing of it. We spent about two hours looking for him and then as I was about to head home I noticed a white and black spotted thing on the neighbor’s front porch. My Tonka was there! My face lit up when I saw him. We had been looking for him like crazy everywhere just to find him two houses down from ours. When I got closer to the house I noticed there was something wrong with him. He could not walk, the neighbor told me he was outside with my other dog, but my other dog was inside with the doors locked. So that didn’t make sense, how could they have gotten outside and then only one of the dog would be inside my backyard with the door secured? Until this day we still don’t know how they got out, but anyways I noticed that he could not walk and then I realized it would hurt him to walk. His white face was now filled with bruises, wounds, and blood. He had been run over. We managed to carry him home and we started examining him. He was in pain, but he was so happy to see us and our other dogs. As me and my mother sat examining Tonka I told her “wow this dog has survived so many things, and he is still standing this dog is a strong dog.” We took him into the vet and when he saw us he jokingly said “you guys again?” The vet said Tonka would be fine, he would just have to rest and his two front legs would have to be casted. As we were going to leave the vet said “I noticed this bald spot on him” the vet said it was fungus due to humidity. I was thinking to myself “really? really? he just got a stomach infection, got ran over, and now fungus?” The vet gave us medication for his fungus, and he was fine. Till this day Tonka is a very energetic and untamable dog, he jumps high and is afraid of cars. I call this dog “The Dog with Seven lives” because I feel he also has seven lives just like cats do. Its funny how things work out, God had taken my cat but gave me another cat like dog in the most unexpected way. Tonka has survived: being abandoned, milk in his lungs, stomach infection, getting run over, fungus and not being able to poop. This dog in my eyes is destined to be on this earth, he has survived everything. What if my mom had not found Tonka? Where would he be? I was in such a rut with the passing of my cat. That when I met this puppy it was like destiny, he brought happiness into my life. To some people I may sound crazy but Tonka has taught me so many things, he has taught me patience, and has helped me become more selfless. One of my favorite quotes is “Dogs have a way of finding the people who need them, filling an emptiness we don’t even know we have” by Thom Jones. Tonka has filled that emptiness and every day I am thankful to have that little beast with me. ................
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