Goodbye Kulas

November 27 at 2:00 AM

While I was writing the post below, Kulas suddenly became agitated and then nilugapa and now naghihingalo. I have to wake up my mom, mom said he will not survive the morning. I woke up my brother. My sister at work, Papa at the province. I called Titus to come back to our house.

Luoy kaayo ron ga  hingalo. I wish if mamatay na sya, diritso na not this suffering.

We’ve asked him to go na, I wish he will go now.

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Post ready for posting 1:30ish AM but was not published as kulas condition worsen and we have to attend to him.

For quite some time now, I really feel that my birthday this year will be awesome and that something wonderful, something special will happen since well its triple 12 for this year, only a few can claim their birthday fall on auspicious date.

I think 12/12/12 is auspicious, I maybe the only person who thinks that way. Lol.

Months before my birthday, great things have been happening for me and for Penfires and I am so Thankful for all the blessings and for all persons who have made the road to my birthday so special.

From my Christmas post last year  I quote “2012 will also be extra special for me as my birthday will fall on triple 12 – I feel the date hold so much promise for me –“

Yesterday, I just realized what will make my birthday the most special it can be.  It’s to see our family dog Kulas get well.

It’s really painful for everyone in our household to see Kulas suffering much, and having that uncontrolled excessive drooling not to mention the twitching of his face and left hind leg. It’s heartbreaking.

He is three years old and a little spoiled, senorito na dog, bading, autistic, clingy, demanding, special and more. Kenneth and Nicko take pics of kulas every now and then, that’s how my camera Spunky got busted I think – from all the clicking there and clicking here. Between my siblings and me, we probably got close to 1 GB of images of our pet dog, which is not to count all the pics I’ve already deleted to save space heh. This prompted my good friend Doi to suggest I make a blog or at least a facebook page for our dear kulas.

Now if you think kulas is one of those expensive breed dogs with complete papers and all, you are wrong. Kulas is an askal, asong kalye, a Pinoy aspen, a street dog, a normal ordinary dog, but there is probably an ounce of Labrador blood in him which makes him tower over the regular askal. Those who don’t know him, usually stay away from him because he is big. But he does no harm except he loves smelling/checking behinds of anything, male, female, dogs etc for some reasons.

Titus said kulas has all of us trained to do his bidding, not the other way around. I highly suspect Titus is right. He also calls him kid lightning because our dog can really ran fast like a flash. He needs to because for all his bravado, he is a bit of a coward. He only “shows” fighting form when someone put him on his leash and has his back so to say.  If he is alone on the street, he will stay away from the other ‘siga’ dogs. But if someone is with him, expect him to loudly bark and snarl and tries to get free. But the moment you act like you would rather head home than watch him fight and he sees you doing it, he will beat you to the door. He will run home.

Our previous dog Kenji, who died at 9 years old, was not allowed inside the house. But kulas is a mainstay in our sala. Almost every time I go to bed, he follows me, put his head between my bed and the table and then turns around, sits down, he wants his regular massage. He won’t go out of the room until you massage him.   And his water? Mineral water, and it must be cold straight from the refrigerator otherwise he will not touch the stale water on his water bowl. He will wait for you to get some cold water. His saving grace is his exuberant greeting whenever Kenneth or anyone arrives, he welcomes joyfully.

But he also demands ‘tax’ without fail. If he sees any of us eat chips, biscuits or whathaveyous, more than likely he will also ask for some, and of course he gets what he wants. With all of us giving him a share, he probably has the biggest chunk of whatever it is that we eat. Probably half of what he asks for is not good for a dog like him but still he eats what we eat most of the time. And darn he can really eat fast! Before you are finish with your oreo, he is demanding his second biscuit. He likes cheese, chicken, anything Jollibee and more.

He doesn’t know any trick except “eat” and “lie down”. He is asleep 22 hours of everyday. That’s a bit of exaggeration there hehe but he sleeps a lot when we are just at our house. He is a character, no doubt. He is also a narcissa per my sister, they always have pictorials and he knows how to project for that awesome pose.

Hoping for improvement

I am looking at him right now, him trying to sleep but can’t because of all the twitching and drooling every now and then. He looks tired and worn out. 🙁 But the good news is yesterday and today he ate, he was not eating at all for almost 2 weeks and have already lose so much weight even though mom bought and cooked his favorite foods. But thank goodness his appetite is better today. I just hope he drinks more water now too as he needs to be hydrated at all times.

Yesterday was tough, we noticed his excessive drooling and when before it was only his hind leg that twitches, his face now twitches. We called the vet who injects him but was not right away available and all of us were really worried that I’ve decided to bring him to a different vet.

He is fighting what the vet suspects as canine distemper. His CBC turned out normal, he also does not appear to have cough nor cold. But all his symptoms speak of this illness.  The sad thing is that there is no ‘correct meds’ for what he have, what the vet can prescribed are only supportive medicines as the illness is caused by a virus.

I have researched on this highly infectious disease among canines and the info is discouraging. Dogs infected with this virus have a 50 – 50 chance of making it. And even if the dog survives this bout, the twitching may remain for the rest of his life. I’ll take that rather than what the vet said in worst case scenario. The doctors advised that if the condition worsens, a good option to consider is euthanasia.

That is not an option.

Protect your pet

During the day, kulas stays in the house. At night he can freely roam in the neighborhood. I think I am partly at fault with what happened to him, my father doesn’t want kulas roaming around but I always stand my ground and argues to free kulas. I can’t stand him on a leash; it’s like prison, constricting and all that.

Today my uncle dropped by our house to give something to kulas. Our dog is a favorite of everybody until he makes a mess of something which is often. Anyhow, he saw the condition kulas was in. He said several days ago, someone from out of our neighborhood threw a dead dog in one of the vacant lot nearby. Two of the neighborhood dogs are now dead. Those dogs were friends of kulas and we think our dog caught the virus from those two.

The owner of the dead dog should have disposed of the dog properly by calling authorities or at least bury the dog. I have no doubt in my mind that that dog died because of sickness. Because of that irresponsible jerk, our neighborhood dogs are now under threat of this highly fatal disease.

The lesson here is to keep your dog at your house or on a leash especially if the other dogs are not vaccinated. Canine distemper is on the rise and has become an all year round disease, according to the vet.

Let this be and may this be my birthday gift

Seeing kulas so down and so different from his usual jolly self, it tugs at the heart. We all love kulas faults and all. We wish he will live for many years still.  He can’t die because of this disease.

This afternoon my aunt came by and saw kulas and she said that their pet hanover shows the same symptoms that kulas is now showing. After getting supportive meds, hanover is now okay, lively again but there is still the twitching even though more than 6 months have passed since hanover battled it out with the virus.

We are doing what we can, giving him tender loving care. We are trying our best to help alleviate his pain no matter how little the effect of ‘our help’ is to what he is feeling and battling now.

I hope kulasisi will be able to survive this. I know he will. He will be well; this is the special birthday gift that I hope and pray for.

Before I could published the post, all of a sudden, kulas was taken over by the disease. I am ending this post hearing his labored breathing, his cries of pain. I have no strength, we are all devastated. I wish for him to go now. God take him now please. God please take him now. Please, please please.

November 27 at 7 AM

Kulas breathing has become shallow, but this is better than his agonizing pain. I have asked mom to call the vet to bring meds for pain and meds to take him down. He was still suffering.  While waiting for the vet, I went to my room to try to sleep, Titus has been urging me to catch some sleep since 3 AM but I can’t. I took out my journal and wrote the words below, accepting his faith and urging him to let go. After a minute of closing my journal, I heard Titus called out for mom to check since kulas is no longer breathing. I went out of our room and saw him there lifeless, but not in pain. It is better, it is for the best.

As much as we want to hold on to you kulas,

We have to let you go and say goodbye.

You don’t have to suffer anymore.

Be well wherever you are going.

Godspeed Kulasisi our one of a kind dog.

I wish we can save you but seeing you so much in pain is no good.

You have to go now. Let go now.

We love you our dear kulas.

Hugsss a million times.