Wednesday, March 12, 2014

Cultural difference when dealing with animals


It has been a bit of an animal week again.
Tracy left on Sunday but took some great pictures of the puppies before she left. They are 3 months old now.
Pandora looks a lot like her mother just with longer hair.


And Panda just looks like an dork with a funny haircut as his ears haven’t stuck up yet.


Unfortunately just before she left they both became sick with some sort of stomach infection and as there are no vets anywhere near us, I spent a few days feeding them medicine and syringing water down their throats. Luckily they both recovered and are now fit and well again.
Cojo my three pawed cat was not quite as lucky. He had been ill for a while and died on Monday. Another off to the barrio of the sleeping people.


I am also trying to get my head around the cultural differences relating to animals.
Dominicans do not as a rule allow dogs in the house – apart from chihuahuas. Dogs are to be kept outside, often chained up and are there to warn of visitors or burglars. I allow our dogs inside, and the Great Dane, Belinda, even has her own couch to sleep on.


Cats are to be fed sparingly as their job is to catch rats and again should live outside. My cats live inside and outside and are well fed. A couple also sleep on the bed with us – at the bottom of the bed, which is now accepted by Danilo.
I have managed to get my own way as far as the cats and dogs are concerned, so I suppose it is now his turn when it comes to the chickens.
The eggs hatched and we now have 10 cute little baby chicks, and Danilo found another chick in the road with a broken leg so brought him home .


However, apparently he will get bullied by the other chicks as he has this broken leg, so Danilo is hand rearing him and the most important thing is to keep him warm.


Given the lack of hot water bottles or incubators, he is keeping him ….wait for it….in his trousers, next to his “bits”. It is most peculiar watching all sorts of movement in Danilo's trousers.  Not only that, he wants to take him to bed with us, inside the bed to keep him warm. I don’t think it is a very good idea with puppies under the bed, cats on top and chickens inside. I can just imagine World War III breaking out at 2 a.m.

4 comments:

  1. LOL, you would probably crush the poor chicken if you turn around in your sleep! Sorry for the death of poor Cojo. We had to put down one of our cats last week, because she was badly injured by 2 bull terriers from the new neighbours, and then another cat went missing on Sunday and came back injured on Tuesday and was operated today. Already home recovering for a few days.

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    1. Sorry to hear about your cats too Sami. Pets give us so much pleasure, but so much pain when they are hurt or die.

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  2. I bought your book and I'm looking forward to reading it! �� - Jennifer J.

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    1. Thanks Jennifer J. Let me know what you think of it please!

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