Educational tips for pet lovers

The girlfriend hates dogs

She pressed her left thumb and forefinger flat on both sides of the bridge of her nose, above the maxillary sinuses, standing on the rail of the sliding door to the consultation room while the right thumb was busy sending messages on her mobile phone.

A young couple with a new puppy is usually happy when they see the veterinarian but this girlfriend was definitely grumpy.

"Do you want to come in?" I asked as the opened sliding door would let out the cool air from the consultation room to the reception area. Why was she so unhappy? She said she was against keeping dogs as pets and now her boyfriend had bought one without her consent.

"This puppy had fever and his runny nose and eyes indicated an upper respiratory tract infection," I said to the boyfriend who had bought this chocolate poodle puppy for below two hundred and fifty dollars. He could return it to the pet dealer within 24 hours. Poodles are no more popular as pets and their prices have dropped considerably but this was a good deal.

"Do you want to return the puppy?" I asked. His girl friend looked at him. Here was a perfect veterinary excuse to return the dog.

She was pale, anorexic thin and he was broad shouldered and stout. Big men usually keep bigger dogs and the boyfriend was a Harley Davidson biker. I have this stereotypical image of the macho Harley Davidson man who keeps bull terriers as companions and would rather not be seen with a miniature poodle.

"I'll take the risk," the boyfriend said. 

The girlfriend kept quiet. Why was she frightened of a small poodle?  Was it due to a traumatic experience with dogs when she was growing up in Malaysia?  Many Chinese people in Singapore and Malaysia get bitten by stray dogs when there were younger and some developed a great fear. 

"This poodle will not bite you," I said. "It is not in their temperament to bite people.  Poodles are not guard dogs." 

I did not sound convincing. Would she marry him if he insists on keeping dogs I wondered but did not ask this question?

"It could be from the children," she said. "Some will be having coughs and cold."  She looked after 15 children in the pre-kindergarten which had over 1,000 young ones although the government ministry had fixed 8 children per teacher. 

I explained that the dog would not have caused her sinus trouble. It could be her lowered resistance to the multiple viruses in the kindergarten. 

There was a heavy downpour and so we had more time to chat. The girlfriend revealed that she was bitten by a dog in Malaysia. 

"It was extremely painful as the doctor inserted the needle into my leg to stitch up the wound." I could imagine the pain. 

The needle probably was one of those big re-useable ones to which the silk stitch was attached. This doctor was a general practitioner and must have stitched her up without using any local anaesthetic.  So, it must be excruciatingly painful. This lead her to hate all dogs.

"Malaysia is my country," she said. "Lots of opportunities and freedom instead of being tied down to a work permit," she said. "$50,000 is needed to start a business in Singapore." 

"You have better spending power if you earn a living here," I said. "Do you want to start your own business? It is better to be an employee nowadays," I said to her. There were so many failures of small businesses at the grass root level as the financial resources were not there to sustain the operations long enough and many pets have been abandoned.   

I drove the couple to a food centre as they were hungry and it was still raining dogs and cats. 

At least she now no longer objected to the poodle. Would she stay in Singapore and marry the big man who keeps a poodle?

Widespread skin disease in a cross bred puppy caused by a skin mite.	Demodectic mange affects the whole body and requires more than one veterinary consultation.

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