For a week off I didn’t get much of the “off”.
Pepsi finally came home on Wednesday when I went with Ollivier in his car. The head vet wasn’t there and although I knew I owed more money than I had paid, the other staff seemed to think there was nothing owing. Nothing I said convinced them otherwise, yet five minutes after we left the boss must have returned because Coco had a phone call to say they needed another 500y. I was going back to town on the bike Thursday so paid it then.
Whenever I have taken Pepsi there in the past they have always commented on the fact she is too thin, has worms or other general remarks about her build (remember Mother was thin and ate like a horse) even though food is always available. Well, when the vet took her away seven weeks ago I had finally gotten her to a state where you could see her ribs no longer. Now she looks as if she was on hunger strike the entire time. Worse, she refused food last night and the night before, was decidedly out of sorts on the midnight walk last night and is now retching often and “moaning” when she dozes. Thank God at times for friends with cars, Ollivier will take us to the vet this afternoon.
Incidentally the “walks” so far have involved her doing the walking and me creeping along on the bike. Her first night back I limped the circuit but paid a heavy price the next day.
What else has happened?
Joan’s cousin came to school to visit her from Suzhou. As the one train a day connecting the two cities doesn’t arrive here until 0330 and as Joan would neither be able to get out of her dormitory to meet her (the doors are locked at 2300) nor get back in even if she did escape, I suggested she stayed here and then brought her cousin back until the morning when she could take her to her own dormitory. My kindness was repaid when she borrowed my bike to show her cousin Pingtian lake and crashed near the ship/hotel. Thankfully the two girls suffered only minor bruising but the front mudguard of the bike is now scratched and cracked. Funny how things work, I never even dented the damned thing in my tumble yet it was ME who ended up broken! Life can be so unfair sometimes…..
On Friday Joan’s class held an English corner/class party. Given the disastrous event the Lingdian Society hosted the last time (when few attended, possibly due to the inclement weather, yet most scarpered after fifteen minutes) the class were understandably nervous that their inaugural party would be a washout as well. They needn’t have worried, for they had a good attendance and people stayed to the end.
There were however huge disagreements behind the scenes with the Lingdian Society not being pleased with the lack of “educational” segments. I am not going to get involved with the politics other than to say my view is that it was the class’s affair and not the society’s, plus I doubt many students want to go to be educated in their free time on a Friday night - they want fun and entertainment. I hear tell that the next class of mine who are supposed to put on a show are now seriously reconsidering whether to do so in light of the criticism meted out. Doubtless I will find out more when I teach them on Friday.
We have a long weekend coming up (1-3 May) so I have decided to go back to Huainan to visit Air. The hotel is booked and the train tickets purchased, it’s just a pity it takes over six hours on the train. I do hope Pepsi doesn’t scupper that trip by having something hideously expensive wrong with her. If they did pet insurance here I would have it but I have never heard of it.
I had better take a shower now, we will leave for the vet after Coco and Hadrian have their afternoon nap.
1830
I should probably have edited the above but it is as I wrote it.
At the vets they took a swab from Pepsi’s rear end and tested in in some machine. Not a bloody soul there spoke English so it took ages for them to use the internet on their phones to translate.
Pepsi has parvovirus.
I knew it by name only at that stage and was at first relieved it wasn’t distemper - Piggy had that approaching my first summer and it cost me 3,000y. My relief was swiftly dispelled by a series of translations on phone screens which stated in turn, high mortality rate, 60% mortality rate etc. I was poleaxed. Two nights ago she was running around as happy as Larry and now I was being told she was possibly mortally ill.
Although I would be the first to stump up the money for euthanasia if an animal would suffer unnecessarily, naturally with my odd, timid yet faithful little dog, I had to ask despite the poor survival prognosis, how much?
I was then presented - this is China - with four different treatment rates! 200, 300, 400 or 500 yuan a day with resolution either way between three and five days. That’s a cruel choice to offer anyone. Was I to gamble on 5 x 200y and a max of a thousand or did I go for the most expensive 2,500y treatment? At a pinch I can stump up the top amount and what sort of animal lover and friend to Pepsi would I be if I didn’t do all in my power to give her life while there was a chance? Could I live with myself if I pinched the pennies and she died? Of course I damned well couldn’t. It’s not much consolation but they did give me the 500y treatment at 20% discount. She may well die before treatment finishes but at least I shall know I did all I could and never deserted her in her darkest hour. It may well prove the case yet that because I took her to hospital so early her life is spared - I did think maybe she just had a tummy bug and almost left it until tomorrow but then I thought that was wrong because were it me who was sick I would probably seek help immediately. If I believed in God I would be lighting candles and praying right now instead of blogging but all I have is hope and the knowledge that she is under the care of the best (and most expensive) vet in the city. Ollivier thought he had just graduated from school and was surprised when I said I had used him for nearly five years now. If anyone here can save my sweet little strange dog it is him. He has to.
I can continue no longer. She doesn’t deserve this, she is so utterly dependent on me and so frightened of life that the very thought that by the week’s end she may be gone reduces me to tears. Coco has also told the vet that if she has to be put to sleep I insist on being there with her so she will hopefully think everything will be fine in the morning when it won’t.
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