Veterinary Care in Africa: How I Inadvertently Adopted a Dog That Nearly Became a Vampire/Zombie

Zombie/Rabid Dog Watch.  Day 1.

Today is the 3rd day of watching Alfonso for signs of rabies.  He bit Sam on Wednesday when we were trying to administer drugs to him.  The vet came to give him a follow up shot of antibiotics to control for worms.  This poor dog was so sick.  On Monday he was happy, frolicking, we ran around the compound, I played tug o' war with him. Then Monday night he was eerily quiet and sleepy.  He just slept like a little lamb all evening.

In the morning on Tuesday he was sleeping far from the house.  His little brown and white body curled in the grass, or splayed out on his back, trying to alleviate stomach pain.  I saw him poop on Tuesday and it was just bloody and clear.  Not a health sign at all.  We called the vet to come and check him out.  He had acute worm poisoning and was nearing death.  The dog needed 3 shots, one antibiotic, one heart worm, and another antibiotic for worms.

I thought this would be a calm and pastoral scene, something like a James Harriot story.  No such luck.  After the first injection the dog knew what was coming, so he shrieked and howled and nipped and cried and barked like he was insane.  It was so bad that we had to send the vet to go get a tranquillizer for the dog.  We sweat chasing the dog in the 90 degree African sun, dust clinging to our damp foreheads.  The vet came back and we had to catch Alfonso who had fled to a far corner to huddle in the dark and avoid the needles, get a chain around his neck, then tie a towel around his head and then tie him to the guava tree in the yard to immobilize him enough to get the tranquillizer in him.  Once he had received that tranquillizer, the matter of getting the last two antibiotic shots was okay.  We tried calm words, gentle petting, reassuring, force, pressure, and finally we just had to go for the tranquillizer.   The dog wobbled and eventually just had to lie down because the drugs were too strong.  As he recovered he moved to the cement wall around the compound, far from the house where he had been tortured into good health.

Wednesday the vet came back for a follow-up to administer the second dose of drugs.  We had been hoping that the second round could just be eaten with food, but no such luck.  He gave the dog that injection, but in the meantime, the dog bit Sam's hand hard enough to draw blood, and then exploded green diarrhea all over the porch.  We had again needed to tie him to the railing on the porch to get him immobile enough to administer the shot.  Meanwhile his cries, yelping, shrieking, terrifying dog noises had drawn every neighborhood child to our open gate to come and watch the torture that we must have been inflicting on our poor animal.  15 dark smiling faces peered in at the trauma within our compound. After being bitten Sam washed his hand with soap and water, cleaned it with alcohol, and bandaged it.  However, the vet told him (as well as his mother who is an EMT) that he had to start the post-exposure prophylaxis for Rabies.  So today he is going to get shots. Apparently you can also isolate your dog and make sure that there are no signs of rabies for 10 days, and that is likely enough to know that the dog doesn't have it, and thus could not have transmitted it.  But, better safe than sorry.

So here I am watching the dog for signs of Rabies, what I equate with just looking like a zombie more or less.  He seems fine so far...

Vampire/Rabies Watch. Observation 2.

Turns out that my small bite was something to protect against as well. So, since I had two small barely-noticeable puncture wounds, I wound up getting the first of three injections as well.  Apparently there are no side effects from this, except a little light-headedness.  They say this can protect me, but do they really know?  I may need to pack my hand in garlic tonight.

The dog is napping in the shade of the porch.  We are working on not letting him inside.  It is major progress that he can lay there with the door open and not come in.  Granted this lasts for like 11 minutes at a time.  Still.  The little village rascal can at least adhere to some rules if he is making me get 3 shots totalling 150,000 shillings spread over three weeks.  Oh Alfonso.

The Dog-Zombie Apocalypse.  Observation 3.

Day five of the Alfonso watch.  I think that he is still doing fine. His hips seem to be a moving in a way that is funny, and his nose might be a little runny.  But other than that his temper seems very fine.  He is playful and chipper and seems to be timid still.  He gets surprisingly feisty at night, and the fleas distract him from doing any one thing for too long.  He is still sort of a mess, but we are working on him.  I am hoping that by Friday he will still be ok so we can be more relieved.  And then we don't have to euthanize him and cut his head off like a zombie.

I watch him for fear of the sun (rabies=vampires).  I watch him for signs of excessive panting (it is 90 every day right now).  What it comes down to is I expect this dog to really become some sort of un-dead creature if he gets rabies.  Isn't that possible?  For a dog I didn't want in the first place, I sure spend a lot of time, money, and thought on him.  We have to be vigilant in these times…

Is the End Near?  Observation 4.

Alfonso watch day 6.  Apparently an excitable dog that then becomes more docile can also indicate rabies.  Basically anything an animal does means it is rabid.  This is getting more and more difficult to monitor.  Now I am looking for signs of the un-dead in my (potentially) too-docile-formerly-excitable puppy.  I have decided that rabies is terrible.  There is no good that will come of it.

I also blame this rabies situation, and our shitty dog for nearly being run down by a boda and having to jump out of the way yesterday afternoon during my run.  I know the two are not connected, but I have to be able to channel that rage I felt at falling again towards something.  Alfonso seems to be the appropriate channel for that.  And of course because my knee is too damaged to run today, and likely in too much pain for any good exercise, we will instead take the dog to get his balls chopped off, injected against rabies and distemper, and hopefully adopted to some family who doesn't find him so annoying.  I am sincerely hoping that my opinion of him changes once he is a fully vaccinated and cleaned eunuch.

Making it out Alive.  Observation 5.

I am in Kampala.  I have escaped the grip of the small dog in Hoima. It is now day 10 or 11 and Alfonso still seems to be fully alive. There are no signs of rabies, and now he has a rabies vaccine. Hopefully this means we don't need to start wearing crosses made of garlic around our necks in the house.  The problem is we have already invited him in the house, so that means he can come and go as he pleases if he turns.  That is what happens with rabid dogs, right? Maybe that is vampires.  Either way if there is a surprise shift in un-dead status we are fucked.

Meanwhile I got my second injection of verorab rabies post-exposure prophylaxis yesterday.  I waited for nearly 2 hours with Sam at the clinic in order for them to realize they didn't have it, send someone to town to buy it (which took 50 minutes) then bring it back to the clinic.  Sam was nervously awaiting the shot (he hates them) and I was trying to work, which was impossible given that Handel's Messiah was blasting over the clinic speakers in Luganda.  We waited on the porch for the vaccines to arrive, sweating even in the shade and cursing the name of Alfonso for putting us through this.  Who wants dogs?  They are cute and fun, and then that wears off and you realize you have a living thing with you for years to come.  Dammit.

Demon Dog

Zombie Creature