This is Chia's story, as written by Audrey, the woman who found Chia in Cuba, and ultimately the one responsible for saving her from certain death. Audrey was a tourist in Cuba when she found Chia, and through research, found the wonderful organization
APAC - Varadero Canadian Branch, an organization that educates and runs spay/neuter clinics in Cuba. They work in collaboration with Dr. Slavik and Ingrid, who spent months nursing Chia back to health before she could be adopted.
Chia - a beautiful dog available for adoption Adopted!
by APAC-Varadero Canadian Branch on Sunday, April 1, 2012 at 11:04pm ·
“Chia is a very unique doggy both inside and out, I've never met another one like her. Her sweet eyes are so human you almost have to look at them twice. If you look very closely you will see that one of her brown eyes actually has a tiny chunk of blue in it, so pretty!
When I first saw her in Playa Giron she was pretty hard to miss, the fur around her head and feet was stained red with blood from open wounds. She was very hungry for both food and love but most people at the hotel and restaurant just kicked at her, no one wanted her around because she was so sick with mange. Later in a day, I approached her with a heaping plate of chicken from the restaurant as an "apology" from my species for being so mean and thoughtless. When she realized that I wasn't a "kicker" her little tail wagged so fast, I'm not sure what she was happier with- the food or the fact that someone had actually acknowledged her existence with kindness.
So of course I became "her person" and we hung out all week, she slept outside my room on an old bath mat I happened to bring. A lot of people were not happy that I was inviting this "dirty stray dog" around the restaurants and pool areas. But we just ignored them and kept each other company and shared chicken takeout and enjoyed the sun.
It was always on my mind that I would have to leave at the end of the week. She was so skinny and lethargic and sore - I didn't know how she would make it on her own. On the last day of our vacation we went to the lobby for checkout. Of course Chia followed along wagging her tail. When I turned around after returning my key, Chia was nowhere to be seen... It was very odd because she knew it was her breakfast time. With a few eggs in hand I looked everywhere for her. She was eventually found... curled up in the middle of our luggage pile sleeping peacefully. She had foregone breakfast to make sure we wouldn't leave without her. OH MY GOD! I could feel my heart crack in two!!!
So I got the idea to pay a lady we had just met five minutes earlier to care for her until I could come back to Giron a month later. I gave her some money up front to cover the cost of food and told her in my terrible Spanish that she would get more when I came back if the dog was happy and well fed. There was no real plan beyond that until I got back to Canada and found APAC on the web. Five days later Dr. Slavik and friends set off on an emergency mission to Giron to treat Chia and over 100 other animals that were in dire need of medical care.
Unfortunately the lady I trusted Chia with would not surrender her to Ingrid so the poor girl had to wait a month for me to return and taxi her to Varadero. When I saw Chia again, I noticed that she had gained some weight, but only in ONE spot- her belly. On top of all of her other worries, Chia was pregnant.
Sadly, she was too ill to carry her pups to term, they had to be aborted. She had many ticks removed from her ears and received further treatment for mange and anemia. With just three months of Ingrid and Slavik's love, Chia is now a playful bundle of enthusiasm, her mange is gone and she is spayed, healthy and ready for a permanent place to call her own. I hope someone can find it in their heart to give her a loving home. She is such a funny love sponge, so forgiving and gentle and those human eyes are so expressive. I hope her dream for a permanent home comes true soon, she has definitely earned it!!”
Chia with Lulu. Lulu, a tiny girl, was adopted.
This was her condition in Cuba, deep wounds from dog fights, mangy,
full of ticks, pregnant, starving. People would kick and yell at her to go away
because they thought she was contagious. She was just wounded and
sick and lonely, poor girl.
Another day at the office for Dr. Slavik. Like this dog,
Chia was given a flank spay.
Drying off after her first bath in Giron, it took a whole 500ml bottle of
shampoo to get her semi-clean. For street dog who had never been
bathed before she was vey accepting of what we were doing to her!
Isabel, Chia's foster mom in Playa Giron who took her in for a month
and kept her safe while Audrey made arrangements to return.
Three days after Audrey emailed Ingrid with Chia's story-APAC made a
special trip
(a 3.5 hour drive both ways= no small feat in Cuba)
While they were there they treated
101 other pets too!
At Dr. Slavik's house- groggy after her abortion and spay
(she wasn't healthy enough to have the babies)
Dr. Slavik and Ingrid
took care of Chia and brought her
back to good health before she came
to Canada
At Varadero airport with Chia's escort to Toronto. (thank you Melodie!)
Unable to find her a home in Cuba, APAC took care of all of the necessary
paperwork and veterinary certification needed for Chia to exit Cuba
and enter Canada.
Chia
Ready for her 'close-up'
in Canada
Chia's reunion with Audrey in Canada
Comments Welcome!
I've noticed recently a few times (with no consistency) that Nina has been sick in the car. It's not clear at this time if this will be ongoing or long term as this does not happen every time we travel in a car. No consistency with how soon after we feed her to when she goes in the car either. I'm confident this is most likely temporary as some dogs do outgrow this and Nina just might too as she grows and changes. Stay tuned for updates on this as we go along. If this does not change, not to worry, there are all natural products on the market that can be given, or your vet would be able to suggest something to help this. Rio loves car rides and happily jumps in the car; he's always the first one in and the first one out! No hesitation, you don't have to ask him twice. It was recently discovered, after a long process of elimination, trial and error, and time, we began to suspect that Rio may have allergies, so over the past few months we've had him on vet prescribed, low allergen dog food to test this, and I'm happy to report... success!! We have recently started to slowly change his food over time to regular store bought, high grade, (wheat free, corn free, soy free) food, and again...success! I'm very happy and confident that we are now on the right path and can put this behind us. We suspect that as Rio's immune system has changed, strengthened and he has outgrown this. So glad to have that behind us. Rio's pretty happy too. : )
