At the pagoda I visit to check on the cats and dogs, there's a lovely monk who I've known for three years. I first got to know him when he sought my help because they had puppies who weren't eating and one had died. We took the remaining five to the NGO vet. Two of them still didn't make it but three did and I adore them.
A couple of months ago, they alerted me that one had suddenly gone blind and was having seizures. He spent three days at the vet's but I had to make the call to euthanise him. Really heartbreaking. Had he eaten something bad like garlic? They said no.
Recently they have been worried about his brother, whose eyes are getting quite cloudy, and they were worried he was going to end up like his brother. After a couple of trips to the vet and different types of eye drops, I noticed he was gulping down a lot of water and asked if he always drinks a lot. Confirmed. So I think "is this kidney disease?" and Google that. Oh, that can cause high blood pressure leading to sudden blindness and seizures. Uh oh.
So I tell this to the vet and we have to put him on a special (expensive) renal care food.
And then on Saturday I notice a bottle of soy sauce on the ground near the dog food plates. I've seen it on the table there many times before, but assumed it was for their own meals, but no, they've been adding soy to the dogs' rice meals to make it tastier for them. They've basically been poisoning their dogs all this time.
They're now under strict instructions not to add soy or salt to the dogs' food. But it's just so hard to deal with. I hope my little friend improves no the special food. Depending on how bad his kidney damage is, it might only be a matter of time for him, but we'll see.
