Stray Cats and Dogs

The majority of what I have written on this site is in appreciation and celebration of Bulgarian life. Animal welfare, however, particularly in relation to stray cats and dogs, is one area where the Bulgarians have a great deal to learn.

The streets are filled with stray cats and dogs – many of whom are in various stages of starvation and disease. One cannot live here (as a humane individual) without feeling saddened and distressed on a regular basis about their plight. Since moving here we have been involved with three Bulgarian charities who rescue animals, but we have also rescued them ourselves directly from the streets.

I have owned dogs since my childhood , but on meeting my current husband, he made it quite clear that he was not a ‘dog lover,’, and so for the first ten years of our relationship we were a ‘dog free zone’.  

Following a severe episode of mental illness, and a recommendation from occupational health that dogs are therapeutic, Jeff finally agreed to allow me to adopt a puppy.  We chose Chris.  So cute! 

The charity then contacted us to say that Chris was not yet ready to travel, and would we be happy to choose one of the dogs already in England.  Enter Ozzie.

Ozzie

Our oldest dog, Ozzie, came to us when we still lived in England from the charity ‘Help Bulgarian Street Cats and Dogs’.

https://bulgariasstreetdogs.wixsite.com/helpbulgariasanimals

With only three legs (many dogs here seem to experience a similar fate) my heart went out to him when I first saw his photo. Ozzie is now a very large dog, who I know would ‘take a bullet for me’, but, just like humans, he still bears the emotional scars of his early years. He is very afraid of new people, especially men, and he becomes distressed whenever I go to get a mop or a brush – obviously having flash backs to being hit with something similar. He growls at strangers, which makes him quite ferocious, and so we have to keep him separate whenever we have visitors.

Chris

After adopting Aussie the charity contacted us to say that Chris was now ready! So of course we couldn’t say no. Chris is cute, clever, and cheeky! He has an air of superiority about him – he seems to know that he is a ‘cut above the rest’ of the pack intelligence wise, and refuses to be ‘lumped together’ with them whenever we try and do that.

Like Ozzie Chris came to live with us in Cornwall in England before we transported him back to his “homeland”. One day we were out shopping in ‘Lush”(did you know that lush allowed dogs inside?!) And this gentleman approached us. He said “where did you buy your Val hound?” We looked at him in disbelief and said “oh no – this is just a straight dog from Bulgaria“. The gentleman reassure us that we were wrong. He explained that Val hounds were the oldest breed of dog – bred by the Vikings to be small so that they could go indoors but have all the attributes of a larger hunting dog. When we got home, we looked Val hounds up on the Internet and sure enough Chris is the absolute archetypal Val hound! How lucky are we!

Both Chris and Ozzie came to us with designated names, and so we didn’t change them. We often joke, however, that we should have called them Captain Manering (Chris) and Colonel Pike (Izzie) as this so befits their personalities and relationship.

Freddy and Barney

Freddy and Barney (Flintstones!)came to us a couple of years ago from ‘Give Hope to a Dog Foundation’ who rescued them from a filthy farm where they spent their entire time tied up.

Lilly

Little Lilly has a very sad story attached to her. I first met her when I attended a friend’s birthday party. She sat the entire time at the feet of one of the guests. This particular lady never even offered her a drink of water – even though it was 40+ degrees that day. Eventually, after begging the lady to do so, I gave Lilly some ice cubes.

I later discovered that the lady had been her owner. However, she had moved away, putting little Lilly on the streets at the age of 11. She’d been away for an entire year, but when Lily heard her voice she came running back thinking that she had come home! In fact, she was only there for a visit, and soon left, abandoning Lilly for a second time.

I returned to the area a few weeks later. Lilly must’ve remembered my kindness with the ice cubes, because she came running up to meet me from her dirty habitat. Much to my husband‘s distress (we already possessed four dogs and four cats at this juncture) I scooped her up and took a home!

After a good bath, which barely touched the grime she was so dirty, we took her to the vets. At first he thought that she was pregnant her stomach was so swollen, but then discovered that this was due to parasites. He said that had she not received treatment she would have died very soon. He treated her for various other diseases also. She still has a congenital heart disease and is on constant medication. Lilly is now my baby and sleeps on my bed!

Mushy

Mushy’s is the saddest story of all.

We first saw him sleeping rough in a pile of leaves at the end of our street. I pleaded with Jeff to bring him home, but Jeff insisted that he belonged to someone. His coat was very dirty, and like many dogs here he was missing a leg. He also had been so badly hurt that his little body was almost a U shape. We didn’t know if this was due to a car or a human. The locals referred to him as ‘mush’. We didn’t understand too much Bulgarian at the time, so we misinterpreted this for his name. We now understand that this simply means ‘man’.

Winter came, and ‘mush’ continued to sleep in our road.

One night I was lying in bed and became overwhelmed by a feeling that I needed to go downstairs. it was two in the morning. I opened the gate, and there was ‘mush’ lying outside of my gate, seemingly dead. Jeff stood at the gate threatening a divorce if I brought him inside, but of course I did. I nursed him throughout the night and in the morning I took him to the vets. It was touch and go for many weeks, but eventually he recovered so completely that he was a new dog. We called him Mushy, from his original title.

Sadly, Mushy’s story did not end here. This is an extract from my diary:

I can barely bring myself to write this – I miss him so much.

He was from the streets and had freedom and independence in his blood. Though the village had treated him harshly  –  breaking his ribs and tearing his limbs – he still loved the smells and the other stray dogs 

Mushy wouldn’t come home yesterday when Jeff took him out for a walk 

He has come from the streets and I think resents captivity. 

We went out to look for him three times  but couldn’t find him.

Our neighbour told us this morning that he was dead. Someone has been going around the village giving poisoned bread to any dogs they could find – four dogs have died, and my Mushy.

I can’t believe what has happened.

He had died at the side of the road, our neighbour told us, and one of the gypsies had put him in the bin. This is what they do with the stray cats and dogs.

The bins had been emptied.

We went to the tip and Jeff searched through all of the rubbish until we found him there . His little lifeless body lay under some old plastic sheeting. We wrapped him in a blanket and carried him home.

He was such a lovely little dog I don’t know how they could do this.

I can’t bring myself to bury him.

Cats

As with the dogs, the cats are also mainly rescues. The ginger Tom (Tom Tom) did have a brother (Jerry) who sadly disappeared – probably poisoned like Mushy. We rescued them from a friend’s garden where they had literally been ‘dumped’ as tiny kittens and were starving.

Mimi is our latest rescue and came to us via a desperate vet who had found her without a mother and still needing mothers milk. We took over the role with a pipet!

And Sookie’s story (below) can be found here.

https://pleasantplacesbulgaria.com/pets-and-vets/

Update

Since writing this post, we have no adopted a number of new animals! Of course! We found five kittens in a box at the end of our lane – sadly the dogs attacked two of them before we realised there was a problem we still have three Noel grown. We have also adopted another dog we have named Lucy. We also adopted a ginger Tom who has had extensive surgery on his mouth after being either kicked in the head or damaged by a car – no one was sure. I expect that there will be more in the future.😊