Who was Chomsky...

If you are a fan of Noam Chomsky, I am sorry but this post is not about him, it's about a rescue dog that was named after him, and here is his story.

Where I come from, Panama, a third world country in Central America, we are still behind as a society when it comes to animal rights and care. There are a lot of street dogs in country sides (towns and cities) and not much help. And don't take me wrong, there are worse places although things are changing little by little over here. Many more people are active independently and there are also social groups created to help animals, especially street dogs and cats.

I never had a pet when I was a child, now as an adult I discovered a different type of love, the love for an animal and it’s great! I thank my wife who changed my mentality towards pets. I mean, when I was a child I was told that I was allergic, and my parents never wanted a pet at home.

One day, my wife called me to tell me that she found a skinny dog in one of the islands here, hungry and sad, looking for family. The very first thing I said to her was: No! Don’t take him and leave him there, he’s a street dog and it’s his life / destiny. I guess when I said that, probably it was that side of myself that didn’t want a dog in my life because of expenses and time to dedicate.

When I came home, well, it was expected, she (my wife) did not listen and brought the dog home. It didn’t take much for me to realize this was the right thing to do, to adopt him and welcome him as the new member of the family.

We named him Chomsky, since my wife is a huge fan of Noam Chomsky.

Little Chomsky looked very malnourished and had an hernia, but the happiness I know he was feeling, was bigger than his hunger or any type of pain he could probably be in.

Here is a picture of Chomsky when we saw him first:

We took him to the vet, he was operated. Then his life changed completely, he gained weight.

For the next 6 months Chomsky was the happiest dog of the town, having cow bones for dessert, food twice a day, beach trips, toys, a nice bed to sleep in. The street life was over!

Chomsky enjoying a nice bone:

Chomsky on my lap while taking a boat trip:

Chomsky at the beach enjoying the life as he deserved it!

Unfortunately, Chomsky spent most of his years eating bad or not eating at all, abandoned and dealing with parasites and sickness. After having him for 6 months he started to show signals that something was wrong, started to pee constantly and threw up. He did not want to eat anymore, and his eyes and gums turned yellowish.
When we took him to the local vet, she gave him only fluids, no blood test was done. I don't blame her for not being more precise, although we felt guilty for not researching more about it.

Finally we made the late decision to take him to a bigger city, to a vet that has access to more resources. Don't forget we live in an island, and things are sometimes very limited here. The new vet did the blood tests and Chomsky was suffering of an advance hepatitis. She tried to do as much as she could to save him, but it was too late, he was too weak.

I remember when I entered the room where he was, he was weak, and made that last effort to stand up to lick my face and move his tail, but he didn't have any more strength. I had the chance to say goodbye to him, it was one of the saddest days of my life after the day my dad passed away.

Important to say, it was not easy to make this post without having a moment of sad memory, although there is something that always put a smile in our faces which is the fact that Chomsky had the opportunity to know the complete opposite side of his miserable life. His last 6 months of his life were the best for him and that makes us happy.

He also misbehaved, he like to run after the chickens even though he knew it was forbidden:

The day our Chomsky died, I made a promise to myself, as long as I have the opportunity and the conditions to do it, I will ALWAYS rescue a street dog and welcome him/her as member of our family. I also promised to myself that I will never buy a dog, with so many street dogs looking for food, love and home, why buy one? That is how I think, please if you are the type of person that breed for money or like to buy human created breeds to show of, don't take it personal.

Thanks for reading the story of our Chomsky!

Symptoms to look for in case your dog has hepatitis:

• Constantly peeing more than he should or is supposed to.
• Yellowish eyes.
• Lost of appetite.
• Lethargy.
• Vomiting.

Always make sure to act fast to take your lovely pet to the vet, and no matter what, with these symptoms, a blood test is imminent!

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