Poof... how long did it take me to finally sit down and write his story..
If it would have been up to me I don't think you would ever read or hear about him.
Thank god my friend Susan urged and convinced me to share it with you, despite the painful memories it brings back.
She said: the public has to know..so I pulled myself together and I will tell you about Poof.
It's weird actually; I have seen so much animal cruelty and abuse over the last few years and have lost beloved pets myself.
Yet somehow this dog touched me so deeply, it tore me apart.
Maybe it was because he shared his pain with me, or, his humble gratefulness for being rescued..
Maybe it was the love in his innocent eyes, or, maybe it was the fact that this beautiful creature was so emaciated and mistreated that he lost all willpower to survive..
He just stood on the highway, almost dead, too exhausted to make one more step.
Like he was waiting to get hit by a car.. so his miserable life would come to an end and he could finally rest in peace.
He just stood there, on a boiling hot Sunday afternoon, in the middle of a busy highway, glued to the tarmac with wounded paws.
He stood there and got insulted by people in passing cars 'cos he was "a stupid dog and he was in their way".
Nobody had the common sense to pull over and save this poor dogs life.
He just stood there, with nothing left but desperation..
We saw him standing there and immediately turned the car around to get him.
I won't ever forget this day..the boiling sun, the noise of the traffic around us, cars coming and going from everywhere, people shouting obscenities..
We pulled over, got out of the car to get close to him and I think this is what almost broke my heart: despite the horrible state he was in, Poof wagged his tail and made a feeble attempt to walk a step towards us.
Since he could barely walk I had to wrap my arms around him and we slowly got him at the car.
He was in a horrible state..
Completely dehydrated, emaciated, his hipbones almost stuck through his flaky skin, the joints in his tail had already begun to come through; not a single hair was left on it.
His paws were wounded, his ears were ripped and filled with dirt, he had wounds all over his body, he had sores in and outside of his mouth..
And he stank!!! Pfewwwffff!!! After saying that a few times Pfeeewf became Poof.
While my friend was fixing the backseat of the car to get him in, I reached the point of being hysterical.
I held Poof close to me, to prevent him from falling over, and while he was wagging his scrawny tail at me he looked me in the eyes with his own soft velvet ones: I started to cry and I could not stop.
It came to the point that Poof was comforting me.
Thank god I calmed down for the sake of the situation and, for the sake of this dog but I swear to you; I was ready to kill someone.
Outrageous, scandalous and sickening.. like being trapped in a bad dream.
To make a long story short: Poof needed immediate medical attention but we could find no emergency vet. On a Sunday afternoon, NO vet was to be found, no emergency helpline could be reached and the police knew, surprise, nothing.
Then we got the number of a veterinary clinic but upon calling we got the answer machine and the mobile number they directed us to did not exist
After 1.5 hour we finally found, via via, a vet that could help us.
Well, vet
His place was too filthy for words!
The floor was caked with old blood, stools and sticky dirt and there were empty medicine vials everywhere; a chaos of medical waste.
We were immensely shocked!
He put Poof on a drip with an already used rusty needle, gave him some emergency injections, some antibiotics and vitamin shots.
Afterwards we found out that this vet does not have a license, but, despite his unhygienic gruesome shed and his rough behaviour he did the best he could and more important: he was willing to help this dog on his free Sunday night, he believed in it.
Later that night we dropped Poof off at the Nicosia Dog Shelter where he received further medical treatment.
On the way to the shelter he was really staring at us and his little tail did not stop wagging.
I am 100% convinced he knew we saved his life, he was so grateful, you could see it in his eyes; they were filled with love and kindness!
I went to check up on him a week later and I found a new dog.
He looked happy, his eyes were shining, his ribs stuck less out, he had put on some weight and he had been able to sleep again.
Bless his beautiful doggy heart
one of the most kind and gentlest dogs I have ever met in my life!
Have a look at Poof's album and judge for yourself.