Furholics: Breeds of the human kind…

As people who love pets, we regularly interact with people who work for animals. Apart from the much revered veterinarians, there are people who work for animals with their noses to the ground. Here is how you can recognise them.

Happy pet parents: The ones who bring home a furry baby as a member of the family. Their lives are entwined and everybody in the family loves the animal. Holidays, birthdays, weekend getaways all involve the pet. There may be one primary care-giver who manages the bathing and grooming, walking and feeding. What the pet gets from everybody is an abundance of love, respect and a rightful place at home.

Volunteer: A person who is available day and night to help look for adopters, fosters, feeders, veterinarians and other pet services. Works very hard for no monetary gain. Don’t take him or her for granted, don’t order them to “remove” or “take away” or “immediately travel across the city” to give medicine to a dog outside your gate. They too have a life apart from looking after animals.

Adopter: The person you grill thoroughly before you hand over your dog or cat to. You hope this is the beginning of the happily ever after story. S/he promises to love and cherish the pet for as long as the pet lives. S/he calls up a day later to say, “mom doesn’t want,” “dad is not well,”  “I’ve got a transfer,” “I’m allergic,” and the best of all, “wife is pregnant”! Hell! You can’t take care of one baby and you created another? Bleh!

You take your baby back, give the adopter a piece of your mind and look for the next family, hopefully more committed than this.

Foster: A person who takes in injured or homeless animals, nurses them back to health till somebody comes to take them to their forever homes. The foster invests love, energy, time and money in the animal. Sometimes, fosters are paid for their work and so are known as paid fosters. Others just do it for love.

Feeders: People who go all out to feed all dogs and cats in their area. They have set times  – early mornings and late nights – and places for feeding and go there irrespective of weather and health. The days that they can’t go, they find friends to step in. They don’t want their babies to starve. Easy to recognise them, their vehicles always have some treats and food for dogs and cats. And, sometimes they smell funny.

Medicators: Dedicated members with a fair knowledge of the medicines to be given for upset stomachs, fevers and runny noses. They also know the basics of first aid and don’t shudder from dressing maggot infested wounds. They never ever move without a first aid kit. They leave family dinners and birthday parties to answer such calls. They don’t charge for their efforts or crib about the regularity with which they miss human events!

Pseudo-Lovers: These get my hackles up! Go anywhere, and you will see them cooing over good-looking homeless dogs. Their modus operandi is to buy a packet of biscuits and give it to all dogs they come across. Hello, biscuits meant for humans aren’t great nutrition. Why don’t you adopt, foster, or pay for some neutering as well?

Uma Karve Chakranarayan