Rex

Dogs or cats?

A few years ago, the answer would have been neither and I probably would’ve done that thing where you bring a different variable into the picture when you don’t like the options before you.

In this case since I sneeze when near cats and can barely stand them and feared dogs back then, I would’ve probably suggested a goat because they’re edible 🤣

But then Rex happened.

Rex was a dog we had in namugongo some 3 years ago and it totally changed my opinion on animals.

Initially, when I started living there I ignored it and approached it with the kind of caution that you can only get from having childhood PTSD having spent a sizable amount of time being chased by playful dogs in my neighborhood who couldn’t understand that No means No (a tad dramatic but, kindly bear with me🤣).

Then Rex took a liking to me in a weird kind of way, didn’t understand it because being cold was supposed to get people off your back and inadvertently write a “Do not approach” sign on your back but Rex didn’t know how to read signs and the more I ignored him, the more he sought me out.

Soon he was hanging around me when I went out to make personal phone calls and would wag his detail in a sort of doggy dance and so eventually I reached out because at that point it was inevitable.

I still wasn’t the most playful person he knew because everyone else at the time was light years ahead of me when it came to dog relationships but regardless we navigated through patience and understanding.

Soon we were holding hands, playing and I started patting him, made attempts to talk to him, and even though he didn’t reply, it always seemed like he understood what I was saying.

We were now friends and suddenly I was getting the full package of licks, soft barks and the jumping hugs.

But it wasn’t meant to be and soon Parvo virus struck, first it was the loss of appetite, then severe vomiting and diarrhea, they brought in a vet doctor who tried to administer medication but nothing seemed to be improving.

At the time we didn’t know what was wrong and sometimes wonder if the vet was a quack, maybe If we’d know what was wrong he could’ve survived, in fact it took us losing 2 dogs in three months to know there was a deeper problem.

I don’t know where he got it from because he was a fully vaccinated dog and always wondered if perhaps it was during those morning walks we always took him for where he would sometimes wonder off, but he got it and every thing else escalated quickly.

This was at the peak of illness when Rex could barely stand.

Within, two days of getting ill he passed on, and then we got Bruno, a new younger dog that was more playful and this time I generally kept my distance and refused any attempts at playing with our new pet.

Bruno was full of life and playful

Lil Bruno probably thought I had something against him because I refused any and all attempts at playing with him, didn’t like that he was clingy and all that.

My icy display with him soon got him to keep his distance and he mostly fled in another direction when he saw me and the assumption was that I hated him or that I beat him but truth is even then I was never built to hate.

If anything I loved how playful he was, just didn’t need another dog connection at the time and I felt somewhat justified in a “I was right but at what cost” way when Bruno fell sick and started showing the same signs.

We brought in a different vet doctor but the results were the same, we lost yet another dog to the same disease but we’d learn the cause of deaths for once.

So I know this probably an overly magnified answer to what you expected but well I couldn’t help myself and needed to give context otherwise thank you as always and catch you tomorrow.