Gems of the past & present

Butter was rescued after she had met with an accident, when she was barely two months old. The fourteenth of October, 2006, went onto become the luckiest day of our lives. She ruled us and the house till her last breath. She is the reason behind the birth of Bridging Rainbows.

Guchguch came home after developing post op complications from a major cancer surgery in old age. He was the most carefree soul to have ever graced our home, with food as his first love and then, his human mother. Other than being a fun loving dog, he was blessed with the innate ability to sniff death coming.

Chamgi was rescued and brought home after she had lost all her fur due to hypothyroidism. Her beauty lied in the fact that she did not care that she had no fur, rather she loved herself for who she was; a determined soul. She wanted a new bed every night and would go to any extent to snatch the bed of others at home. What matters is the fire brand spirit of life and not the outward appearances and our Chamgi will always be a manifestation of that.

Matalu was barely one year old when his legs were broken twice out of sheer sadism. But they could not break his spirit of life. When he turned blind all of a sudden on one monsoon night and was about to be mowed down by a bus, he was rescued and brought home. It is his home-coming that let us know that he was brilliant at maths and the perfect leader of the pack, despite the diminished vision he was left with.

Georgina was rescued from the streets of Mumbai after her and her pack’s life had been made miserable and they were no longer safe from harm. Her home-coming led us to discover that the dog with a white cross on her chest was actually a nurse dog who had received no formal training and she went onto become a guide dog to other blind dogs at home. A blessed soul, as she took the entire responsibility of the other canines of the house, right from disciplining them to maintaining decorum at home.

Jalebi was Georgina’s son from the last littter. He came along with his mother from Mumbai to our home. He had a foreign object in his intestine because of which he bled every third day and his body was in no shape to take a surgery. He lived for another 3.5 years after coming to Baroda with an unimaginable zest for life as he recovered and smiled after every bloody bout. His guardian angels had the toughest job in the world. The vet, in all his history, had never seen a dog like Jalebi.

Tweeky was a shy and misunderstood dog in Mumbai. His home-coming, and a conducive environment with good vibes let the reality unfold that he was actually the most docile dog. He continues to be the peace keeper of the house and is the adoptive father to Chhutki and Ghoplu and adoptive grandpa to Zenobia.

Orange was Tweeky’s partner in Mumbai. When she came home, she immediately assumed the charge of Chhutki and Ghoplu as their adoptive mother. If our backyard had innumerable holes and the pillows, pillow covers and bed sheets were torn, they all were the handy work of Orange. If barred from doing what she loved to do, she gave a soft bark.

Ronaldo was not even a year old when he was dragged under a car as the driver was talking on the mobile, even deaf to the screams of Ronaldo yelping in pain. Good samaritans pulled him out but it was too late. He underwent two botchy amputation surgeries by a novice and an insensitive vet and was rescued thereon and operated successfully by an expert surgeon to save his life. He lost one his limbs but not the firebrand spirit of life. He is the most energetic dog at home who runs faster than his four legged counterparts. He even led a rally in Baroda. His affection is as large hearted as his size.

Natasha, sibling to Ronaldo, met with an accident a month after her brother did. Her wounds were far more gruesome and she was rescued from a shelter where maggots were feasting on her wounds. She was successfully operated by an expert surgeon for one of her limbs that had begun to rot. However, she did not walk for three months despite her spine in good shape. When she learned to walk again, there has been no stopping her since then. With three legs and half a stump, she jumps around the house and believes in making friends with everyone. Her personality exuberates hope and joy despite the condition of thrombocytopenia she suffers from.

Stephanie was a happy sterilised dog on the streets who was looked after daily, until her limbs began to swell. An unfriendly dog who resisted the human touch, several attempts later she was caught and rushed for an x-ray. Turned out, as per an experienced radiologist, she had idiopathic pulmonary disease. There was no cure, other than steroids to ease off the pain and let her lungs function smoothly. There was no question of her going back to the streets. By the time she became a dog who yearned for human touch, it was time for her to go. She went homed, loved and cared for, until her last breath, which brings solace.

Jammy was picked up when ants were feasting on a gaping wound in her swollen abdomen, that had close to four litres of ascitic fluid. Her blood picture was far more worrisome as she had fatally low levels of albumin. Intravenous albumin was like an elixir of life for her. She came home to us as the best Diwali gift. From a protein energy malnourished dog, she is currently the dog with the most enviable muscles. Her best friend is Zenobia, who is almost six years younger to her, but both play together as siblings do.

Sundae was rescued and brought home after her last pack member, Kaabri, died a mysterious death. Sundae lighted up our home with unmatched calm that her presence brought. One of the most mature dogs to grace our home who conveyed her love through her soulful eyes. She had no fuss and no demands.

As his name goes, he was a canine distemper survivor who had been wrongly dropped off at one of our locations. He survived, became hale and hearty and grew enormously in size to become as loving as huge he was with a coconut shaped head. He was a favourite at a roadside tea stall where everyone ensured to feed him. All was well until he was run down by a vehicle when he was sleeping on the roadside. It left his bone powdered. He was rescued and brought home. He was operated later on but died due to medical negligence.

Sheru was a stunted and an obese dog who appeared to be like a rolling drum when he walked. He was hit by a vehicle during Diwali that did not leave any external physical wounds but ended up damaging his kidneys. That is what brought him home, the acute onset of renal failure. His creatinine had begun to come down and when he had almost recovered, we lost him to cardiac arrest

Venus, along with her father, Lopez and mother, Nancy, were found in a tribal area of Gujarat with her hind legs paralysed as a pup. With no medical facility, she was put on a calcium and vitamin D rich diet. In a month, she started to walk like any other dog her age. She was adopted at an industrial setting wherein she roamed around as the boss and even got dognapped on one occasion for the good looking dog she was. All was well until one day she fell off from the second floor of an under construction building that left her kidneys damaged. She was rushed to Baroda and came home after the vet visits every day. A week later, she succumbed to acute renal failure.

Bhaalu, as the name goes, resembled a baby grizzly bear. However, he was a gentle giant who had endless affection to offer. He was often seen posing with college students for a selfie in exchange of some of their tiffin. He was rescued and brought home after he developed advanced age related cardiomyopathy and some nefarious wardens wanted to oust him from the very area he had guarded all his life with loyalty. He celebrated what we took be his fifteenth and the last birthday with a card and a cake.

Christopher had lived all his life on the streets and was looked after every single day. A brindle coloured giant, he had the most infectious smile, while he was the leader of the pack in his block. It is a brutal accident that he had met with, that brought him home in the eleventh hour. He lived at home for just twelve hours and when finally veterinary help was arranged on a sunday, he died a painful death moments before that. That he was at home, with us, is the only solace. He, and the other dogs like him, deserve better, and not brutal rundowns.

Life for the stray dogs is very challenging, more so for those who age on the roads. Delma was one its victims. She had to be boarded with a shelter as home was full, but was later on rescued as her death sentence had been announced. She survived and the vet calls it a miracle. Her story is a reflection of the senior stray dogs and how they fade into the oblivion as they age. A shelter is no place for a dog, but a home is and life can be king size with love, care and affection, as seen with Delma, that aims to speak for the most marginalised among the stray dogs to bring them to attention of the world.

Disco was a lively dog, which is like a rarity on the streets, despite the daily struggle for survival. To save her life after some sinister people were busy spreading the myth regading dogs as carriers of coronavirus, that Disco was rescued and brought home. Even after she was bed ridden due to advanced age, she lived every bit of happiness the home had to offer.

Kaniya was a wrong drop off by someone at one of our locations. He wandered for some time, but was fed every single day and he finally settled down with one of our packs on the roads. One day during the coronavirus lockdown, he bumped into others, which meant he had lost all his vision. He was rushed to the vet and operated upon to have partial vision restored. There was no question of him going back to the streets. It is after his home-coming we got to know he only had half his jaw. Despite that, he continues to eat normally like any other dog and has, infact, become a chubby dog who is brilliant with maths.

We had known Rani ever since her pups had been disposed off by some residents in the residential society she used to live. She was spayed on an urgent basis to put an end to her agony for once and for all. She began to live for herself thereon. It is when she had aged that she developed a bloated stomach. She refused to be caught considering her fear for humans until she had to surrender one day because her heavy ascitic fluid did not let her walk. She had a cirrhotic liver. Three months of daily vet visits later, her condition stabilised and she started enjoying her home. She did not have much time in hand for the extent of liver damage she had, but she did definitely buy a lot of time as she felt loved and wanted and saw the other side of humans that she never had in all her life on the streets.

Where does a senior stray dog go when the system and society fails them? Rapunzel was rescued and brought home as her existence had become a big question mark as someone was after her life. Her crime? Senior age. She is presently the eldest of the house, a doting adoptive grandma to Zenobia and she loves to sprint across the house despite her advanced age. She talks through her eyes that can look deep down our soul.

Chhutki was rescued by a close friend after a group of sinister wardens wanted her either killed or dislocated because she had tremendous amount of love and affection to give. Orange became her adoptive mother, Tweeky, her adoptive father and Georgina, her school. Through observant learning, with Georgina as her guru, she is presently the nurse dog of the house and also an adoptive mother to Zenobia. Her trademark ‘uuuhuuuu’ as a means of conveying affection is therapeutic to many.

Dixa Babu had lived all his life very happily on the streets as he was looked after every single day. There would not go a single day without his singing that he ensured to do whenever either of us arrived with food for him and his pack. The death of his best friend, Mukhiyaji, an aged leader of the pack, sent him into depression. The day he was about to come home, after what we suspected to be an episode of blindness, COVID-19 knocked on our door that sent us into quarantine. He was picked up on request by a vet’s clinic and brought home as a gift of COVID recovery. He sang, walked, bossed around despite his old age and diminished vision to live every bit of his home-stay. His homing, under the most challenging of circumstances, brought greatest peace.

Ghoplu was just about a month old when his body was paralysed waist down in an accident he met on the roads. He was rescued and brought home but there was little hope as his spine was affected. Spinal surgery in dogs is practically impossible because you cannot expect a dog to remain confined to bed. Two years of supplements and diet therapy later, he runs around just like any other normal dog. He is presently the tarzan of the house as he does not bark at all but sings like a tarzan. He did not get to enjoy much of his childhood even though he was at home because he could not play with others owing to his condition. With Zenobia’s home-coming, he has found his childhood back.

A phone call one winter evening brought to our notice a month old motherless pup. Far worse, ten people who had a history of tossing dogs from one home to another, to finally abandon them at a shelter or back on the streets had come to pick up the pup. To save its life, the pup came home. Named Zenobia, she is currently the youngest member and also the life behind all the chaos at home. Her antics, aimed at complete mischief have brightened up our home like never before. She is the adoptive daughter to Chhutki, and loves to shower her affection on her adoptive grandma, Rapunzel. Her favourite play mate is Jammy and the two play together as siblings do.

Imagine a stray dog with diminished vision who loved to pick up fights too. Our Fruit Laali was that. When she was found, her scabies was so severe, that it had ended up affecting her eyes as she eyelashes had grown inwards. She was successfully operated to have partial vision back. With that, she used to boss around in the area. It is the development of ascites that brought her home. Turned out, she had last stage ovarian cancer. For the little time she lived at home, Chhutki, who was a mere four months old pup then, became her best friend and the two played endlessly for hours together. The joy homing and good company brought, Fruit Laali forgot what fate had in store for her.

Chotu Don was born to Sandra, along with Don, unexpectedly, as their mother already had a clipped ear. All during his young life, he had a lot of affection but was submissive to the dictates of his brother, Don. Although he was fed every day, he ended up consuming something toxic that led to acute renal failure that brought him home. Rani then, while she was battling a cirrhotic liver with daily vet visits, became his adoptive mother.

Baldev lived all his life on the streets under our care along with his sisters – Motan and Hawa Hawai. He met with a brutal accident in ripe old age that left him crippled and that is what brought him home.

Mallika lived for thirteen years and three months on the roads and came home when she was diagnosed with tick fever. She lost her life to medical negligence.

White Collar is a fourteen years old dog who came home to us after he started to suffer from episodic blindness and epileptic fits on the roads.

Chinki was rescued in an almost dead condition with low hemoglobin and platelets. She had a big abscess that developed after a bike hit her on the roads.