A stray has found her furever home!

Photo from Kyra Mae Remedio

On a sunny afternoon of December 03, 2021, while I was attending my history class, I heard a disturbing noise which I could not figure out because I was wearing headphones and the noise from the outside mixed with my professor’s voice from class. I was nonchalant about it at first as I did not think of it as something really serious (since it has become normal that there are noises from everywhere, especially that there are quite a lot of trees outside our house.) However, what really made me come out of the house was when I figured it was actually a cry for help.

I went out of the house and followed the sound. It took me a while before I was able to locate where the sound came from. I peeked through the fence and saw a little puppy; it looked at me with so much longing in her eyes. I panicked when I realized that I needed to do something to help her. The situation was—I was stepping on a pile of woods in our backyard to be able to see what was on the other side of the fence. I was flooded with thoughts and questions: (1) What should I do now? (2) Should I just watch this creature as she continues to cry for help? (3) Will I be able to land on my feet if I jump from here? (4) Oh no, I am not even wearing slippers!

What I did was, I took the risk of getting my feet hurt and just did what I needed to do: jumped off the fence and rescued the puppy. I placed her on a flat surface of our fence before I got back inside our gate.

When I was finally able to get back to my senses, I brought the puppy inside our house, inspected her body, and found out that there were allergies all over her belly area. I immediately told my mother about it and she automatically dismissed the idea of letting the puppy stay with us (which was understandable since it was just 3 weeks from when we lost a 6-month-old puppy because of Canine Parvovirus.) My sister and I looked for someone on the internet who was willing to adopt the puppy but to no avail. My mother looked for someone who could take the puppy home too and she found someone who was willing; a trisikad driver who also happened to be one of our neighbors. I was hesitant with the idea of giving the puppy to him because he goes out of the house everyday and he also has a younger brother who he needs to take care of. Eventually, I convinced my mother to just let the puppy stay with us with one condition: I would be the one who pays for the expenses, in which I agreed. I took accountability because I was really desperate to keep the puppy.

In the end, I was able to stand firm with my decision in keeping the puppy with us. She is an aspin with a dominant white color mixed with light brown and black. I planned on naming her Oreo Cheesecake but it was too long and my mom did not agree with the idea. We now call her Oreo or Oyo when we talk cutely to her. When she was still new to us, she would always follow me everywhere and it literally got to the point where I was annoyed because she always let me carry her even when I am doing academic work. I took her to the vet to have her allergies checked. The fees were costly and my mother really did not contribute to anything because it was my idea that we should keep her.

The first two months with Oreo at home were not as easy as it is now—I had to wake up early to make sure she drinks milk and takes her medicine on time as said by the doctor. I would also wake up in the middle of the night to put her down from the bed in case she wanted to pee or poo. It was like I gave birth to a child. It was definitely a very challenging thing to do but it was worth all the late-night extravaganza, all the hard work to earn extra money for her funds, and all those times where I would uglily cry because there was no one I could ask help from in carrying her around (mainly because she did not want anyone else to carry her or else, she would cry and would make a fuss about it.)

It has already been five months since I mothered Oreo. Since then, she has grown into an awesome, hyperactive, and a beautiful fur baby! It feels fulfilling to have raised a rescue puppy and if I could go back in time when I found Oreo, I would still rescue her from the pits of her struggles like what a real mom would do for her kid.