That is the story of Mrs. Thuy in Can Tho. The woman has spent more than 5 years helping and raising abandoned sick dogs.
At 3:30 am, Mrs. Tran Thi Le Thuy, 52 years old, in Bui Huu Nghia Ward, Binh Thuy District, woke up when she heard the groans of Hero – a dog with a broken spine and paralyzed hind legs, just rescued more than a month ago. . She guessed Hero went to the bathroom, if not cleaned up immediately, it will be dirty on the floor soon. Hero is a Golden breed dog, very smart, gentle, normally costs several million VND each.
“When it is beautiful and healthy, it is petted, when it is sick, it is thrown in the landfill. Even though its hind legs were paralyzed, I saw it still trying to chase after the owner for a while before helplessly watching the car go away, "Ms. Thuy shed tears when recalling the video captured by a camera of a house nearby. Record when coming to pick up Hero.
Sometimes Mrs. Thuy feeds the dogs hot dogs, this is their favorite snack.
For more than 20 years, Ms. Thuy has worked as a fruit seller. This is the main source of income for her family, and she raises 36 dogs picked up from the street.
In the past, Ms. Thuy's family only raised 1-2 dogs for companionship. Although she loves dogs, she never thought she would raise dozens of dogs in her house. But fate has brought the dogs to her family in turn since the end of 2014. That time, when Can Tho was in flood season, one morning she woke up, and Mrs. Thuy heard the cry of puppies. When I searched, I found 2 dogs about 1 month old mixed in with water hyacinths and garbage washed up in the corner of the garden. Mrs. Thuy quickly brought it into the house, took a warm towel to dry it, and then gave her milk to drink. These two rescued dogs have stayed with her family.
After they were healthy, she posted to a dog-loving group in Can Tho on Facebook and was praised by everyone. Since then, as a charm, Ms. Thuy has continuously received calls to help abandoned and sick dogs in the Can Tho area.
"It's too bad to save this child but not the other, so whoever calls everywhere I come to bring it back," said Ms. Thuy.
Most of the dogs that arrived at Mrs. Thuy's hands were sick. Mild intestinal disease, dermatitis, severe blood parasites, cancer... Therefore, in addition to feeding and taking care of them, Ms. Thuy also has to treat them.
Nearly two years ago, she saved a Pitbull with severe dermatitis in a landfill. Neighbors said it had been there for nearly 10 days, no one dared to bring home a dog considered aggressive and sick. Because the dog only eats garbage to live, the dog has a damaged intestinal tract.
Some people said "just keep raising it, live as long as you can" but Ms. Thuy did not accept it. For more than a month, she brought it to the veterinary hospital in Can Tho but there was no cure. Fortunately, Ms. Thuy found a veterinary hospital in Saigon that promised to treat her for free, but on the condition that she had to bring the dog to the place. That time, her husband Thuy - who is a retired soldier, had to rent a 4-seater car to take the dog to Saigon for treatment. Five days later, she had to hire a car to take him back.
Each name Thuy gives the dogs has a special meaning. Therefore, Mrs. Thuy gave the dog a funny name, Fireworks, because wherever she went, she "fired fireworks".
At first, Ms. Thuy had no treatment experience, so she often went to the veterinary clinic, which was very expensive. After a while, in addition to finding out more online and her own experience, Ms. Thuy knew how to cure minor illnesses. She also injects drugs and vaccines for them by herself. “The only thing I can't do is surgery,” she said.
Ms. Thanh Ha, Binh Thuy Ward, Can Tho, a dog lover who often follows Ms. Thuy's work on Facebook shared: "It takes a lot of compassion to not be afraid to bathe dogs with ticks on their ears. or scabies. I still shudder, not daring to do like her."
The dog Hero, who is paralyzed on his hind legs, is allowed to ride in the car by Mrs. Thuy for about an hour a day. She named the dog Hero because he suffered from a severe blood parasite disease, broke his spine, but was strong enough to overcome it.
Although the dogs that come to Ms. Thuy are all sick, but after a period of healing and health, Ms. Thuy still wants to find them a truly loving owner. "Here they are safe and well fed, but I don't have enough time to give all my love to nearly 50 dogs," said Ms. Thuy.
So there are many times when Mrs. Thuy gives dogs to other people. Once, there was a woman who I knew online. For a month, she often came to play and wash the dogs. Seeing that this person loved dogs, Mrs. Thuy agreed to let her bring one home. That night, she texted and asked to film to see how the new home of the "child" she had saved, but the woman did not agree. Linh felt bad, at 11 o'clock at night, Mrs. Thuy rode her motorbike to her house to ask, only to find out that the woman had sold it for 300 thousand. At that time, Mrs. Thuy insisted that the person take the dog to the place where it was sold to bring the dog back. Since then, Mrs. Thuy decided to keep the dogs with her, showing her close friends that they will love and be responsible for taking care of it until it dies.
But not always the sick dogs are saved by Mrs. Thuy. In case of serious illnesses that cannot be cured, Ms. Thuy often brings them to a cremation service and then takes the bones to spread them on the riverbank. The cost of cremation is 100,000 VND per kilogram of weight, so there are dogs weighing several tens of kilograms, which costs Ms. Thuy millions of dollars.
Each month, the cost of food and medicine for the dogs is up to nearly 10 million VND. The profit from selling fruit and her husband's pension, Ms. Thuy tries to pack up to take care of the dogs.
“If you have enough money every month, you will be given good food, two meals a day, a meal of rice and a meal of nuts. If the month is too short, eat a meal, each child will have a little grain to reduce cravings, but not much. In the garden, there are vegetables, gourds, and melons cooked together with the children, "Mrs. Thuy laughed.
Ms. Thu, a rice vendor next to Ms. Thuy's house, said: "Mrs. Thuy loves dogs very much. She has a large air-conditioned room. In the sun, turn on the air-conditioner for the dogs to sleep in. There are so many dogs, but absolutely not barking, she just screams and stops."
Dinner is cooked rice with ground meat and vegetables in the garden. The dogs eat about 6kg of rice and 3kg of ground meat every day
Previously, every summer vacation and holiday, both Mrs. Thuy and her two daughters used to go on a trip. She also often buys household items and clothes… But since the day she adopted the stray dogs, Ms. Thuy and her family have to think carefully every time they plan to spend money on something. "In the morning, when I want a cup of coffee, I also think about whether to drink it or not", Mrs. Thuy laughed.
Many people often point Ms. Thuy to the slaughterhouse to redeem the dogs, but she doesn't have enough money or energy to take care of them all. The redemption, she thought, added to the help of dog thieves. She can only save sick dogs, wandering in front of her eyes.” Saving a life is easy, but raising them for a few more years is very difficult. I just hope people don't abandon their dog," she choked.
Near noon, Mrs. Thuy stood in the kitchen to scoop rice and cooked food, mix it in a large pot to wait for it to cool, and prepare dinner at 4 o'clock for the dogs. Finished, she went back to vacuuming the floor. The dogs wandered around her legs and didn't let go. Someone came back into the room, lying flat on the cool ceramic tile floor, eyes half asleep.
The sun was warm, watching the baby Coffee with late stage liver cancer go out to the yard to dry in the sun, rub her back on the cement floor to relieve itching, Ms. Thuy confided: "In the past, I used to cry every time someone died, but Now I just feel relieved, because sometimes it's a release from the pain."
