Ringo

This is Ringo, one of the most energetic and feisty dogs I've ever met.

Ringo is an accident victim. He used to live with street-dwellers on P D'Mello Road in Mumbai. Early last year he was hit by a car. He was a little over two months old. The accident left him paralysed in both hind legs. Treatment was started on site by WSD but he wouldn't have survived for long on the road in that condition. That's when dog-lover Reeta Mukhopadhyay came to his rescue. She offered to take him in and look after him till he was cured, though she has two dogs of her own and also looks after many more on the street.

I've seen many hind leg paralysis cases over the years, both dogs and cats, and the way animals deal with handicap never fails to amaze me. While the average human would sink into self-pity and depression, animals seem to decide to make do with whatever they've got and just get on with their lives. Eating, rushing about, playing, all their normal activities. Ringo's busy daily schedule also includes such items as turning the house upside down and chewing up things, and he makes sure to keep some time for these boisterous pursuits as well. He's still very young, after all.

Reeta has done a great job of looking after him. She nursed him, brought him in regularly for homeopathic treatment, massaged him, exercised him. Unfortunately one very important element of his treatment was missing: the pet wheelchair or cart that we ordered for him was for some reason never delivered by the person who manufactured it. So though Ringo regained the full use of his legs, he was never kept upright in a normal standing position at a critical time during his treatment. Animals don't remember how to walk if a considerable period of time has lapsed before recovery: they have to be taught all over again, sometimes with aids like slings and carts. So Ringo continued to move by dragging himself around in a sitting position, even though he was strong enough to lift himself up and his legs had regained their normal movement. As a result of this unnatural posture his hock joints have calcified in a way that makes them completely stiff and unbending. We've been told that to fix this surgically he would have to go through a very complex operation with no guarantee of success, so we are not going ahead with this. Reeta has just ordered a cart from another source; once it arrives Ringo will be completely mobile. We're hoping the normal posture will help his legs too.

Now for the sad news. Next year Reeta will be shifting to a smaller apartment and won't be able to keep Ringo any more - the housing society doesn't allow more than two dogs per flat. So he'll need a new owner, or will have to spend the rest of his life in a shelter.

Obviously the first option would be much much better. But is there anybody gutsy enough to adopt a handicapped dog, even such an independent one as Ringo?

Let's find out...do spread the word about him among all the dog-lovers you know.

Mumbai