BENGALURU: Story of a stray dog, named Kambli, restores faith in humanity. The one-year-old dog was diagnosed with a spinal injury when he was around four months old. When no one was ready to adopt him, Archana Sreenivasan, a resident of Bengaluru, with the help of a relocation agency in Chennai, helped him find a foster home in the US.
Kambli was found unable to move at a construction site in Mysuru, by her niece Juhi, when he was a two-month-old pup. Juhi took him to a vet who diagnosed his condition as a leg injury, and accordingly started the treatment for his wounds. “She took care of him for about two months, trying to restore his ability to walk with physiotherapy and some other techniques. Being a student, she was unable to keep him for long,” she said. That’s when he was moved to a rehab shelter in Bengaluru. The initial plan was to continue the treatment and eventually get him adopted once he regained his ability to walk. But the vets in Bengaluru said the trauma was irreversible and it was impossible for him to walk again.
Recalling the condition he was found in, Sreenivasan, an illustrator, said, “He was also bladder and bowel incontinent because of the spinal injury. The vet suggested that we should consider euthanising him if we weren’t sure we could provide him the care he needs. He even ruled out the option for a surgery in India.” But Kambli was able to move by dragging himself using his fore limbs.
“We got him a wheelcart, so that he could go on walks like normal dogs,” adds Sreenivasan.
She said, “When we found that no one wanted to adopt Kambli in India, we started reaching out to international rescue organisations and one of them, Loved At Last Dog Rescue, in Vancouver agreed to help Kambli. They arranged the foster home for him.” Moving to different cities and then to the US wasn’t easy for Kambli, as he suffers from PTSD and is terrified of most new humans.
However, his foster parent Julianne Seubert in Seattle has a dog of her own – a rescue from Mexico – and the two of them get along well, playing and wrestling together. Kambli has adjusted very well in his new foster home,” she said. Other than his paralysis, and the fact that he is prone to urinary infections because of the incontinence, Kambli is fairly fit. He has excellent muscular strength in his front body, and is an active, curious dog despite his handicap,” said Sreenivasan who has been in touch with the foster parent, Seubert.