Ditch the Bits

Back in Tenerife and Tony the vet was over from UK. We (hub and l) had taken about 10 dogs up for neutering. Added to the feral cats that Judith had trapped and taken over it was a long day waiting for kits to sterilise and neutering animals in various order to get the best from the day until we headed home.

In Tenerife there is no cremation area for animals. They go into the dustbin then to the dump. In this case it was the body parts and a load of other veterinary stuff from Tony that were to go into the bin. However on the way back from Tony’s the bin areas all had people parked in them and we did not really want to drop our “bits” in public as some was starting to get smelly.

We got back to the kennels and went to unload the dogs when l saw this little bitch tied to the gate and almost at full term ready to whelp. I quickly rang Tony and asked if he could do an emergency abort on her, no problem. I unloaded the dogs as fast as possible and we headed back to Tony.

It may seem cruel to abort but the volume of strays meant that the cruelty came in adding more. Not to mention there was no place to keep a bitch and pups as we were full. It would have meant putting two dogs to sleep to get a kennel. This would add mum and an unknown amount pups for several weeks till they could be rehomed, assuming that all survived.
Tony operated and we all headed back. By now very tired and getting late. I had feeding to do, let them have a bit of time out and finally home about 9pm.

We only needed to use the car over the next 3 weeks or so which meant the van sat and happily relaxed in the underground garage at the flats. I needed to go and get something out of it and went to open the doors. My nose twitched, oh god! My heart stopped as a memory sunk into my brain…along with the now powerfully overpowering smell as l opened the door fully. The interior of the van shimmered in a vicious miasma.

All the body bits, the dead foetus the stuff we had taken from Tony and said yup don’t worry we will throw it away. With all that went on it was all still in the van. I got rid off it asap, it almost floated to the bins. Thankfully the van had been underground if it was parked in full sun, the thought does not bear thinking about.

l had to go and break the news to hub. I prefer to draw a veil over the resultant discussion…ok ok argument. I still maintain that he was also in the van and had just as much to do with forgetting as l did, especially as he rested while l checked, fed, watered and let out all the dogs.

When we left the island over a year later the van still had an aroma in it when it got hot but not as bad as when l opened the door that day and realised that we had forgotten to “ditch the bits”.