Lockdown: pet dogs miss walking on roads; owners find it hard to get medicines

Kolkata, Apr 5 () As the coronavirus has lockeddown people at home with their routine activities taking atremendous hit, the predicament is the same for pet dogs whoare now missing their usual walks out and, sometimes, theirroutine medicines.

Private pet clinics in Kolkata are providing acurtailed service while state facilities remain closed duringthe lockdown.

Indranil Acharya of Lake Town area needed a de-wormingmedicine for his golden retriever on Sunday.

As he called up a pet clinic at Dumdum in northKolkata, where he is a regular customer, he was asked tocollect it before the closure time at 12 noon.

"I badly needed the medicine. I had called up theclinic in the morning and was told it will be open only fortwo hours. Happy that I could make it," he said.

Acharya said he had to rush to the clinic in his carin the locked down city and reached the place after muchpleading with the policemen on duty.

The number of owners of pets relying on these privatefacilities has gone up now as all state facilities are closedsince the lockdown, said Mridul Banerjee who has a goldenretriever, a spitz and a German Shepherd at his Garia home insouth Kolkata.

Sailen Mitra of Amherst Street, whose pug had beenunder tremendous pain for urine infection, said he had toreturn from the outdoor of the state-run Belgachia VeterinaryHospital finding the gate locked three days back.

"I had always taken my dog to Belgachia hospital,which has very good veterinarians. But I couldn't get himtreated there this time," Mitra said.

Vice-Chancellor of West Bengal University of Animaland Fishery Sciences Chanchal Guha said, since the vethospital is under the university, it has been closed as perthe COVID-19 pandemic advisory.

He said the hospital cannot be opened without anymajority decision of the executive council.

Besides the problem of getting their pets treated, theowners are also finding it difficult to walk their dogsoutside during the COVID-19 time.

Dolan Das Bhowmik of Salt Lake said she had to walkher three dogs on the roof of the building thrice a day andsometimes on the courtyard.

"Naturally they are not liking the arrangement. But wecan't help it," she said.

Das Bhowmik said her neighbour is taking his dog outon the road for a brief period. "But he disinfecting the dog'spaws immediately after returning home."

But the major problem is getting medicines, dog ownerssaid.

Many of them have posted SOS in social media sitesseeking help.

A spokesman of a pet clinic in Dumdum said they arenow attending to 7-8 pets on an average in two hours.

"While we used to be open throughout the day on sixdays in normal times, now we are forced to run a curtailedservice - for two hours on every alternate day of the week,during this lockdown period. Naturally, the number of cases ishigh. Many essential drugs for dogs or cats are in shortsupply due to transportation breakdown," he said.

He said the clinic is also facing staff crunch as someof the employees are stuck at home.

"From visiting 4-5 houses on urgent calls to supplyfood and medicine for their pets in normal times, now thenumber has shot up to 15-18 households on any day during thelockdown period," said Sudipto Ghosh, who runs a pet cafe insouth Kolkata's Tollygunge area said.

He said 40 per cent among such visits are for dogsneeding some urgent medical attention.

"We try to give as much service as possible. But inthe present situation some stores selling pet products andmedicines are closed," Ghosh said.

A spokesman from the NGO, ADF for Obola, said, whilethere had been clearcut direction from the Centre for keepingstate-run and private pet clinics open, facilities like theBelgachia vet hospital, state-run pet clinic at New Town areclosed since the lockdown began putting lives of pets at risk. SUSNN NN