My sister who was married a couple of weeks ago has a gorgeous little pug dog. Wolfie is a true cutie pie. Her new husband has a Rhodesian Ridgeback – Boxer cross (big dog) named Bibi. They have been worried about having the dogs live together as Wolfie is still in the “I want to be your friend, look at me, look at me, jumping all over the place” puppy stage and Bibi is an older dog. So Bibi was living in my sister’s husband’s house which he presently rents out. He made a special deal with the tenants in exchange for cheaper rent.
The tenants embraced the cheaper rent but failed to embrace the responsibilities that came with it. To say these tenants were deadbeats is an understatement. My brother-in-law came over to walk Bibi every morning, all he asked the tenants to do was feed her in the evenings and make sure she had fresh water. Time after time Bibi was hungry in the mornings and had spent the whole day without fresh water.
Bibi was obviously unhappy living there and escaped from the property twice, ending up at the pound. In addition to not looking after the dog, the tenants weren’t looking after the house. It was full of garbage, empty beer bottles. Several windows were smashed and never repaired. Then the tenants stopped paying their rent, citing financial strife. My brother-in-law had had enough. He served them with eviction notices.
They retaliated immediately, trashing the house. Worst of all, they did something so cruel I can’t even begin to fathom it. They fed Bibi rat poison. My sister and new husband came home from their honeymoon to find Bibi bleeding from mouth and anus, close to death. The tenants were nowhere to be found.
Bibi was rushed to the vet. It was a miracle she survived. The ingestion of rat poison can cause you to slowly bleed to death as it prevents your blood from clotting. Bibi was given lots of fluids and Vitamin K injections which cause the blood to clot again. It looks like she’ll be O.K. She is now living with my sister and her husband and Wolfie. Everything is going well. She tolerates Wolfie as one does a cheeky younger sibling. You can almost see her raising her eyebrows at some of his antics.
The police are looking for the tenants. Among other things they will be charged with animal cruelty which can attract jail time. I think as part of their sentence they should be fed rat poison then locked alone in a room to see what happens. It only seems fair.
Selma In The City 
Doesn’t it make you want to believe in karma?
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Keith – absolutely. I really don’t get what drives some people. I really don’t.
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I do believe in karma. I do believe they’ll get their due. I just wish we could be there to see it happen.
I’m glad Bibi is doing well and that she’s getting along with her new sibling. We’ve been through that whole “will this work” phase of pet ownership many times and you never know what will happen. So far, we’ve been very lucky.
Out of all the pets I’ve ever owned (and there have been MANY), only two were not rescue animals. Several were brought home from the local shelter, others were found lost and frightened and found safety and love with us. Others were given (read: dumped) in our laps, and yet others were taken from abusive owners (either by us (with permission) or by others and I don’t know if they had permission).
Our younger dog was terribly mistreated by her first owner who thought it funny to give the puppy drugs and watch what happens. We are her fourth family (her initial rescuer had to give her up when she went into an assisted living facility), her third family got tired of her drug-induced health issues and were going to “throw her away.”
She’s not my favorite pet ever, but she’s alive, as healthy as she can be, and adores us all. When we got her, she was terrified of men. Now? Now she thinks Lord of the Manor is the bees knees and the bestest buddy a dog could have.
She’s right, too!
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Karen – you are so wonderful for rescuing all of those dogs. It is so distressing when animals are mistreated. I’m not surprised your younger dog adores ‘Lord of the Manor.’ If he’s anything like the way you describe, then he definitely deserves a bit of adoration. You do too!
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I do hope the cops track them down and lock them away.
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That’s horrible. I loathe people who harm animals. I feel more compassion for animals sometimes than I do people. Poor Bibi. Thank God she survived.
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Daoine – I hope so too. If they’re capable of doing that to a dog, what else are they capable of?
Desperate Writer – thank you so much for your comment. I am delighted to hear from you. I also loathe people who harm animals. It is despicable. I also thank God poor Bibi survived.
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I am not exactly a PET person….but THIS is the kind of thing I will never be able to understand.
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Meleah – I can’t understand it either. The inner workings of some people are hard to fathom.
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Poor Bibi, I can’t understand why people would do something like that
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