Happy Birthday to Opel

Opel is my family dog who has been with us for nine years. He might be loud (seriously, he loves to bark) but he is a very huggable mutt. When I first met him, he was very mischievous and he is just the same even now. He used to love to chew cables, shoes and furniture much like any other puppy though he has calmed down a bit. He loves to steal food, especially food that is within easy reach. Even food placed out of sight is not safe at times as he will find a way! On a number of occasions we have found evidence where he has eaten raw eggs, fish, biscuits etc.

He comes with a very sad story due to his behaviour and his skin problems. He had been disowned by five different families and he was sent to a rescue home. They wanted to put him down as he would have been a costly dog for the rescue centre because of his skin problems. So my sister decided to take him on to give him a chance to live.

Each week, he had Chinese acupuncture with lots of stainless steel needles and showered in medicated shampoo. He also had to have his fur trimmed on a regular basis so that they could apply mediated cream on his skin more easily. He had horrible scars and itchiness. After many trips to the clinic, we found out his real trigger for his itchiness is meat, much to our surprise! So, he has to have a vegetarian diet! This was the first time that I heard of a dog being a vegetarian. This was also my first time seeing a dog eat rice and vegetables for all his meals. He’s always on the look-out for meats. If we accidentally left a packet of food out, he will eat it and next thing we know is that he would be scratching like a monkey.

This coming Friday is his birthday and my sister decided to celebrate his birthday a few days earlier. She ordered a vegetarian doggy cake for him! When we were taking his photo, he immediately drooled as if someone had turned a tap on! We had to mop the floor with tissue as he just wouldn’t stop drooling!

Happy 9^th Barkday, Opel.

PS: Opel passed away 2016.