[rehomed!] Shades of grey wherever I go - Mata the X-breed puppy

“Mata” stands for “eyes” in Malay. Many will say, for living beings, the eyes are windows to the soul. Have you ever been blindfolded, and led about? Know how it feels? Insecure, fearful and frustrating? How about being a stray, without food and water and shelter, and without your sense of sight too? One can only imagine the worst – an easy target for being rounded up, getting hurt by industrial tools or more often than not, becoming road kill.

Mata, as so he was named, was spotted by a volunteer on her routine feeding. Upon first sight, he looked fine when he came running out from his so-called home in a construction site. Due to the way he was moving, she presumed that he being protective of his food, as food was scarce being a stray. But when Mata finally looked up, she was taken aback to see that he had grayish eyes.

The volunteer moved closer to him, slowly patted him to get to know him. Being young and friendly, Mata simply wagged his tail, and gave her a few licks. The volunteer held Mata’s head up slightly higher, and took a close look at his eyes. Both his eyes were cloudy, and she could not see the pupils of his eyes. It looked as though he has lost his sight completely, but was still able to see vaguely when she did a simple eye test. The volunteer went back with a heavy heart, with images of Mata deeply etched in her heart.

The next week came about and Mata’s eyes seemed to have gotten worse. He stood far inside the construction site waiting, wagging his tail upon sensing the excitement from his fellow siblings, but did not know who or what it was about. The volunteer called out to him a couple of times and his ears twitched and tail wagged even faster, but it took a while for him to gradually venture out to the entrance.

The volunteer decided that she could not leave him in the lurch. He was a happy five month old puppy and had a good ten years or more ahead of him. Perhaps “good” is not such an appropriate word, as all of us know just how harsh the life of strays are. But how could she close both her eyes, and move on knowing that he will not last very long in this state? Feeling unsettled, the volunteer decided to bring him to the vet.

Being young and trusting, he was easily caught and the volunteer was extremely thankful for that. She brought him to Mt Pleasant Sunset Way and along the way, though nervous and salivating as this was probably his first car ride, the volunteer could hear his tail wagging – it was thumping against the side of the carrier whenever he was called. Such a sweet boy!

To our delight, Dr Heng who examined Mata informed us that Mata was actually not totally blind yet. The cloudiness in his eyes are caused by parasitic infection or bacterial infection, but as Mata was a stray, the doctors will not know what is the exact cause of his loss of sight as there could be many unknown factors unless we run numerous, costly tests on him. However, Mata actually still has some sight left; but it is like looking through a frosted glass – meaning he can only see vague images.

Nonetheless, most cases are curable and with proper medication and application of eyedrops, the cloudiness should clear in a few weeks. We literally jumped in joy when we heard that. However, Mata was also diagnosed as anemic, which wasn't hard to cure, and was prescribed medicine to treat that as well.

The volunteer delightfully brought Mata home from the vet, and bathed him for the very first time in his life. So many fleas and ticks came out with the bath, poor boy. He was surprisingly calm during the bath, and he certainly looked lighter colored after that!

The volunteer brought Mata to the fosterer’s place, where Mata was introduced to the fosterer’s resident dog at a park near her place first before Mata was brought into her house.

The silly boy greeted everyone with his happy wag and sniffed around curiously, checking out the place. The fosterer was very kind to let Mata sleep in her resident dog’s bed which was currently not being used, and Mata fell asleep within minutes! Guess he must have been tired out from all the traveling and bathing. What a baby!

Current update: Mata is available for adoption! He is 5-6 months old now, vaccinated and garden trained. Friendly, loyal and fun loving (as all puppies are). If you are interested, please call Ruth @ 96314050.

For more photos, see http://noahsarkcares.blogspot.com/2010/02/mata.html

Update Sun 21 Mar



Mata's still looking for a home.

Name: Mata
Gender: Male
Age: 6+ months old
Breed: Mongrel
Size: Will grow to medium size (not HDB approved)

Contact details: Ruth @ 96314050 (call after 7pm or sms) or email ruthlim4@gmail.com

Brown with white chest. Was suffering from eye infection when he was picked up but has since recovered. Good with other dogs.

Update Sat 15 May
Mata has been officially adopted!