|
Too much testosterone
13/04/2007 09:13 - (SA)
Colleen Figg
Much as I abhor environmental extremists and fanatics of the kind that "help" animals by blowing up the laboratories they've been living in and thus ending the abuse - not to mention the hapless creatures' lives - I do have a great amount of respect for the modest SPCA and the work that they do.
I've always known events in the universe happen with an interesting synchronicity so I wasn't surprised to see an advert in the local paper encouraging us to all have our pets sterilised and to contact the SPCA in our area to do it for us. So it was that I went to the local branch to enquire about having my dog neutered.
He's a bit of a boisterous sort that thinks an acceptable kind of greeting is to knock you right off your feet as he bounces and crashes about the place, tail going like a metronome on speed and dishes being laid to waste to the left and right of his path.
Normal homecomings in our place are met with howls of glee from said dog, and one has to arm oneself with a broom, or be attacked by the excessive bundle of exuberance that is the hound we own.
Relations have become strained now because of this and the dog's howls are usually met with outraged howls of my own as I fend him off. I mentioned this in passing to a kind vet I know and she said I was to have him neutered as a means to calm him down.
My civic duty
Too much testosterone, she said. I muttered something about taking the husband in next and we had a moment of amused female acknowledgement of the trials and tribulations the male of the species visits upon we women.
I trotted in to the place the other day and was greeted by a woman with wild hair and a startled sort of expression. I explained my mission to her but she seemed out of her depth when I mentioned neutering, the newspaper article and me seeing it as my civic duty to emasculate my dog.
That's when a broad slab of a fellow bustled in and took the conversation over. But he started shaking his head the moment I outlined the plan. No, he said, no neutering was done there, unless I was a pensioner or otherwise unable to go to a vet. A sign on the wall behind him said: "Sterilisation bitches: R180; Sterilisation males R200".
I quickly explained to him that I was prepared to pay or make a donation to the SPCA, whatever was required, but he remained adamant that this was definitely not the sort of thing the SPCA went in for and added that if he were to send every dog brought in to their vet, the vet would down tools in rage and flatly refuse to continue.
I felt like I'd walked into some kind of bizarre film set and expected Leon Shuster to leap out from behind the purple curtain and say I'd been taken for a ride at any moment. I offered again, to pay, said I fully intended to anyway, but the man had set his face against me, my dog and his testicles, apparently.
When I was on the point of leaving he suddenly did an about face and said I was to bring the dog in when I had R300 to pay, I was not to feed him on the day and could collect him the next day, neutered, as required.
I went reeling out of there, shaking my head and smiling at the strange people one encounters. Only he knows what made him change his mind; the matter will remain forever enshrouded in darkness to me.
Send your comments to Colleen.
Disclaimer: News24 encourages freedom of speech and the expression of diverse views. The views of columnists published on News24 are therefore their own and do not necessarily represent the views of News24.
- News24
|
