Selection Park resident’s heart-wrenching fight to save pets from mysterious attacks
The resident returned home on two different occasions to find her dogs had been attacked.
Life will never be the same for Selection Park resident Sandy Moutinho and her family following mysterious attacks on her beloved pets.
Moutinho was out with her fiancé on February 9, when upon their return to their Forester Avenue home, could not find her Pekingese cross named Peanut.
“We found her huddled in the back corner, hiding and shivering. Her right eye was bulging out of its socket.”
Sandy immediately grabbed her and ran to the car, taking her to Dr Garrith Newby, a Selpark-based vet.
“I was frantic and crying as Peanut was just lying in my lap, not moving – this was not her normal self. He advised I must come immediately because of the severity of her injury and he could hear I was also in shock from Peanut’s injury.
“He met me at the practice around 21:00 that night, let Peanut and myself in, spoke to both of us gently to calm us both down, gave Peanut an injection and said she had to stay the night and he would perform the surgery to remove her eye the next morning.”
Sandy says Newby was empathetic to the situation, and she is grateful to have met a person and professional like that.
The vet discharged Peanut the following Tuesday and started the journey of learning to live life and do things with one eye.
“A lot of walking into legs and cabinets and her cone around her neck hitting things before she could get through.”
But that was not the end of the horror the family was yet to face.
“On March 14, my fiancé and I went out for my birthday dinner. When we returned home, we couldn’t find my second fur baby, Leia. She is Peanut’s mother.”
“Again, we searched the entire yard looking for her and calling her and eventually found her close to where we found Peanut a few weeks before.”
Sandy says Leia was cowering and shivering in pain and her eyes were all swollen and bloody but were still intact.
“I immediately grabbed her and ran inside and tried to clean her eyes as gently as possible to see the extent of her injuries.
“She was on antibiotics and painkillers for that weekend. I religiously cleaned her eyes every morning and night with warm water so she could see through them.”
This has not only been an emotionally taxing moment for the family but an expensive one too.
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“Peanut’s surgery cost just under R4 000 – money I had to borrow from my dad and now will be paying back monthly, as that is all I can afford. Leia’s meds were not so expensive.”
Sandy says her pets are now doing well but they still have PTSD following those events.
“They both shiver a lot if I say let’s go outside, so both experience a residue of stress. I am an emotional blob too, but at least I can word my emotions. They are innocent and cannot.”
Sandy hopes her story will bring awareness to other pet owners and make them vigilant.
“Someone has to stand up for the furries.”
