Poknat of the forest
Today’s winner in our Pets Make Us Human contest: Poknat, care of his human, Ronald.
I used to live with my family in one of the cottages in Mt. Makiling that is owned and maintained by the government agency I worked for. I was assigned there for seven years and that’s where we found our dog Poknat.
The complex was scattered on several ridges of the mythical mountain, surrounded by thickly forested areas. There are people who have settled in the forest areas, but they’re often invisible to us due to the thick foliage. They’ve built makeshift huts which are sometimes inhabited and sometimes not.
One morning about two years ago, after days of continuous rain, we heard the barely audible cries of puppies. Then from the forested area came a black dog (one we were familiar with since we often spotted it near our cottage), then a little later two black-brown week-old puppies came crawling out of the woods. They were obviously starving and drenched. It turned out that the dogs had been left in a makeshift hut with no food for several days since the owner wasn’t able to get back due to the rains.
We fed the dogs and sheltered them until the rains stopped. When the dog-owner came back he was not particularly eager to get the dogs back, so we keep feeding and sheltering them. When the puppies were ready to be weaned from their mother, the dog-owner got the old dog back but left the two puppies with us. That’s when my family decided to adopt one of the puppies as a pet (the other was adopted by one of the staff). We named her Poknat because the poor puppy had many hairless scars all over the body caused by lice infestation. We nourished her to health and since then she has been a loyal friend to me and my family. When we left the mountain we brought her with us and she is now my constant companion in my exercise walks around the village. She stands guard when no one is in the house and she’s a great playmate to my kids. The hairless scars are long gone, but we kept the name anyway, since it reminds us of her unusual origin.
Keep sending your pet adoption stories and pictures to saffron.safin@gmail.com. If your story is posted, your pet will receive a gift from Purina, PAWS, and the Homeless, Not Worthless campaign. We give priority to humans and pets who have been together for at least six months.
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