My aunt is the worst at “taking care” of dogs
It’s a long post, so get prepared.
First, for context, we do not live in a first-world country, so don’t recommend reporting her to the authorities because we barely have laws to protect humans, and we don’t have any to protect animals.
Second, allegedly, she doesn’t do it out of malice; she’s just unbelievably stupid, incompetent, and unable to take responsibility. Personally, I don’t buy it. You can’t be that stupid, but my father insists. In any case, she already has one fatal victim on her record, so I cannot forgive her.
Well, I’ll start from the most recent case and go to the oldest one.
Recently, my cousin got a puppy. A friend from her school gifted her a mixed-breed puppy; I think it’s a mix between a Husky and a German Shepherd. The thing is that my father’s side of the family lives in a very poor neighborhood in another department (our equivalent of a state). Some streets there are even unpaved.
So, my aunt (also my cousin’s aunt) first let the dog freely wander around the neighborhood. Second, whenever the dog gets dirty, she bathes it. The problem? She bathes it EVERY freaking day.
The second victim of my aunt’s negligence was my own dog. My dad hired my aunt as a housekeeper to “help her” earn money with an honest job. I was working the graveyard shift, so at that time I was asleep when it happened.
We live in a very hot country (42°C / 107.6°F on the hottest summer days). My dog is a French Poodle. Usually, he doesn’t have problems if he stays inside the house because I’m very diligent about keeping him cool.
That day, at 11:30 a.m., I was sleeping when my aunt decided to take my dog outside without my permission (or my mother’s), with the DAMN tropical sun right above their heads. A few minutes later, my mother woke me up hysterically because my dog had heatstroke and was suffocating from the heat.
After minutes that felt like hours, we managed to cool my dog down and save him. And the only thing my aunt said was: “He wanted to go, so I took him outside.”
I, clearly upset, replied: “He’s a fucking animal. How the hell are you trying to make him responsible for your own shitty decisions? Of course he wanted to go outside; he only knows that he likes to walk. You are the one who is supposed to use your fucking brain and say, ‘Maybe it’s too hot outside.’ You are no longer allowed to touch my damn dog.”
My dog is perfectly fine now, but I was afraid he would die because of the first victim of my aunt.
Her first victim in these stories. Unfortunately, the fatal one.
Other cousins of mine — also her nephews — (they all live in the same house I mentioned before) had two mutts. During one of their tick and flea infestations, they hired a man to spray cypermethrin. He wasn’t even a professional, just some random guy spraying poison with an air pump while wearing flip-flops, shorts, and no mask.
My stupid aunt asked the guy if that poison also worked directly on dogs, and the man responded: “Huh? Yeahhh, it does work.”
Of course, the man didn’t fucking care about the dogs; he only cared about the extra money for the “extra work.” So they BATHEd both dogs in cypermethrin.
After a few minutes of the dogs suffering, she went to the vet, and he gave her a prescription for the antidote. The problem? She only took one of the dogs — the smallest one — because she thought: “The small one will be cheaper, then I’ll use the same medicine on the other dog and problem solved.”
But the other dog was bigger and heavier, so of course the same dose didn’t work, and after hours of agony, the dog died.
My cousins came back home and found one of their dogs already dead.
Worst of all, her siblings (my father included) claimed that it was an accident. However, my cousins and I don’t buy it. She murdered that dog.
She’s still part of the family because her siblings forgave her, but my cousins have hated her ever since, and I don’t like her either.
TL;DR: My aunt is dangerously irresponsible with dogs: she lets puppies roam unsafe streets, nearly killed my dog by taking him outside in extreme heat, and previously caused another dog’s death by poisoning it with pesticide and giving it the wrong treatment. While the family calls these “accidents,” I see her negligence as unforgivable.