Please help - dog owner won’t help suffering injured dog
Please help. I need animal lovers in Castelo Branco who can help me. I’m from the UK but currently in Portugal. Every year we come to the same place ifs a very remote village in the centre of Portugal with one coffee shop in Castelo Branco near Serta.
The owner has a lovely dog who is chained outside the shop and runs up and down the hill. Ever since I was 12 I would run and see the dog and spend every evening greeting it. But last night when i went over i noticed it was suffering. It couldn’t put weight on its paw. it was shivering and whimpering and in distress. I tried to help by getting the owners attention. I can’t speak Portuguese but i used google translate.
The first time i told her, she said she would check on him in a bit. Then he started vomitting, and i got so worried because he stopped whimpering and just went still and super quiet and semi-limp so i went back and this time i was on the verge of tears. For context, my mother is Portuguese and this is her home village- she was there but she now has dementia so was confused and didn’t care about the dog. Eventually she left and I was left alone with the dog. I went back to the owner and wrote down how worried i was but she got annoyed and said she was working and there was nothing she could do.
About 15 minutes later she sent a man over with some ice for its paw - at this point the dog was lying down whimpering silently very weak. She came out about 15 minutes later annoyed and said “he’s just hot and tired from being outside all day” i showed her his paw and she said “oh yeah that was caused by the other dog that came and he tripped over”. I told her he was in a lot of pain and i offered to call the vets and i showed her the vomit and she said no. She carried him up the hill and put him in his sleeping box.
He jumped out the box and ran to the hay and lied down there still whimpering and in pain. I asked her to call the vets tomorrow (this was yesterday) and she said she would but i know she won’t.
i felt crazy because i kept asking for help on the verge of tears and nobody was doing anything or helping me. There was no blood but there’s obviously a severe injury he was in so much pain. -
I honestly don’t have much money and don’t own a car. Should i call the vets or should i call animal cruelty line? If i report this cafe owner then I will essentially be ostracised from the village. I am in emotional torment because all i can think about is this poor dog suffering alone. It had literal tears streaming down its face and i feel so helpless. What do i do? Please can someone come and help me get this dog to a vet.