the front porch castration

in uganda, the vet does house calls. 

i thought this was fantastic, until i got stuck by the needle during the rabies vaccination in the driveway.  and honestly, i would prefer to drop the dog off somewhere for it's flea bath than give it myself.  but the most bizarre aspect of owning a pet in uganda is that the vet is about to neuter bolt on the porch, for all to see, like it or not.

poor friendly dog. 

he had no idea what was coming his way.  but after spotting what looked like gonorrhea, and his barking excessively during the night at the new stray lady dog, and spending all morning trying to get with that stray lady dog- i decided to make an appointment with frank the vet for some snippage.

"i'll be right there." he said, and in five minutes he arrived on a boda boda.  after asking for a basin, and water and some soap- thankfully not a knife- and with all of my children and my friends children (sorry- may have been good to ask...) watching- he began to operate.

this brought up many questions from the kids.  good questions.  appropriate questions.
"was bolt trying to marry that other dog?"
"why does he need surgery to not want to marry her?"
"will this operation fix the green stuff coming out of his penis?"

these questions that were probably necessary after my attempted description at why i was calling the vet.
me: "we've got to do something- he just keeps trying to get with that poor female dog! and i'm pretty sure he's got the clap"
kid: "mrs. reid, what do you mean get with ?"
me: "um- make puppies- he wants to make puppies with her."
kid: "what does clapping have to do with it?"
me: "well he has an infection on his penis" 
kids: lots of scrunched faces and laughing.

then there were the typical surgical related questions and comments.
"does it hurt?"
"that is a lot of blood!"
"oh! he's doing it again! there are two of them?"
"can i touch it when it's out?"
oh dear God.

i was mildly disturbed by the lack of sterile- the need of our basin- but mostly by the comment from the vet, "where can i dump this?" holding the basin in his hands- which contained a smorgasbord of dirty water, gloves, needles, and the pièce de résistance- bolts two balls.

so there you have it.
hopefully bolt will sleep tonight undisturbed by stray female dogs- so that we can sleep too.
hopefully the children aren't too traumatized.
hopefully the parents of the children are ready for the birds and the bees talk.
and hopefully bolt will recover soon and be up to guard the house as before, with out distraction.