Adding a pet as a member of the family brings about a significant change in the lifestyle of the people involved. The introduction of a furry companion into our lives not only impacts our daily routines but also influences our overall perspective on life. This is the story of Vivek Chevvakula and how a pet taught him lessons for life.
Back in 2004, Vivek said, “Our relatives called us saying that their German shepherd dog has kept a litter of puppies and that they are going out of the station, so they wanted to give away all the puppies at the earliest. It was an overnight decision by our family to adopt him though we knew nothing about animals. We got him home at just 19 days of age and named this furry friend Rocky.”
Firstly, Vivek says that Rocky taught him discipline because every day irrespective of the weather, he had to get out of bed and go out on a morning walk thereby killing the laziness. He also had to be organized the entire day because he had to take care of his feeding, medication, and other activities.
“The greatest feeling is when someone is waiting for you just to come home. Irrespective of how bad our day went or the kind of pressure we faced at the workplace; he always welcomed us with a wagging tail even when he was sick thereby making us forget all our worries for a moment,” shared Vivek.
Rocky helped Vivek reduce anxiety and taught them to live in the moment without worrying about what happened yesterday or what will happen tomorrow. He also ensured that they never felt lonely by giving them cuddles throughout the day and he was Vivek’s best selfie buddy.
“One day, it was raining heavily and my family saw a litter of small puppies getting drenched in the rain and the mother dog was waiting helplessly, having no clue as to where to take the puppies. Unable to look at the plight, we helped the pups by using a small tarpaulin sheet available at our house and we were very happy after we saw the mother dog and the pups staying safe. So, that incident changed our lives entirely as it made us think about the difficulties homeless animals face on the street,” shared Vivek.
Even today, they feed our colony stray dogs and cats daily without fail. Also, they try to rehome abandoned animals by giving them to good families. Now, rescuing animals is not just a passion but they feel it is a sense of responsibility and they are very glad to bring a change in the lives of many homeless and suffering animals.
The saddest part of having a companion pet is their death, rather the scariest. “We felt shattered suddenly and remembered every little thing we did together. The house felt emptier after we lost Rocky and it took a lot of time to get over after having so many wonderful memories. But we had decided that we should adopt another homeless animal in his place. Right now, we have two cats with us out of which one is partially blind,” concluded Vivek.
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