Animals - Human Connection & Well Being

 

Recently I shared a video on Instagram about my love for animals and my love for makeup and the “contradiction” I even caught myself into, knowing that many, many products, not just cosmetics, are tested on many types of animals.

I will not get into a controversial and very sensitive topic here, as I am a very respectful person and all I will say here is that people have the right to choose and the right to decide, without someone else telling them what to do. I appreciate freedom and everybody has the right to theirs.

At the same time, I make my own decisions and I am personally careful, when I can, to buy and use only products that are not tested on animals and that do not cause damage to the environment either, and I personally use a minimum amount of products. I realize I cannot change the world, however, I try to do my small part, to make the world a better place.

So now, moving on with my post, I have interacted with a lot of animals since I was a little girl, mainly because of where I was born and where I lived as a child, the Rain Forests of Panama, where there is abundance of wild animals of all kinds.

It is only natural that I also talk about animals here, and that I share with you why I view animals as angels and a blessing for all, and why I am so grateful for animals and why I owe them everything I am. We grew up with many domestic animals we had to sacrifice to survive. 

We raised chickens and pigs, and my father used to hunt river trout, foxes, deer, mountain lions, wild pigs, many wild birds and many other animals. I do not know the exact species or names. We had to do this to suplement our food, as we lived and took care of vegetable farms and only had a few animals for food consumption.

From the shoes, the belts, the nice leather and wool jackets we had to wear to protect us from the very harsh and cold weathers, and the traditional leather sandals we used in the summer, to the cheese, the milk, the eggs and the meat we consumed, we depended gretaly of many animals. 

We also had a lot of companion animals, including a lot of kittens and a few dogs and a Parrott. My first “guardian angel” was a beautiful puppy handed out to me by a stranger, a beautiful young woman that died in a car accident only a few weeks after she gave the puppy to me. Somehow, she knew I could love that puppy like it needed to be loved, and that her beautiful act of love from her, an stranger to me, would later solidify my love for animals. 

I remember that sunny day just like it was today. I am very young, probably 9 or 10 years old. A jeep stops by the side of our house and a lady gets out of the jeep and comes to a grassy field where I am drawing some sketches. She is holding a very tinny little dog and tells me this is a present for me and to take good care of her. She hands the puppy wrapped in a blanket to me, and she also hands a baby bottle full of milk. The lady is crying and gets back in the jeep very quickly, and leaves.  

I just remember holding that baby dog very tight in my arms and the happiness and peace I felt, is hard to explain it in here. I went inside the house and told my mom what happened, and everybody was so excited and happy with the new member of our family, and the happiness she brought with her lasted for many years until our Lovy, left this world way too soon, due to a tragic event. (We never had any other dogs after her) 

Fast forward, and I adopted an apple head chihuahua and rat terrier mixed puppy, in 2019, at the local animal shelter. They told us at the time, he was about 1 year old or so. It was truly love at first sight. During the Pandemic and for the past 18 months, Gizmo spent 24/7 with me, while I was working from home. Most of the time, he slept in his cozy little bed, by my feet.

That little guy became my loyal friend, confidant, personal assistant, "therapist" and bodyguard.  I was able to learn so much about dogs and especially about my little Gizmo, and nobody knows more about him than I do.  

I know Gizmo gets excited as well as depressed, happy, anxious, worried, nervous, and upset. I know what he likes and what he dislikes. I know he senses danger and I know he senses it when I am upset, hurting, or in danger. I know how much that little guy loves me, and I know Gizmo knows I love him a lot.

Most of the time, he wants to play, and he wants to be the whole center of my attention, which he is, and most of the time, he wants to sit on my lap. Dogs are not meant to be alone...And I can only imagine the mental anguish, all street animals go through every day, not to mention the physical pain, the hunger, and the abuse and neglect...

The best thing 2020 did for me was to solidify that love and compassion I have for the street animals. Seeing how fortunate Gizmo is, having all my love and devotion, being safe and secure inside our home, while millions of other animals just like him are not, breaks my heart.

And I decided I wanted to do more, to help street animals in need, and I started to work on my next big project, and I will tell you more about that later, but now, let’s meet Lily, my other precious angel, my second adopted doggie. 

She turned 3 years old this past March!! They told us, she is a min pin Chihuahua and half lion!! (I am convinced she is half lion. Ha! Ha! Ha!) She has these very strong legs, for a chihuahua, and even the vet noticed and mentioned that to us. 

She has very big paws. She can run so fast, nobody can catch her, and she is as graceful as a cheetah. Her body restructure seems like that of a female lioness. 

She has an under bite and creaked bottom teeth. She has this worrisome look, always present on her face. Her fur is tan and white. She has a very long tail with white at the end of it. 

She is always wagging her tail and it is so cute to see the white end moving about. All her 4 paws and part of her 4 legs are white, as if she is wearing gloves and socks. She also has a white patch of fur, right on the base of her neck. (Back and front) I think she is so gorgeous!!

One day an acquaintance from work, that knew of my love for dogs, asked me if I wanted a puppy. She told me some people were trying to get rid of many puppies and they were giving them away for free. 

She also told me about the conditions in which the puppies were living in, were not the best and they needed to find them homes, otherwise, they would have to take them to the local shelter, and maybe they would have to be euthanized, because there were so many of them.

Even after I asked many questions about the situation, all I was able to find out was that the puppy offered to me was a girl doggy and 7 months old, and she was not sick. 

I anxiously waited several days, and then, suddenly one day, my acquaintance called me and told me she was ready to pick up 2 babies from a location, a brother and a sister. The one she would adopt and mine. I stopped everything I was doing, and I just grabbed my keys and my purse and went to meet her. 

When I met my acquaintance, at a mall parking lot, and she handed Lily to me, (My acquaintance told me the doggie name was Lily) I could tell the doggie was terrified, however, I spoke to her "baby" talks and she allowed me to pick her up. 

I placed her next to me, on the passenger seat of my car and proceeded to drive home. The drive home only took about 5 minutes, but I am sure for Lily, it probably was like an eternity. (She was crying a little bit and pacing back and forth on her seat, and looking out the window, as if she was trying to escape) 

Once we got home, she placed her tail under her body and retrieved to a corner and didn't even want to come closer to my daughter, or to our other doggie Gizmo, or myself. She didn't bark, and her face looked very terrified, worried and we could tell he didn't trust us. 

We gave her space, and we went about our daily routine and only after 3 days, believe it or not, she invited herself in, joined us and craved attention. (I am sure she could not handle seeing how much love she was missing out on, and she finally gave in!!) 

She started barking at the neighbor dogs, the same way Gizmo did. She started to act the way Gizmo acted when we left the house and when we came back, crying like little babies when my car pulled into the parking garage. 

She started jumping up so high to get to our arms, and she started to run around the apartment, back and forth from the living room to the main bedroom, just like Gizmo did.  

She became a diva and the princess lioness of our kingdom. She is confident now and she knows she belongs. She knows we love, and we respect her, and she loves us. She gets along with Gizmo, and she knows and Gizmo also knows, they do not have to share our affection. (They have gotten into very fiery and loud fights, over our affection and attention) 

Lily is very different than Gizmo, in many ways. She has her own personality and sometimes she can be very rough, however, she loves to give kisses and she loves hugs and loves to be held tight by her cheek, and places her cheek against ours, and she won't move, and my daughter and I love those type of hugs. 

They are so pure, innocent, warm, special and unique.  We love our Lily so much, and we cannot imagine life without her, and we often say, we do not remember, not having Lily in our lives, as if she has always been here...

When we got Gizmo, we had to change his name because it didn’t really fit his personality. (His name was Fabel) However, the reason why we didn't change Lily's name is because I felt the name suits here very well. 

Our Lily shares the beautiful color of lilies. Lilies can survive after being cut, and our Lily, well, she was not wanted, because she was not "beautiful" enough, and even though she also has and have had a few behavior issues, she has thrived, and she is overcoming those issues day by day. 

Our Lily can be "very wild", just like a wild lily is, and they are still very beautiful. And so, this is just a bit of a glimpse about our Lily, so you get to know more about her. 

I can’t stop looking at those beautiful 2 little faces, and those expressive, beautiful, and grateful eyes looking at me, saying thank you, kissing me and hugging me, and knowing that they are safe, respected, wanted and loved.  

Today, I am a better person because of those 2 angels in my life and because I can understand more about my purpose on this earth and what I must do every day, to be myself, genuinely happy and grateful and to share that happiness with others.

And I am very grateful to Gizmo and to Lily, to Lovy and to all animals in this vast and great universe, for everything they have given me and continue giving me, and for everything that I am.

And finally, I hope that you consider adopting from a local animal shelter, or even better, rescuing a beautiful soul that is waiting to rescue you, and you would see how your life would change forever, if you truly returned that unconditional love that is given to you, I guarantee it!!

-La Niña Internacional-