Falling for those Puppy Dog eyes

It was months ago, when a lost and mangy stray was found in an island in the streets of Mandaluyong. The puppydog was hairless and malnourished. It must have been days that she had been lost. She must have run away from a neglectful owner or abandoned completely on the streets. The kind people of CARA (Compassion and Responsibility for Animals) took her in and gave her a chance to live. They treated her bald spots and skin problems with all the tender loving care she needed. They named her Francisca, nicknamed her Cisca.

I had lost my Golden Retriever, Cassandra about more than a year ago. I loved her so much and she had been there during the lowest points of my life. When she passed away almost 2 years ago, a deep void engulfed my soul. I felt so alone for the first time in years. I checked in and out of the psychward many times.

Around June, this year, I had lost my purpose in life. I wanted to volunteer at the Philippine Animal Welfare Society, but I found out that they were too far away to go to, from my place. I had heard about CARA, years ago, and decided to research if I could volunteer. I found out the openings for volunteering were to create awareness through events organizing and by fostering. I leaned more towards fostering. I contacted the head of the fostering program M'am Tanya Guerrero about fostering a dog. I saw on her website, a mangy/hairless puppydog. I fell in live with her stare on facebook and asked if I could foster her. Unfortunately, my personal problems were too much to handle, so I begged off committing to foster any dog

Cisca as she was ready to be adopted.

Things got worse with my mental illness as months passed, that my family finally relented in getting a puppy. We were supposed to get a male Golden Retriever puppy and were made to wait 3 months. Around that time I began reading a book about the TV show on National Geographic, Dogtown. The stories of abandoned dogs finding their forever homes touched me, but still I wanted a Golden Retriever. Out of boredom, I decided to look at the CARA webpage again. I fell in love with the dogs and wanted one called Whito. Unfortunately, he had already been adopted, so I asked Tanya for another dog.

Low and behold, I was given the dog I was supposed to foster, Cisca. I guess it was meant to be.