If I knew about a book called “Where there is no vet”, I would buy it immediately, because the more you know how to do yourself in Niger, the better.

After three days of not eating, I knew something was seriously ill with Aslan, and so I called up our family vet (who’s in Niamey for the time being) and asked if he knew any vet in Zinder that he could recommend for me. Luckily for me, he did, and he even called up the person to make sure that - in the best of African ways - the relationship that I share with himself would be ensured in this new relationship. It was great. I called the second vet that night, who promised to come by the following morning.

When I arrived at the office however, Aslan was so dehydrated that I immediately put him on a glucose drip - something I learned how to do when the dogs were puppies eight years ago, and there was no other option to keep them alive. I do not have to inject the needle into the veins but just place it under the skin, which is easy once you know what you’re doing.

When the vet arrived, I was happy for the backup, and he was glad that I had re-hydrated the dog, or he wouldn’t have been able to get a blood sample.

The blood sample however turned out to be quite alarming - or, well, that depends on how one sees things, because when you know inside of you that something is very bad, you’d rather know the cause and the chances of treatment success.

It turned out that Aslan suffers from a severe case of piroplasmosis, which, if untreated, would have ended up killing him regardless of my efforts.

His chances of survival however are fairly high, and for the time being, he is back in spirits again. He is not all too fond of me injecting needles into his skin, but he has a high level of tolerance and so a deep sigh ends up being his only protest. In return, he gets lots of cuddles and affection!