The Siberian husky, Goose, will be put up for adoption after it recovers.

In August, Goose, a diminutive white Siberian husky, was found abandoned on the streets of central Delhi. Those who found it couldn’t understand why a four-month-old purebred female husky, an expensive breed in the canine hierarchy, would be left on its own.

But a trip to an animal shelter, and then to a canine hospital, revealed that the dog suffered from hydrocephalus, a neurological condition that, if left untreated, would lead to brain damage or death.

“We were told that only a specialist can handle this case and that such a surgery hasn’t been performed in India,” said Vandana Anchalia, who runs the Ghaziabad shelter for stray dogs.

While she toyed with the idea of sending the dog abroad for surgery, Dr Kunal Dev Sharma, a veterinary surgeon at Max Vets, where the disease was first diagnosed, advised against it.

What looked like the end of the road for the Siberian husky was actually a new beginning — over the next three months, people from far and wide came together to save the puppy, and last weekend, a team of three vets from Delhi, Hyderabad and Mumbai successfully performed the surgery, with a fourth vet from the Netherlands supervising them. Goose, as the dog has come to be fondly called by its caretakers, is now on its way to recovery.

Once she became aware of Goose’s condition, Anchalia says she searched online for vets who specialise in performing the surgery, meant to address accumulation of fluid inside the brain. She sent out emails to
almost 50 people, inviting them to India to perform the procedure. “I wasn’t sure it would yield results, but I knew that if we didn’t do anything, Goose would definitely die,” she said.

Then came a response that gave Anchalia and her team some hope. After almost two months of back and forth, Prof BP Meij from the Netherlands, who teaches vets from around the world to perform this particular surgery, agreed to come to India and lead a team of surgeons.

Speaking to The Indian Express, Dr Meij, from the Department of Clinical Sciences of Companion Animals Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Utrecht University, said, “The fact that this is an abandoned pup makes no difference to me. Every dog should get the care it deserves, whenever possible.”

“I have performed 20 such surgeries over the years and the success rate is 70-80 per cent. The surgery itself does not carry a high risk whenever anaesthesia and aftercare is in good hands,” Dr Meij said. “The prognosis is good in young dogs.”

“Post the surgery, I also gave a lecture on ventriculoperitoneal shunting to some 20 veterinarians who had come all the way to Delhi. Unfortunately, since I was here for just a day, I had little time to explore the city, but we will save that for the next time,” Dr Meij said.

While Anchalia’s Kannan Foundation sponsored Meij’s trip to India, Max Vets paid for the medical procedure. Since the shunt needed for the surgery was expensive, Dr Meij requested the company, BRAUN, to donate one — and they obliged.