Animal-Kind International
Apr 6, 2020
Helping Hands for Hounds of Honduras continues to work during the covid-19 pandemic. Their primary concern is keeping the Sanctuary's residents comfortable and fed--the latter isn't very easy since there's a curfew and restrictions as far as who can be out during the day, how often, and for what reasons. To make matters worse, Pilar fell and has a compression fracture, a very painful injury that's slowly healing.
From Pilar:
I cannot leave my house for 2 weeks (self-quarantine) and once that's over, I'll only be allowed 2 hours once a week out of my house to go to the bank and the store. I am having to pay a little more for dog and cat food to get it delivered to my house. I'm paying a guy to come clean Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, which are the days the trash pick-up comes by. He's here for 4 to 5 hours to rake and sweep outside and sweep and mop inside as well as help feed and give water to the animals.
Here are some updates of the old-timers and newer HHHH Sanctuary residents:
In this picture, left to right are: Suzy, Ali, Thor, Kesia, and Bootsy, 5 of the 7 dogs who stay on the back patio of the Sanctuary. They're all long-time residents and all are doing well. Odin and Ash are the other 2 who live in the back patio. Odin is being treated for ehrlichia and all 7 were treated with Bravecto in February and March for ectoparasites, all thanks to Animal-Kind International donors.
Remember Sweetie? Pilar and neighbor Letty's daughter Kelly rescued her after a car hit her and broke her femur. (There's a really nice picture of Pilar and Sweetie on the HHHH page on the AKI website.) The vet operated and put in a metal bar. Pilar's neighbor Andrea adopted Sweetie about 5 years ago. In February, Andrea asked for help because Sweetie was anemic and not eating. Pilar took her to the vet twice for blood work. It turned out Sweetie had ehrlichia and needed pills for 3 weeks and antibiotic shots that Pilar gave her at home rather than taking her to the vet each time. She's doing fine, but she falls down some times when she has trouble with the bad leg. (Sweetie pictured below)
Angel is one of the sanctuary's new residents. On December 30, the mother of one of Pilar's ex-students called, desperate for help with a young dog. A friend gave her a poodle puppy about 4 months old, but the poodle didn't get along with her 6 lb. Chihuahua-the poodle attacked her dog. She had to give the poodle back to her friend who promised to take good care of him. But when she saw the poodle after 6 months, she was shocked, the dog was filthy, sick, thin, full of fleas and ticks (picture below). So she asked to have him back. The friend gave the poodle to her. And that's when Pilar got the frantic phone call for help.
Pilar brought the poodle, now named Angel, to be groomed, treated for ticks and fleas, had a blood test done, and had him neutered. He was also vaccinated since the previous owner never took him to a vet. Here's Angel in January getting groomed:
And now in April, Angel's fur is growing back, it will soon be time again for a grooming! He's now healthy, happy, and well-adjusted to HHHH Sanctuary life.
On January 3, while picking up meds for Angel (he was anemic and had an infection), a couple with a young baby showed up at the vet office to euthanize their 13 year old English bulldog Maya because she had pyometra and was lethargic and very thin. The vet said she was basically healthy and suggested that he spay her. They said they didn't want to deal with anything else with the dog, they had had enough. Pilar volunteered to take her, but they said no because they had to discuss it with the father of the husband.
Luckily Pilar gave them her phone number and later that day, they called and handed the dog over (picture below). That same day, Pilar was able to get the dog to eat (the owners had said she wasn't eating). She had a blood test, and using gas, the vet was able to remove her severely inflamed uterus.
Odie is another old-timer at the Sanctuary, now about 12 years old. His eyes are completely white and he's blind. When "cat lady" Isabel and Pilar rescued him, his rear left leg was green and rotten, he was very thin and covered with ticks. Pilar treated him for ticks, fed him lots of food, and gave him multiple medicated baths. After a couple of days, the vet amputated his leg (Old Odie pictured below).
Bunny's been around for a long time also. Here she is enjoying her crate.
I (Karen) decided to look for a picture of Bunny when she 1st arrived at the Sanctuary, and found this picture from 2016. You can see that she only has a partial right front leg. The vet ended up amputating the leg.
Bunny, Mundo, Beto, Frode, Chingo, Angel, and Dot are the Sanctuary dogs that stay in the front patio full time.
Dot was born on February 7, 2019 at the shelter with her 4 littermates of mama Ash (Ash was rescued from a large shelter in Tegucigalpa, and when she was brought to the Sanctuary, she had her pups there the following day). Dot is the only one of the puppies who wasn't adopted-it could be because she loves to destroy books, magazines, shoes, clothes, and any plastic bottles she finds. She is very hyper, but finds security and serenity in her crate:
Fat Olive is one of the few cats now at the Sanctuary. She doesn't like everyone, but she loves Kelly (picture below), who helps out with feedings, walkings, and rescues (when not restricted by curfews).
Suyapa, Dobby, Old Odie, Andy, Nico, and Maya --all old-timers at the Sanctuary--spend most of their time in the house.
At the end of 2019, Pilar was helping a friend's dog, Chiwina. Without any explanation, Chiwina became paralyzed (picture below). Pilar had Chiwina exercise and gave her massages.
But it turned out Chiwina had distemper! She infected poor Sadey, an HHHH resident and Sadey died from it. Sadey is in the picture below, soon after she arrived at the Sanctuary, she was skin and bones because she couldn't eat-she had eaten rocks and pebbles and they lodged in her intestine. The vet discovered them when he spayed her and he removed the obstruction.
Here's Sadey (with Dot in the background, looking sweet as can be!!). Once the obstruction was removed, Sadey enjoyed eating again and enjoyed her life at the Sanctuary, sadly cut short by distemper.
So as not to take any chances, Pilar got blood tests for all the dogs at the Sanctuary. Everyone else has been ok since.
After a month at the Sanctuary, Chiwina was able to walk again. She returned to her owner and was the same happy dog she was before her illness. But about 2 months later, she again couldn't walk and died 5 days later.
AKI donors are the main support for the Nereida Montes de Oca Refugio, the HHHH Sanctuary (and old age home, rehab, and hospice). Thank you