In 2017, AKI donors provided the funds for KCAW to renovate their existing kennels and to expand by adding a quarantine kennel. As the main -and often only-source of funding, AKI donors also make it possible for KCAW to rescue, provide vet care, food, meds, and spay/neuter for street cats and dogs and pets that belong to poor people. Here are some of their stories from August-September.
In early September, Deborah (KCAW) was notified of these tiny puppies, born to a stray mama dog, in the bush behind an office building and restaurant. The owners of the property are wealthy, yet when Deborah asked them for a donation toward their care, they said, "They are just little mongrels, get rid of them." So AKI funds were put to use to de-worm them and they'll be given their full rounds of shots. Deborah has been feeding and monitoring them over the past couple of weeks. She found homes for all 4 of them, and they'll be heading there any day now. Next....Deborah will get mama dog spayed.
This little puppy (above) was born with two club paws! And he hardly grew, while his siblings thrived. Deborah had to put him in the back of her car to eat. He loves to eat! Deborah already found homes for his brother and sisters, and he's the only one left.....we have a feeling he may end up as a permanent resident of Deborah's home.
Finally trapped after many tries--and 4 litters(!), Deborah took this kitty to be spayed. She lives in a yard in downtown Kingston, on Fleet street, a very impoverished area. Deborah has already spayed 12 cats and dogs from that street alone just this year! It's not the best place for animals, so Deborah is doing her best to "clean up" the area.
It's tough --actually impossible--to reach all the cats and dogs in Kingston and get them sterilized before they reproduce-sometimes several times. That would need an effort far larger than anyone can give it (money and time)--there are just so many unfixed street animals and owned pets that are allowed to roam. But with AKI donor support, KCAW is sterilizing as many as possible and getting the most vulnerable off the streets.
Here's one that KCAW didn't sterilize in time. On her feeding rounds, Deborah saw this very hungry mama dog on the road--it was the 1st time she ever saw this dog. Deborah will be watching out for her and once she finds out about the puppies and if mama has an owner (obviously not an attentive one), she plans to get the dog spayed.
All 3 of these cats started out as wild kitties: Earsey was born behind the bank where Deborah works; Mr. Honey was born in Deborah's yard to 2 wild kitties who came around for food; and Grey was a really skinny boy and enemies with Mr. Honey. Once Grey was tamed and fattened up, they became best friends.
Everyone seems to know Deborah and her car. I was always amazed, when I'd go on feeding rounds with her, how people would run up to her and ask for help with their pets or tell her about mistreatment they witnessed. After more than 3 decades of being the savior of Kingston's street animals, she is pretty much a legend.
So it's not surprising that she was told about these puppies, living in a yard with some pretty cruel people, and she was asked to help. When she visited, she saw the puppies were full of ticks, starving, sleeping on concrete under a broken down van. She had to enlist the man who had led her there to help her out because of a bad bite on her hand. He bathed them, they removed the ticks, fed the puppies, and now, the people who work at that yard know that KCAW is watching.
One of the dogs on Deborah's feeding rounds (above) needed extra attention. The dog is owned by a woman who lives in a tenement yard-in the picture in the background. Her dog had a maggot infestation on one leg. Deborah treated her, and she's doing perfectly fine now.
Deborah came across this little kitty on the side of the road, he was not doing well at all. She scooped him up, stopped at the vet clinic for a quick check up-weak and hungry, but nothing obviously wrong, brought him to the KCAW kennels for a bath (picture below), food, and de-worming. The following morning, September 8, he had a good appetite and became a very noisy kitty-his strength is returning.
Four puppies are some of the 1st new residents of the newly renovated KCAW pens (renovation funded by AKI). The pups are safe, well-cared for, and well-fed, while KCAW tries to find forever homes.
Below, the renovated KCAW pens are in the final phase-they were painted. Watch our next AKI Blog post about KCAW for pictures of the completed renovation.
And last, but certainly not least, is Pumpkin's happy story. Pumpkin went from being a tiny, starving, furless (from mange) street puppy when Deborah found her in mid-December 2016 to being one of the most pampered dogs in Kingston! Thanks to KCAW, Pumpkin got a 2nd chance: Deborah took her from the street to her home, where Pumpkin got lots of love and care, and grew to a beautiful dog, now living at her forever home in Jamaica (picture below taken in mid-July, 7 months after she was rescued).
KCAW is the only organization helping Kingston's street cats and dogs and helping poor families care for their pets so they don't end up contributing to the street animal population. We need your support to continue helping more than 500 cats- and dogs-in need in Kingston: Any donation amount helps, https://www.animal-kind.org/aki-jamaica
THANK YOU