Have A Heart-Namibia: The AKI Emergency Fund is well-used and used up!
This AKI Blog post is all about how the AKI-HAH Emergency Fund has come to the rescue of many animals in Namibia. The Emergency Fund is overseen by Geesche (HAH) in coordination with AKI. By the end of June, the AKI-HAH Emergency Fund balance was at zero! To help replenish the Emergency Fund, please consider a designated donation.
This is little Nala, a cat who lives at the horse stables in Okahandja. Nala doesn't like to be too close to humans. She and her 11 family members are welcome at the stables, where they work hard to keep them free of mice and rats, and in exchange, a kind lady looks after them.
But 12 cats are more than enough at the stables, so at the end of April, Nala was the 8th of the group to be spayed (thanks to HAH and FAVI). As every HAH cat and dog customer does, Nala got a full check up and the vet saw that one eye wasn't quite right. After a phone consultation with an eye specialist, a decision had to be made: put Nala down or have her eye removed. There was no way to just leave her eye in place because there was a little pocket that caused her eyelid to turn inward and dirt was collecting in the pocket, which would have caused constant eye infections and a lot of pain. Eventually the infection would overwhelm her immune system and would kill her.
The big question was: Will the AKI-HAH Emergency Fund help Nala by paying for her eye removal?
Our answer was: Of course! Nala is a young cat, and other than the eye problem, she is a healthy and well-cared for cat.
Nala was spayed and her eye was removed at the same time. She had to stay overnight at the clinic and then went back to her home at the stables. Nala's caretaker wrote, "So thankful for what they did for Nala. She is a wild little fine cat. She is safely back at the stalls and is a very different cat now, when I go to feed I can even pick her up. Definitely she doesn't have pain anymore. Thank you."
Next, the AKI-HAH Emergency Fund was used to help 2 dogs:
Dr. Baines was in Karibib with the mobile spay/neuter van and the Kastoor family needed a vet. Their dog Darling had a huge tumor on her neck, so they brought her to see Dr. Baines. He was able to remove the tumor and when Darling awoke, she no longer had an uncomfortable growth in her way. The family was super-grateful.
Then, just as Dr. Baines was arriving in Grootfontein, Lucky's family noticed a really bad gash on Lucky's foot-they didn't know how it happened, but it was deep and they knew he needed to be seen by a vet. The Johannes family found Dr. Baine's mobile van and requested help. Dr. Baines cleaned and stitched Lucky's foot up and sent him home.
In early June, we got word that a dog had been hit by a car in Swakopmund and needed help. We agreed that this was a good case for the AKI-HAH Emergency Fund. X-rays showed that doggy Sure broke his leg, but that no surgery was needed, only a splint. While at the vet's office, Sure was also neutered and vaccinated and treated for parasites--he got the full HAH service of course!
Dr. Winterbach told Sure's family that they would need to bring Sure in weekly for a check-up and bandage change to make sure the leg heals properly. Vet nurse Sheelagh was determined to ensure that his family would comply with the vet's orders!
On June 15 (picture below), Sure came in for his bandage change-his injury was healing well. We asked Sheelagh if the family was complying with vet's orders and she said, "I kaked [scolded] on them because the owner is still allowing Sure to roam. The owner said that he thinks Sure is looking for his testicles that he lost by us." (Sheelagh said she had a good laugh, but the owner was serious. And who knows, it could be true!)
We had a very sad emergency case on June 8. Burglars stabbed Boeboe (pronounced Booboo) really badly. Boeboe's owner had moved and left him behind. Boeboe became kind of a community dog, people feed him leftovers and watch over him. Even though he didn't have a real home, when someone tried to break into a house in Luderitz, Boeboe was right there--wrong place, wrong time.
Fabienne, HAH contact in Luderitz, asked if the Emergency Fund could help Boeboe (yes, of course) and she said she was willing to drive him to Windhoek. In Windhoek the next day, Boeboe received first aid and was given time to rest.
A few days later, we received the very sad news that Boeboe didn't make it. After arriving at the vet clinic in Windhoek he was doing well, he walked around, marked his territory, and was eating and wagging his tail. Then he went down, made a sound as if he was throwing up, and he died.
Fabienne was especially affected after spending so much time with Boeboe and having such high hopes for his recovery. She said that Boeboe was such a sweet young boy.
Geesche was very upset as well, and wrote, "The only good thing out of this was again that because of AKI, people who cared about Boeboe were able to help him and be there for him. I must say that again, AKI is not only helping the dog to get everything he needed, but also making it possible for the people who fed and cared about him, but had no financial means to help Boeboe, to contact Fabienne and to know Fabienne was able to help him. Boeboe got everything he needed to be pain-free and to feel loved and wanted until his very last second."
In early June, the AKI-HAH Emergency Fund was called in to help 2 tiny kittens. Their 5 siblings died and these 2 (pictures below) were getting a 2nd chance.
In mid-May, Joan (HAH friend) was told of a man who was selling 7 tiny kittens. When she found him, only 3 were still with him; 2 had died, another 2 were missing. Joan took the 3 kittens to a vet for a check-up, where they tried everything, but 1 was too sick and weak and was euthanized. The other 2 gained strength and are doing well. They received everything they needed at the vet's office thanks to the AKI-HAH Emergency Fund. As soon as they're old enough they'll be sterilized of course and adopted to a loving home.
Later we found out what happened to the 2 missing kittens. Someone found them in a plastic bag on a highway, where a sick person must have placed them on purpose to be run over. Geesche said, "I'm so angry! But that shows, when we are at a point where tiny kittens are placed on a highway to be run over, we need more spay/neuter! We promised to work even harder so that HAH will not have to send away any cat in need of sterilisation!"
A little later in June, the AKI-HAH Emergency Fund was used to treat Sisa's mange (before-after pictures promised for the next AKI Blog).
Still later in June, Kitzie, an old HAH customer in Luderitz, was hit by a car. Her owner was in tears when she brought Kitzie to the Luderitz SPCA. Kitzie was able to walk, so there was hope the injuries weren't serious. The AKI-HAH Emergency Fund stepped in to help.
Fabienne came through again and found a free ride for Kitzie to Windhoek, where she could be seen by a vet. In Windhoek, her xrays showed a broken pelvis. The vet prescribed 6 weeks of cage rest, no surgery. At the time, Windhoek went into covid lock down, making travel more difficult. Instead, Niki, one of the clinic staff, offered to foster Kitzie. As soon as covid lock down is lifted and Kitzie's personal lock down as well, she will travel the 900 km back home to Luderitz to her very loving family.
To help replenish the AKI-HAH Emergency Fund and help more cats and dogs like these, please consider a donation-any amount helps. Vet care in Namibia is so much less expensive than in the west. Your donations go a very long way!