In last month's AKI Blog, we wrote about the AKI-HaH Emergency Fund cases in January only and because there were so many, we said we'd write a separate post this month about the animals helped from February 2022 onward. Still we had too many, so this post takes us through March and next month we'll take you from April onward.
Candice is a member of a group of cats living at a restaurant where they are welcome and have a great young employee looking after them. He made sure all of them got spayed/neutered. He noticed one of the cats didn't feel well and he took her to the vet clinic. It turned out she had mastitis (she had kittens before he had a chance to get her spayed). The restaurant employee (pictured below holding Candice) didn't have the money for treatment, so Geesche authorized use of the AKI-HaH Emergency Fund. She was treated for mastitis, and later, she was spayed.
Cleo was brought to the clinic by her owner to be spayed via HaH but the vet realized that she was sick, not well enough for surgery. Cleo recently had 5 puppies and all 5 of them had died. She wasn't eating or drinking and was shivering, but the vet couldn't find anything wrong with her physically. She thought Cleo had PTSD after losing all her babies. The Emergency Fund was authorized for Cleo's care, and she was given injections of vitamins and went home. Two weeks later she was scheduled for spay but the vet found an infection in her mouth and she was put on antibiotics-also thanks to the Emergency Fund. The vet decided to give her a bit more time before spaying her. Later, when she returned to the clinic, she was healthy and finally she was spayed (picture below).
Little Cooper and Keke (Cooper 1st photo below, Keke 2nd photo below) are only 4 months old and they had parvo. Penny, a vet nurse in Rehoboth, asked Geesche for help: "We have 2 dogs here, both with parvo, one is on a drip and the other one is in better condition and can just go home with tablets. The owner can't afford for Cooper to stay on the drip as well as tablets for Keke. I wanted to know if you can help, I feel so sorry for her." Both Keke and Cooper received the care they needed to recover-and they were sent back home, and Geesche sent this message, "Thank you AKI, you gave 2 dogs a fighting chance and their people hope!"
Cooper:
Keke:
Bella, the black dog (photo below), and her friend Chico are both from Rehoboth, they are part of a family where HaH had already spayed and neutered cats last year. Bella and Chico both got parvo, and Bella wasn't doing well at all. Geesche authorized use of the AKI-HaH Emergency Fund. Chico felt much better after a few days, but Bella took a while and lots of love from her family, warm blankets, hand feeding and encouragement. But she pulled through- she is still a bit on the skinny side but her family is working on fattening her up. Geesche wrote, "Without the support from AKI, Bella's family wouldn't have the money for the treatment and Bella definitely wouldn't have made it. She and Chico are now spayed/neutered and vaccinated and got their parasite treatment and are ready to live a long life with their family who cares very much about them! THANK YOU AKI for helping Chico and Bella and their family!!"
Penny, the vet nurse from Rehoboth, got in touch with HaH again about Nicky: "The dog we spayed yesterday, Nicky, she was bleeding when Dr. Sandra came to check on a parvo dog on a drip last night around 10 pm. When she saw that Nicky was bleeding, she sedated her again, stopped the bleeding, did a blood smear and saw parasites of tick bite fever." Geesche approved use of the Emergency Fund and Nicky was given pills for 14 days for tick bite fever, as well as pain tablets and a vitamin syrup. She recovered at home and is 100% healthy-and spayed now.
Jaguar is part of a feral cat colony at Namport in Walvis Bay. They have really awesome caretakers! One day they noticed Jaguar had a problem with his eye (photo below, before surgery). Luckily he is just semi-feral so it was relatively easy to get him to the vet. The vet found a huge ulcer behind the right eye, which he said is extremely painful for the poor cat. The vet operated on Jaguar the very next day.
Jaguar was then sent back to be with his cat family at Namport (photo below). Geesche said, "He is of course still much loved, no one at the harbour minds having a little pirate around :-) He and his family are doing extremely important work by keeping the harbour rat free! Without AKI poor Jaguar would have suffered for many many weeks but now he is back to his happy and friendly self. THANK YOU SO SO SO SO MUCH FOR WHAT YOU DO FOR NAMIBIA'S CATS!!!!"
Zo is staying with one of the Rehoboth's cat heroes. Zo's caretaker looks after 32 cats at her home! HaH helped her at the end of 2020 with spay/neuter of all 32 cats--this group of cats was one of the reasons that HaH started working in Rehoboth in the 1st place. So Zo is an old HaH client and there were no questions -of course when he got sick, HaH was prepared to help and the Emergency Fund was put to work. Zo had a bad discharge from his eyes (photo below). The vet gave him all injections and medications he'd need to recover. Zo's owner reported to Penny that Zo was looking better and also eating but he was losing balance when he walked. Penny is staying in contact with the family and if needed, Zo will come back to the clinic.
Geesche got this message from Dr. Erika at Tsumeb Vet Clinic:
"Lady, the dog that was hit by a car this evening [end of February], laid at the side of the road for a day and night before someone noticed and called us. Day one we could not get near her as she was so aggressive... Now she is the most beautiful dog. We are still treating the leg. She had a huge open wound and has been staying in the clinic now for almost a month while we treat her wounds. So far the cost of the treatments is N$ 3283.23.* This is only the cost price of drugs and bandages. I have taken off all hospitalization and any fees for our services. This is up to the 31st of March 2022. She has become our vet office dog and is very happy with us. I have had a N$1000.00 donation towards her cost so that leaves N 2823.23 until end of March. I would like to find her a home but would like to spay her before she goes. Our SPCA is on the last legs so there will be no donations from there. It would be great if you know of someone who would help as well. But I understand totally if you are not able to find someone."
Geesche offered her help via the AKI-HaH Emergency Fund and she received the following reply:
"Wow wow wow... You guys are amazing... Thank you. I have tears. Not just for me but for all the people trying so hard to help all these unwanted animals. Thank you. Erika"
Geesche followed up with us, saying, "This again shows how much impact the AKI Emergency Fund has... Not only for Lady (who did receive help) but also for the humans around her. Getting such support from AKI enables us to help more innocent animals like Lady who ended up in a life or death situation with no fault of her own. Lady will be fine and she has a safe future, but because AKI stepped up and supported Lady, we know the next unlucky animal will also get help when needed! AKI invests into the future! THANK YOU!!!!!!!" *N$3283.23 is around US$250, but this is not the final amount as Lady is still undergoing treatment.
Enjoy these pictures of Lady:
