Our last Have a Heart-Namibia update was on May 2 and we (you, AKI, HaH, and all of the expanded HaH team) have helped so many more cats and dogs since then! The numbers are now in and from January through June, 31 dogs and 9 cats received vet care through our AKI-HaH Emergency Fund and 150 dogs and 26 cats received their Lifetime Care treatments (check-up, boosters, and anti-parasite meds for all HaH spay/neuter clients-for life).
Here are just some of the cats and dogs helped since our last report.
Queeny is an old HaH s/n customer in Rehoboth. In mid-July, her owner was worried about her cough and thought she might have a bone stuck in her throat. But she couldn't afford to pay a vet bill. Since Queeny was spayed by HaH and her owner takes such good care of her and obviously loves her, the AKI-HaH Emergency Fund covered the costs. There was no bone, but Queeny needed meds for her cough.
On August 13, Queeny came back to visit the clinic in Rehoboth when her brother - a cat - was ready to be picked up after his neuter. Queeny was 100% better by then!
The Rehoboth clinic saw another old customer when on August 12 Bella came for her spay appointment. No longer a sick puppy near death from a bad case of parvo, she's now a healthy, chunky spayed girl!
Bella has come a long way from back in March when she and her buddy Chico had parvo. Their family couldn't afford the treatment, so they became AKI-HaH Emergency Fund clients and although Bella had a very serious case, she fully recovered, as did Chico.
Also in August and from Rehoboth, Rocky and her owners came to the clinic when
they noticed Rocky lost her appetite. It turned out that Rocky had a uterus prolapse as well as TVT! These are two big problems, and you can imagine the families' relief when Penny (vet nurse at the Rehoboth clinic) told them they qualify for the AKI-HaH Emergency Fund and that Rocky could get the treatment she needs. First, Rocky was spayed and the prolapse was dealt with. And next, TVT cancer treatment, once a week for 6 weeks, will begin.
Wisdom and Knowledge are from the north of Namibia, a small village near Oshigambo, around 40 km from Oshakati, where the closest vet is. Their owner contacted HaH in a very desperate state, she had no work and was not even able to afford a taxi to take the dogs to the vet. She was worried that at least one of them had parvo since many dogs were dying of parvo in her village.
HaH sent a message to the SPCA in Oshakati and the animal inspector contacted Wisdom and Knowledge's owner, and then drove the 40 km to pick the dogs up and bring them to the vet.
The dogs' owner sent this message to HaH: "Thank you very much for all the help you have given me, they have picked up the puppies. I am crying for joy. I don't know how to repay the kindness, prayed most of the night for God to preserve the life of those puppies. For me they are everything and I really love them a lot, thank you thank you, may the Lord bless you for me."
The vet contacted HaH the following day to report that Knowledge was very sick but getting better. Wisdom had no symptoms, but he thought there was a good chance she would get parvo. The next day, the owner sent this message: "Knowledge is eating a bit, but now Wisdom seems to be getting sick. She is not eating at all, has diarrhea and is vomiting. HaH told her to contact the vet again, but sadly Wisdom went downhill fast and she didn't make it.
The owner is very sad (as we all are about this sweet, cute puppy), but is now focused on getting Knowledge strong and healthy and then getting her spayed and vaccinated.
Jessie, a cryptorchrid, was neutered in July and a few days later came back to the Rehoboth clinic because as Penny, the vet nurse reported, "Jessie, whose testicles were hidden in the abdomen, pulled out his stitches but they took time to bring him in, so the wound is infected. We will clean every day and keep him here until we are happy he is better. We now have to treat it as an open wound."
In total, Jessie was in lock down at the clinic for 9 days before the team felt that he was healed and ready to go home.
Spotty is another old neuter customer from Rehoboth. His owner Charlotte is one of Rehoboth's animal heroes and tries to help as many unwanted and neglected animals as she can. She took in many stray cats and in part, because of her, Penny (from the Rehoboth vet clinic) had contacted HaH for the 1st time 2 years ago to see if HaH could help in Rehoboth. The result, 2 years later: 550 dogs and cats in Rehoboth have been spayed or neutered!
But back to Spotty. He wasn't feeling well and Charlotte asked HaH for help. He was diagnosed with gingivitis and he was constipated, both problems were easy to treat (we like those!) and Spotty was sent back home with Charlotte that same day.
Beauty's owner Heinrich--also from Rehoboth-is disabled and doesn't have any work. One evening he was worried that Beauty wasn't well, she wasn't eating and was just laying around, and that wasn't like her. That night, he walked to Penny's house and asked for help. She explained everything about the Animal-Kind International-HaH Emergency Fund, and that as part of the agreement, Beauty would have to be spayed once she is old enough and feels better. He was happy to agree to that. The next day he brought Beauty to the clinic, where she got a check-up, the meds she needed to treat the tick-borne illnesses she was diagnosed with, and was sent home. And Heinrich kept his part of the deal too; Beauty has now been spayed!
During the last week in June, a big abscess was found in the mouth of one of the dogs neutered by HaH in Mariental. It was probably caused by a poke from a stick. The dog's owner, who uses a wheelchair, brought the dog to the clinic--they really depend on each other for support!
One of the cats (part of a feral colony) who was sterilized that same week at the Mariental clinic had a badly injured eye that needed to be removed.
Both the dog and the cat were helped by Dr Erna and her team through the AKI-HaH Emergency Fund. After their vet care, Geesche (HaH) sent this message, "Thank you so much again to AKI for making it possible for Namibia's vets to help dogs and cats that are loved and wanted but are feral (the cat) or have a caring owner but no financial means (the dog)! Those two deserve not to suffer as much as any animal and the AKI emergency fund is making sure they don't. THANK YOU!!!"
At the end of July, we received some sad news about one of the feral cats at Namwater near Windhoek. All the cats in that feral colony were trapped and spayed last year and a caretaker (Karen) looks after them.
Karen noticed that one of the cats in the colony wasn't feeling well and asked HaH for help. Within an hour she trapped the cat and brought her to the clinic. The cat was very stressed and very skinny, so they let the kitty stay overnight to calm down, sleep, and then get an exam the following day.
But upon examination, the kitty's lungs were congested and she was not in good shape. Together, the vet team, the caretaker, and HaH decided that the best thing they could do for her was to euthanize her. As Geesche said, "this last act of kindness was all we could do for this beautiful cat who never in her life was a best friend to a human or even trusted a human ever. Knowing that this the poor cat would have suffered for some weeks and died lonely, hungry and freezing without our help eased the decision for us. THANK YOU!!!!! I will never be able to say enough thank yous for being able to just say YES! when I get asked for help- I wouldn't know what to do without AKI!"
In mid-July, 10 week old Sean from Windhoek had a large abscess, most likely from a bite by another cat. He was given antibiotic injections and was being watched until the abscess opened to take the next step in treatment, to be covered by the AKI-HaH Emergency Fund.
We show so many pictures of the cats and dogs helped by HaH with AKI support. But who are the people behind the scenes, providing the vet care and other supportive care?
A few of the staff from the Rehoboth clinic are:
Penny. A vet nurse, Penny is the one who initially asked HaH if they could help in Rehoboth. HaH replied that they will pay invoices, but she needs to adhere to the HaH rules. "And wow, she stepped up! She is a gem, she does fantastic community work for the dogs and cats and she is really having a big impact!"-from Geesche.
Damaskus. He is the technical assistant at the Rehoboth clinic and according to Penny, everyone at the clinic, as well as the clients, are very dependent on him:
Dr. Sandra. She is the new vet at the clinic, having started in November 2021. She joined Penny in stepping up for the HaH animals. Her latest rescue is Nicky-with Sandra in the picture (an AKI-HaH Emergency Fund client):
Thanks to you-our supporters-and HaH and their widespread network of helpers, we are able to get vet care to these cats and dogs. Without the Emergency Fund, there would be no other help for them! Thank you!