This post from November 18 was about Twala Trust's Doggy Tuesday program, their Africa-Based Animal Welfare Organization Grant from AKI, and how they used funds from the grant during September and October. The current post takes off where we left you and runs through the last 2 months of the grant project, which provided dog food for weekly Doggy Tuesday attendees.
One of the most important and gratifying outcomes of the AKI grant to Twala Trust is that we could contribute to the good health and well-being of the older Doggy Tuesday attendees. Twala Trust's Sarah Carter told us,
"Knowing that we could send the more frail and elderly dogs home with extra dry food makes such a difference. With intense competition for the household scraps that the dogs are fed on, the more vulnerable dogs miss out and their health and condition is severely compromised. To see rural dogs who have been coming to us since they were puppies, who are now senior dogs is the most wonderful feeling as it is unusual for
there to be elderly dogs in rural communities due to their harsh lives."
November Doggy Tuesdays
Heavy rains during November made some Doggy Tuesdays a muddy mess! But still, most owners brought their dogs, no matter what the weather:
Two dogs with confirmed cases of rabies were brought to a Doggy Tuesday event in November. Both dogs were new to Doggy Tuesday and hadn't been vaccinated. It turned out they were new arrivals to the area, as well. This is becoming more common with rural land being sold to Harare residents and the new owners placing guard dogs on the properties with inadequate care.
During November:
2237 dogs were either fed on site or provided with supplementary feed in their homes --all food provided thanks to the AKI grant.
Vaccinated 216 dogs, 4 puppies – this included an ongoing mass vaccination campaign for spirocircosis started in October 2022
Sterilized 8 dogs
2 amputations – 1 back leg, 1 front leg (both from road traffic accidents)
2 rabid dogs (euthanized)
1 skin cancer
4 distemper
4 mange
5 flea allergies
2 abscesses
1 erhlichia
2 spirocircosis
1 tick bite fever
3 dog fight wounds
4 gastritis
3 ear infections
2 eye infections (dogs) 1 (rabbit)
2 fungal infections
2 kennel cough
1 urinary tract infection
1 parvovirus
3 dogs and 2 puppies kept for supplementary feeding due to poor body condition
73 dogs dewormed
December Doggy Tuesdays
Three dogs with confirmed cases of rabies were brought to Doggy Tuesdays in December. One staff member was bitten while trapping one of the rabid dogs. Fortunately all Twala Trust staff and volunteers are vaccinated, and only a booster shot was needed.
During December:
2092 dogs were either fed on site or provided with supplementary feed in their homes - all food provided by the AKI grant:
Vaccinated 28 dogs against rabies, 5 puppies against parvovirus
Sterilized 9 dogs
1 amputation – front leg (from road traffic accident)
3 rabid dogs (euthanized)
2 skin cancers
2 distempers
4 mange
3 flea allergies
3 abscesses
3 erhlichia
1 spirocircosis
2 transmittable venereal tumors
2 tick bite fever
3 dog fight wounds
1 gastritis
2 ear infections
1 eye infection
1 kennel cough
1 parvovirus
1 prolapse (uterus)
1 lump removal
3 dogs and 2 puppies kept for supplementary feeding due to poor body condition
16 dogs dewormed
1 abandoned puppy with rickets was taken for further care at Twala Trust
1 elderly dog with severe mange was surrendered to Twala
Thank you to Twala Trust veterinarian Dr Vinay Ramlaul, trustee Sarah Carter, veterinary nurse Hilary Maboreke, Innocent Musekiwa, Stewart Matare, and other staff members and volunteers for making December's Doggy Tuesdays possible.
What was the impact of the grant from AKI?
Over the four months of the grant project, 9,087 dogs received food at Doggy Tuesday and/or for supplemental feeding at home thanks to the grant from AKI.
In addition, Twala Trust vaccinated 643 dogs against rabies, parvo, and spirocircosis (caused by ingestion of dung beetles), sterilized 37 dogs, and provided other veterinary treatment to 291 dogs.
Trustee Sarah Carter told us, "This grant provided a great measure of relief during a very difficult year due to economic and infrastructure challenges in Zimbabwe. To be able to feed over 2000 dogs each month with nutritious food through our Doggy Tuesday programme provided not only support to the rural families who rely on our programme to keep their dogs healthy, but also a sense of achievement and positivity for our team. We are very invested in this programme that has been running for 9 years now, and to be able to provide the support in a reliable and constant way is very important both for the dogs and for our relationship with our community."
The grant from AKI came at a particularly critical time. But also, Sarah expressed concern for the future of Doggy Tuesday: "The economic situation continues to deteriorate in Zimbabwe, where we have extremely high food inflation (which includes the cost of animal feed). Each month the food for the dogs costs more so this is a huge concern for us going forward. We source food from wherever we can but much of this food needs to be cooked, and to have the dry food sponsored by AKI made the programme much more efficient as it could be served straight to the dogs rather than trying to find firewood to cook the food, plus the many hours of labour involved in cooking up to 1000 litres of dog food!"
Sarah also offered her thanks to AKI and our generous donors, without whom, our Africa-Based Animal Welfare Grant Program would not be possible: "The gratitude we all feel for this generous support is immense - it has provided so many dogs with nutritious food, and been a tremendous relief to us to be able to feed the dogs as they need, and deserve. The happiness and positive outcomes of our Doggy Tuesday programme are so important to our community, both the people who rely on their dogs for security and companionship, and for the beautiful dogs themselves who despite their hard rural lives are always such a delight to see with their tails wagging in anticipation as they head down the road for their weekly feast."