AKI donors cover a significant portion of Kingston Community Animal Welfare's costs, which include dog and cat food, spay/neuter, and other vet care. This is the 2nd AKI Blog post about my November 2016 visit with KCAW. This visit made me prouder than ever that we support their work!
Deborah and I started day 2 of my visit with a stop at this house (2 pictures below), where 3 dogs had been left behind when their owner moved away. The new home owner has no interest in the dogs, but Deborah convinced him that they provide needed protection, and he agreed to let the dogs live there. Even so, Deborah continues to visit and bring food since the owner rarely bothers with the dogs. This is fairly common in Kingston, where the dogs and cats are thought of as part of the property, so when someone moves, the dogs and cats often stay behind.
Our next stop was at a repair yard for large machinery. Deborah has worked with the people at this location for years (2 pictures below), and they now accept the dogs that live there, they cleaned up the area where the dogs sleep, they feed them and give them water, and of course, KCAW has had them all spayed. Deborah had previously rescued a dog from this location, Blindy (named because he was blind, but it turned out the blindness was temporary, he recovered and was adopted, see 3rd picture below). Even though the people at the yard provide the basic necessities for these dogs, Deborah still stops by with nutritious food to supplement their diets, and she de-worms them and treats them for fleas and ticks (2nd picture below).
This stop (picture below) on our route was a heart breaker. These 2 dogs are SO sweet, but they get no attention (and worse). The wife doesn't mind the dogs, and actually does feel for them, but the husband despises them, and won't allow his wife to feed or get vet care for them. One has a bad eye, and Deborah brings meds to put in (I took a video of this process. All Deborah has to say is, "eye," and the dog turns over to let her put the drops in-as you can see in the picture below. The video is on our AKI youtube channel and on the AKI website). The other dog has an injured leg that was obviously painful, and we gave painkillers--that's all we were "allowed" to do.
On the other hand, the next 2 stops were heartwarming. We fed June's dogs and de-wormed them and to say thank you, June gave Deborah mangos from her tree (below left). At Mrs. Dewey's house, we just stopped to say hi and to see how the 2 KCAW dogs she adopted, Patches and Jewel) were doing (they are doing great!)
We stopped at this downtown location (below) to feed and de-worm these dogs. The whole neighborhood knows Deborah. As soon as we stopped the dogs and people came running!
We visited Mr. Salmon and brought him a bag of rice for the dogs. He takes great care of and really loves his 3 adopted KCAW dogs, but can't always afford dog food, so KCAW helps him out.
One of the highlights of my trip was meeting Boysie (below). For years, I had heard about Boysie, who helps Deborah out with downtown dogs and cats. Together, he and Deborah (with AKI support) have gotten the dogs and cats in his neighborhood spayed, and everyone knows, that if there's an injured or abandoned animal in the area, they should contact Boysie or Deborah.
Finally, I was able to get a picture of one of the cats we fed! Most ran off when we approached with food (and camera), but this one was very friendly.
The picture below is of a dog that Deborah had never seen before, but happened to cross our path that day, obviously hungry and scared. That's the look we saw on so many of the dogs who live on the street, especially in areas where KCAW hasn't worked with the community and developed a network of helpers. The dog gladly accepted food from us, but wasn't yet ready to hop in the car. Deborah will be returning to feed her again, and when the dog is more used to Deborah, she'll get her in the car and take her to the vet to be spayed.
We visited Girl, who Deborah had rescued from a canal many years ago (picture below right). Girl is a well-cared for (and obviously well-fed) community dog. Even though people in her neighborhood feed and care for her, she's always so happy to see Deborah (picture below left).
We returned to Essine's house, where, 2 days earlier, we had fed 3 puppies and de-wormed them. Essine's landlady wanted the puppies off of her property and was threatening to poison them if they were still there by Monday. So that Sunday, not without some stumbling, we caught all 3 and brought them to safety. All 3 puppies have now been adopted.
Besides meeting Boysie and spending 3 wonderful days with Deborah, the other highlight of my trip was meeting Pumpkin (above). Pumpkin was a tiny pup, living on the street (picture below), when Deborah found her. That was no place for a helpless puppy like Pumpkin, so Deborah took her home, treated her for mange, had her vaccinated, and of course, fell in love with little Pumpkin--as everyone who sees her does! We hear that Pumpkin may have a home in Florida. And to think Deborah started little Pumpkin on this new path in her life!
If you'd like to contribute to Kingston Community Animal Welfare's lifesaving work, please designate KCAW on the AKI website. THANK YOU FROM AKI, KCAW, AND THE MANY PUMPKINS OUT THERE!