With this progress report about Nyendwa's February mobile clinics, they have completed their AKI grant project. See this AKI Blog post about Nyendwa's previous AKI-funded mobile clinics.
From Annie Njovou, Nyendwa Mobile Vet Clinic Programme Officer:
NYENDWA MOBILE CLINIC ACTIVITIES DURING THE MONTH ENDING 29 FEBRUARY 2020
We entered into the new year of 2020 with so many challenges. We have managed to overcome them, but still more challenges have emerged. The weather has been favorable for the month of February although we had a three week dry spell in January. Because of the prolonged drought we had in the 2018/2019 farming season, the food shortage has been terrible and of course, much worse for the dogs and cats. They are still struggling and some are going without a full meal for a whole week, just scavenging. They eat even poisonous insects and some are eating plants.
We have been traveling and carrying out mobile outreach in the villages. At village meetings, we explained to people about the importance of vaccinating their dogs and cats against rabies and how dangerous rabies disease is to both humans and animals. After village meetings, some people come to us privately asking questions and for help for their animals. We have given rabies vaccinations and so many brought their dogs and cats for the vaccinations.
We are receiving so many interesting stories that are good and very bad at the same time because it shows peoples' interest in their pets, but some of the events have cost the lives of animals and humans because of ignorance. One farmer said that one of his dogs got wild, vicious and it started biting goats and chickens and all the goats and chickens that were bitten died within 48 hours and the dog also died after it was stoned to death. Sadly, that is what happens to rabid dogs.
People are still coming for rabies vaccinations, unfortunately all the monies have been exhausted and we are referring them to the government veterinary officers who are very far away from them--some over 60 kilometres and they charge US $5 which people cannot afford.
Also we did de-worming and just after de-worming, we saw hundreds of live and dead worms coming out from dogs and cats. It was really terrible, I can’t believe my eyes. Nearly all the dogs and cats that were de-wormed had worms and we suspect even the owners are infested with worms, especially the children who play with dogs and cats.
We had a talk with government health officers about that and they agreed to de-worm with their own resources-they will continue what we started and buy the de-wormers and de-worm both dogs and cats as well as the owners.
Dogs and cats are also badly infested with ticks. These are the same ticks that transmit tick-borne diseases such as anaplasmosis, babesiosis, and other diseases. Cattle, donkeys, and other animals can become infected. Already there is an outbreak of corridor disease in our catchment area and animals are dying in dozens per day. It is really terrible.
For tick control, we managed to buy special acaricades for cats and dogs and we went out spraying the dogs and cats. But this has to be continued - dogs and cats must be sprayed once every week until the rains stops. This is expensive for us to maintain.
Ear wounds and infections are very common here during the rainy season and we are treating them. We bought ear cream and wound spray.
During the month of February, we did the following:
247 dogs vaccinated against rabies
31 cats vaccinated against rabies
563 dogs de-wormed
97 cats de-wormed
1,210 dogs and cats sprayed against ticks
113 treated for ear wounds
9 dogs treated for eye infections
7 puppies treated for terrible diarrhea
1 dog treated for umbilical hernia
We also rescued this cat, who was starving and injured and has a very bad skin problem. In this picture, she is recovering:
We are treating this dog for TVT-except for this problem, she is one of the healthier dogs:
The mobile outreach is still going on every week but some roads have become impassable due to the heavy rains. We thank God for the rains.
We thank you so much indeed for supporting us financially. We need more funding because after our animal welfare village education, many people have come to know the importance of looking after their animals humanely and caring for them. More are still coming for our services. We have just rescued three puppies and two mother dogs after cruelly beaten and starved for weeks without food and water. Once again, thank you so much.