Here are recent cat and dog rescues in Kingston, Jamaica by our Partner Kingston Community Animal Welfare, and funded by Animal-Kind International supporters.
Sage has a wonderful new home!
KCAW rescued Sage from where he was living-just barely surviving-on the property of a water treatment plant. He was only 2 months old and was already living on his own. Fast forward a month later and Sage has been adopted. Here he is, enjoying his new life with Donna, from bushes to bed.
Two rescued puppies go to a loving home
KCAW rescued two puppies in August. They were both in desperate need of help. Mr. Dibbles was dropped at Deborah's feet, like trash:
Deborah brought Mr Dibbles to the KCAW sanctuary, where he regained his health and confidence.
Popcorn was rescued from sure death from his life at a home where no one cared about him (photo below), where he had to fight with bigger dogs to get a little bit of the meager food they were offered. At the KCAW sanctuary, Popcorn had an entire bed to himself (photo below)!
Popcorn and Mr Dibbles became best friends at the sanctuary and were adopted together (photo above)....forever best friends.
Advice to 1st time puppy caregivers
In October, three teenagers arrived at the KCAW gate with two very sick pups. One of them had tick fever and was too far gone to save (KCAW took him to the vet to be euthanized to prevent further suffering). But the female was in better shape, although she was infested with fleas and malnourished. Deborah sent them off with meds, food, and shampoo and a lesson on how to properly care for pups and told them to come back if the surviving puppy still needed help. Hopefully it's good news that they haven't returned.
"I have learned after many years of rescuing that getting angry doesn't help, especially when they obviously cared enough to seek help. A bag of food and clear instructions work much better." ~Deborah
Recent cat and dog rescues in Kingston
No matter how many cats and dogs KCAW spays and neuters, rescues and finds homes for, more dogs and cats in need of help always show up on Kingston's streets.
In October this hungry guy was added to the KCAW feeding route:
In August this mama dog (below) received help from KCAW since she had five puppies to feed but could barely feed herself at this vacant electricity generation plant. Always with mamas who are nursing puppies, KCAW tries to get homes for the puppies and gets the females spayed. Adult dogs, especially once females are spayed, can usually survive pretty safely on the street and those on the KCAW feeding route, often do perfectly well.
Like with this dog above, it's often a many week effort to catch an entire dog family since street dogs --even young puppies--rarely think of humans as their friends. Eventually, all were rounded up, mama spayed, puppies adopted, and mama placed back at her home in this vacant yard, getting regular meals from KCAW.
This mama and her puppy (below) joined the KCAW "family" in August, and as above, puppy was brought to the sanctuary and mama was spayed.
These are some of the strays in downtown Kingston (below) who are fed and cared for by KCAW. With help from kind people who live in the area (and funded by AKI donors), they are fed, de-wormed regularly, and they are on a schedule for heartworm tabs (heartworm is rampant in downtown Kingston).
There are over 30 dogs in this one area alone. Females have been spayed, but money is always needed to get the males neutered since the top priority is spaying females and there are always more females showing up--it's never ending.
A horror house
Here's a story to show the type of attitude that KCAW too-often has to contend with in their cat and dog rescue work in Kingston.
In October Deborah drove past a house and saw two little emaciated pups crawl out from under the broken gate searching for food. They ran back in when she stopped, but came out again when they smelled the food.
Deborah investigated further and found two adults. Here's what Deborah told us:
"On the fifth day of feeding and administering medication and vitamins, a boy of 17 years emerged from the house and said he was wondering who was leaving food for his dogs and that I should stop. I asked if he was aware that his dogs were in the street in danger of being killed and he said yes but he can't stop them. He said his mother will chop me up if I keep feeding them.
After quite a long conversation I found out they also had four kittens and the mother, who he said wasn't his, but had taken refuge in their yard. I offered to give him a bag of cat food and to trap the mother and kittens and take them from there but he seemed too afraid of what his mother would do if he let me in.
Of course I didn't care and I stood my ground and told him those poor animals have no voice and that I was their voice. I was speaking for them and I didn't care if his mother came home! He said he didn't hate animals, that he liked dogs a lot but the people in the house were not nice and only wanted the dogs for security having no interest in their welfare. He eventually relented and took the food.
My goal now is to get the female before she mates again. That will take some doing but I'm determined she will be spayed!
I was feeding the pups under the fence, but one day only one of them showed up. It's too painful to discuss.
You may think this is the end of the story. It's not. Hopefully by the end of the month I'll have better news on this terrible situation."
Old timer faced surgery
Mr Honey! KCAW rescued him years ago along with his brother and he's lived at the KCAW sanctuary ever since. He's an old man now, and wasn't well. He lost a lot of weight and was weak. He was on meds--and can still fight and scratch when being given them. It turned out that he needed surgery for stomatitis. AKI was able to send funds to KCAW for the surgery and we wish Mr Honey a healthy old age!