During her epic 48 hour labor, Anna May gave birth to 7 puppies. One girl and one boy were stillborn, but her three living girls and two boys are nursing, squeaking, and scooting around exploring their mama and their new world.
This beautiful sweet girl here doesn't have a name yet, I'm waiting for the chord to strike. As I walked out of my house in the middle of the night on an emergency call, barely 10 feet away, she turned to me and I almost thought that Nina had escaped and somehow shrunk. But after a bit of coaxing, she walked into my house and lifted up her little paw and shook my hand--far and away the most polite moment of my month. So what could I say? Please, don't be upset when you see her face, just remember how far Nina has come and how joyful she is. This little girl, maybe 6 months old, is currently asleep on a blanket by my feet, full belly and antibiotics coursing through her veins, and she seems positively tickled by the world. This really is the pearl of animal rescue, such a bright light.
Today has been a long one here, for some of us it started on Monday when Anna May went into labor just before midnight. Nearly 48 hours later, yet only 14 hours after she gave birth to the first boy, who survived due to the Dr. Iqbal's fast CPR skills and a bleary-eyed but loving birthing team, she just had her sixth puppy. The second baby was stillborn, and as Anna May frantically whimpered for her tiny boy, it was a reminder of how often animals who give birth to litters have their babies' mortality casually spoken of in tallies. Everyone in the room with her felt so clearly how that sort of tally isn't ever fair, certainly not to Anna May's heart, nor to the tiny life she worked so hard to bring forth. We were able to console her and focus her new mother exhaustion and attention on her happily suckling living baby, and have been relieved with each wiggling little one since. She has several more to go and is tired and in no particular hurry, so we will introduce her family when she's good and ready--and for all our sakes, we hope that's by dawn.
Thank you for pushing our salary fundraiser hard yesterday--we got a very late start on it, and given the caseload, we need to lean on yo
Losing Pumpkin yesterday broke our hearts, and from all the messages of sadness and tears that continue to pour in, it looks like I don't have to explain how that can happen when animals are only with us for such a short time, just four days. His last moments were spent being held and gently petted, blessedly without fear or pain, but we will all feel his absence and grieve the health and joy we never got the chance to give him, and that doesn't go away quickly. We buried him under the apple tree in my garden yesterday afternoon, close to Dylan. We can't stop our work here, even for a moment, but we'll carry his little face for a long time. Thank you, so much, to everyone who sent their condolences and shared their sadness. It doesn't make it hurt less, but it helps all of us here to see such evidence of his little life mattering beyond our walls. Thank you.
The busyness of the day here is keeping our bodies and minds occupied, and we'll have much to share on our many recent rescues soon, including two cats and four puppies that have come in over the last 24 hours, all needing urgent veterinary care. But for right now, I'll just share this short snippet of Iver for you in the hopes that it might temper the sadness. Still fearful, still so wary of humans, but growing stronger and healthier, and able to let down his guard and sit in the sun with his caretaker and enjoy some gentle petting.
Pumpkin is so small and so loved, and we hope the love can conquer the illness in his tiny body. He is very down tonight, and being hit hard with the brunt of the symptoms right now. We hope with everything we've got that he makes it through the night.
Pumpkin is struggling, but has gotten up and toddled around a little bit. He spends most of his time sleeping, and a team of vets and vet techs are with him keeping him hydrated and clean and doing regular syringe feedings. Parvo is a horrible virus, fast and severe. We use a protocol adapted from treatments used in India, which has strains similar to those in Afghanistan, and since adapting this we typically have an 80-90% survival rate. But Pumpkin is one of the smallest rescues we've ever had, so every hour we can keep him going is a miracle. The acute period of this disease is 5 days, and we're just partly through day 2 now. Keep him in your thoughts.
Hello
Our dogs are just big puppies with their handlers.
It has been a long day here, Pumpkin has lost his appetite today and is listless. We hope we can bring him back, but he’s so small and sickly that we just don’t know.
Pumpkin
Baby’s first thunderstorm inside. He’s still in very rough shape, but we are hopeful.
Pumpkin has spent much of his time with us sleeping, which is surprisingly exhausting for everyone else! But we have some tricks up our sleeves to encourage his appetite, and it’s good to see him eating so greedily!
Asal came to us just weeks old and thankfully was 'adopted' by one of our resident mama cats, Helen. But Helen recently decided that she'd had enough, so we decided to try pairing her with Ernest, and the result is, well, *result*.
It's become clear that our post-airlift operations won't be a lull, and we just need to plow ahead with long term development planning and organizational sustainability and not expect the luxury of any slow days in which to hammer out the bones of this work. Even with the battering of recent intake, we are firmly in the manageable realm of work and focus, and we are grateful every day. Right now we have 151 dogs and 48 cats in our clinic and shelters, together with our menagerie of livestock, birds, bunnies, and tortoises, just over 200 souls in our direct care, not 500. We don't take this space or time for granted.
Friday is our weekend here, but as you know, that has not been our working reality recently. This morning our team responded to a report of an injured dog and quickly decided that on-site euthanasia was by far the kindest action. It was among the very worst we've seen. But that doesn't lessen the needs of those in our care, and our clinic team and caretakers are hard at work, with endless compassion.
Atlas and Rosie are both recovering from their front leg amputation surgeries smoothly, and Atlas will get his stitches out this coming week--though must stay bandaged throughout because he refuses to stop roughhousing and rolling around like a toddler. Rosie is almost one week post-op and thus far healing without swelling or infection. Ernest is remarkably akin to a bull in a china shop for being a partially paralyzed kitten, and loves her new playmate. Esther has a fractured vertebrae from the car accident, but is recovering well and getting along with our clinic dogs like she's always been here. Pumpkin survived the night, ate and drank on his own, and continues to sleep, which we hope helps him heal. When he wakes to tod
Pumpkin has had a long day and a hard life so far. It's always worrisome to see such low energy in young animals, but we can't realistically expect anything different at this point. He's begun treatment for mange and has been eating and drinking on his own today. The wifi isn't good enough right now to give you a live introduction, so here's a quick recorded video of the little one. A heart stealer already.
Pumpkin was found this morning in the Qasaba area of Kabul, just Northwest of the airport. At just 1.5kg and covered in mange, we don’t know how he was still alive, but he’s with us now and has gotten his first round of medicine. We’ll introduce him properly later in the day.
Still puppies at heart, our big boisterous dogs roughhouse all morning before they are put inside during the heat of the day. Our team has rescued a very tiny 3 pound puppy this morning, a little boy in bad shape. We will introduce him a bit later, so keep him in your thoughts.
Our staff are the world for our residents and rescues, and from our caretakers, veterinarians, and night clinic staff to our administrative and finance team, our procurement and driving personnel, and two full cooking teams, every person plays an important role in keeping them alive and thriving. This month we’re raising staff salaries on My Giving Circle. Let’s make a dent today: https://mygivingcircle.org/kabul-small-animal-rescue/free
There is nothing about seeing Edna that doesn't bring a smile to your face, and she's growing into a leggy bouncy ginger cat, bigger every day! She is alive because of our staff, and we need to make a dent in July's staff salaries, which we are raising on My Giving Circle this month, and the links are in our latest 'pinned' post at the top of our page. Please don't use other links, because the one we provide has the lowest platform fee.
It's absurd that half of our struggle with funding is wrapped up in fighting Facebook algorithms, and I know we're not the only one, and please know that we're aware here when the links aren't posted and it's a bit more of a pain. But also know that there are so many posts that you've not seen at all simply because they do have a link. We appreciate your patience as we navigate all this. Please don't let it make paying staff salaries so difficult.
Ernest is a comet of a kitten. She has come in and knocked us all sideways with her energy, her sweetness, her ability to heal, and her positively spicy cuddles. She was named for Ernest Shackleton, and we think she’d do him and Miss Chippy proud.
