Rural Animal Care

16/12/2024

These 2 dogs wagged their tails wildly when they came round next to each other!! Their owners just fetched a little bowl of water to moisten their mouths.

16/12/2024

7 am, Saturday the 7th December - the calm before the storm at Caledonia as Angus takes a little video of the prep and operating tables he's just set up in the gazebos. The 2 others are ready and waiting for the mattresses to be put in for the post ops.

16/12/2024

On Saturday 7th December, we were lucky enough to have VAWZ come out to Caledonia Butchery to do a final spay campaign for us and, having optimistically booked 68 dogs in for sterilizing, Mel and the vets worked like machines and actually ended up doing 74 (37 spays and 37 neuters) which was absolutely wonderful, and we’re very grateful for their help over the year, which has made a huge difference to us, as well as the dogs and their owners in this heavily populated community.
Having said that, for the first time in over a decade, we weren’t doing the rabies vaccinations because the University of Zimbabwe, who were hosting an International Rabies Conference, had arranged to hold one of their 2 field days at the same time, which worked out brilliantly for everyone. They managed to vaccinate a huge number of dogs and, having seen how many came in when we did 880 on one of our last December spaydays, I think we probably dipped nearly 1000 dogs that had come in for sterilizing and vaccinating this time.
Knowing that a heat wave had been forecast, we were very concerned that there might not be enough shade for the dogs and, posting an appeal on the CCC Bass chat group, we were overwhelmed by the generosity of the members who were prepared to lend us gazebos for this purpose. They were absolutely amazing and worked a treat; thank you so much to Rob Mellor, Buzz King and the Nollies - you have no idea what a difference they made to everyone there, two, three and four-legged!!
Most of the dogs were in pretty good condition but there are always the odd sick and injured animals brought in and, over and above those treated on site, 10 went into Kam Vet as RAC patients, 7 of which were hospitalized – one brown and white boy with infected dog bite wounds, 2 females with mammary tumours and 4 young dogs with parvo virus. And so, as the sun set on our last spayday of the year, we drove the last post-op dogs home with their owners, each clutching their lead, blanket, food and animal care leaflets, along with instructions to contact us should they develop complications or pull out their stitches – something that’s caused many a midnight dash over the years, but that’s a story for another day..

12/12/2024

Earlier this week, April was invited to give a talk about RAC at the Harare Northern Suburbs Garden Club meeting. The members were very interested and found the talk informative and were amazed at the wonderful work she is doing single- handedly to alleviate the suffering of rural animals. The club kindly donated 4 X 25kg bags of food for the dogs (along with a further few donations given by some very generous members too!).
The bags of food were immediately sniffed out by April's 4 canine companions who'd come along with her...her ever faithful blind boy BB and 3 of her 'tripod' houndies (each dog lost a leg after an RTA...was then rejected by their owners). The dogs enjoyed their outing and sat very happily in the shade with Tawanda and Pride.
It was a fun afternoon. 🐾

01/12/2024

17/11/2024

https://gofund.me/7b28cae2

There are millions of dogs in Zimbabwe and, in a failing economy where a lar… Lee John needs your support for RURAL DOGS IN ZIMBABWE URGENTLY NEED YOUR HELP!!

13/11/2024

Ruby M
FA Br Boerboel
Broken hind leg (& old break in back)

Although delighted when someone booked in a boerboel called Ruby for spaying (a rare occurrence, as they’re invariably used for breeding around here) unfortunately it was short-lived, because we soon realised that she’d been transported in because she could hardly walk. Painfully thin, her spine looked as if it had been broken and, unable to put any weight on one of her back legs, her whole body was distorted as she twisted towards it, trying desperately to support it against her other leg as she held it up.
Apparently the poor girl had been like that for 8½ months, when she’d aborted all her puppies (after which she’d bled for a month) and because no-one had seen anything happen to her, her owners had assumed that her condition had been brought about by that, as opposed to the other way around. Needless to say, Ruby wasn’t spayed, but taken straight into the vet, where X-rays showed that although her back had indeed been broken, she’d been incredibly lucky and altho her spine would always have a noticeable kink where it had healed, that was not what was preventing her from walking.
Her main problem was actually a badly broken femur and after some days of stabilization, she underwent a femoral head and neck excision (FHNE) leaving the surrounding muscles and scar tissue to support the femur and act as a false joint. Out of pain for the first time in a long while, she came back to us for confinement and rehab, spending several months with us, slowly getting stronger before she was finally able to put some weight on that leg - first knuckling and then, finally, walking on it properly - which was wonderful!!
Unused to whities, Ruby wouldn’t let me into her run at first, and although she eventually let me stroke her, it wasn’t before I’d disregarded her warning signs and been bitten by her, which was as embarrassing as it was painful because it was caught on camera!! Anyway, we both recovered from that indignity and when Tawanda finally took her home, almost 3 months after she’d come in for spaying, her owners were really happy to have her home – not only sterilized, but pain free and walking again – and, in addition to that, we’ve now booked her mother in for spaying, which is a very positive note to leave them on, after an unexpectedly happy ending!!

* Please note the length of time Ruby spent in our rehab! Nearly 3 months!!
Please keep sharing the gofundme campaign and dm for local donation details.
Thank you 🐾

10/11/2024

Please keep sharing our gofundme link or dm us for local donation details...
this work is SO necessary, these poor people and their animals, have nowhere else to turn 😥
Read poor Master's story...

Master S
MA Bl/T
RTA & Abrasions?

One morning, Master S was found lying on the road near his house, badly injured. In terrible pain, he’d lost all the skin on one side of his body and although no one knew what had happened, his devastated owner could only speculate that he’d probably curled up under a vehicle, only to be run over by it – which is as good an explanation as any.

Unable to afford veterinary treatment, she bought a bottle of betadine and did her best to keep his horrific injury clean – bathing it gently and sprinkling it with charcoal dust (something she’d heard would help) before putting a long-sleeved tee-shirt on him – a really good move, because it had protected his open wound from the dust and flies that were already starting to follow him. Then, when someone gave her our contact details, 3 days later, she picked up the phone and, almost crying with relief, phoned for help, at which I phoned Tawanda, who was already in town.

Taking him straight into the vet, Tawanda said the first thing they did was to give the poor boy some pain relief, put him on a drip and ask him to get back to me to discuss the way forward. Learning that he’d been incredibly stoic and that his owner was devoted to him, we wanted to give him a chance if the vets thought he could come through it without too much pain but, leaving that decision with them, it wasn’t long before it was resolved, because within a day or so, Master showed signs of septicaemia and was put to sleep.

Although situations like this happen more often than we’d like, we very seldom post such distressing things on our page, but I wanted to draw attention to the fact that even though we can’t always make things better for some of the desperate cases that come into us, the blessing of a humane end is as important as anything we do, bringing to an end the terrible pain, suffering and trauma that can often accompany the last days of those that have no access to any assistance.

RIP dear Master.

09/11/2024

Please help us help them 🐾

Please DM for details for local donations 🙏

07/11/2024

Please keep sharing...

There are millions of dogs in Zimbabwe and, in a failing economy where a lar… Lee John needs your support for RURAL DOGS IN ZIMBABWE URGENTLY NEED YOUR HELP!!

07/11/2024

Pablo S
MA Bl/T
DBW (Dog Bite Wounds) & Scrotal Ablation

Called to a dog that had been badly injured in a fight, Pablo’s owner told Tawanda that he’d been attacked while they were walking down the road, at which he’d taken off into the bush, only coming home 2 days later, with infection already starting to set into his nasty wound. With his sc***um ripped and his te**es exposed, the poor boy was obviously in a lot of pain and, collecting him from the side of the road, Tawanda took him straight into the vet, where he was admitted for a scrotal ablation. This entailed the removal of all the damaged tissue before his wound was repaired, with one little bit left open at the bottom of the sutures to allow for drainage.
Healing well, he was discharged within a day or two, wearing a very large Elizabethan collar to stop him removing his stitches and, instead of coming back to us for rehab until his antibiotics were finished and the stitches were ready to come out, Tawanda took him straight back to his owner – (who was delighted to have him home) because we had a couple of extremely dominant dogs in our kennels and didn’t want to risk another fight. And incidentally, realizing we desperately needed more individual kennels, and supported by a huge animal lover who’s donated a steel frame and roofing, we’ve started work on the foundations of another 4 kennels which, although temporarily on hold, will make things much easier when they’re completed.

04/11/2024

Please, please share far and wide ❤ 🐾 🐾

‘A Crisis is an Opportunity Riding a Dangerous Wind’ (Chinese Proverb)

The work we’re doing has been increasing daily, unsurprisingly, given that the property on our boundary is now a peri-urban sprawl with 35 000 households, and things have been very difficult recently because we’re seriously in arrears with our RAC vet bills, with the sheer volume of animals in need of treatment every month making them extremely substantial.

Many of you have followed us for years and we’re incredibly grateful for the huge kindness you’ve shown, so it’s not easy to tell you that after more than a decade of dedicated work with the desperate animals in our area, this has simply become too big for us now and we can no longer sustain RAC on our own.

Having said that, there’s no going back; we’ve seen their pain and, unable to turn away the broken dogs that come for help when they’ve been hit by cars or had their testicles ripped out by dogs (like Pablo who’s no longer in pain and has a future, and Brownie, whose leg is healing) our position is more precarious than ever and we were incredibly touched when a very special animal lover came forward and offered to put out a GoFundMe for RAC, which we’re praying will allow us to continue doing what needs to be done. And so I’ve asked Adrianne to post it here, and we’d be very grateful to you if you could help us by spreading it as far afield as you can, while I do my best to post our doggy dramas more regularly, starting with Pablo and Brownie’s photos.

Thank you for your huge hearts – we’re all kindred spirits on this group - and your support means more to us than you’ll ever know - with love and light as we ride the wind!!

There are millions of dogs in Zimbabwe and, in a failing economy where a lar… Lee John needs your support for RURAL DOGS IN ZIMBABWE URGENTLY NEED YOUR HELP!!

24/10/2024

Please be courageous enough to be THE VOICE 🙏

14/10/2024

💔

01/10/2024

A little insight into RAC...

16/09/2024

Boyka C
MA Fawn
Botched Home Neuter

Approached by a concerned neighbour about a dog in need of help, Tawanda accompanied her back to its home, where one glance was enough to ascertain that the poor boy had a hugely swollen sc***um – the result of an attempted elastic band castration, something that’s all too common out here. Luckily, they also managed to find a caretaker-cum-herdsman because the dog’s owner wasn’t around, and he was able to give Tawanda permission to take him to the vet – after catching him, that is - because, wary of people, Boyka was giving Tawanda a hard time; backing off, growling and baring his teeth whenever he was approached.
Once at the vet, he underwent surgery to remove the painfully infected ball that had swollen until the skin had split and, a few days later, a much happier, pain-free Boyka came back to us for rehab. Healing well, he put on some much needed weight and, almost 3 weeks after he’d been brought to our attention, Tawanda was once again able to take a very different boy home. Having said that, shortly after his return, he was diagnosed with TVT (latent, but complicated by the localized swelling before) and has since started on a course of 6 chemotherapy treatments, joining the weekly chemo run that Tawanda makes into town, so it’s just as well that they’re now the best of friends!!