DUKE THE HIGHWAY STAR

Folks, remember Duke? We rescued him from the DUKE highway a few months ago. He was knocked down by someone and left for dead. Thankfully we found him when we did...

He has undergone surgery and now has a metal plate and a steel rod in his leg. He has recovered incredibly well and is a super sweet playful 14 month old pup. He has already been neutered as well and is now ready to go to his forever home...

Would you be able to give him the home that he deserves? Please SMS or Whatsapp me at 016 322 8816 if you can. If you cannot please help share this post instead. 

Serious adopters only. He must be treated as part of the family and is not to be used as a guard dog, chained or caged unnecessarily.

 For more on Duke's story:
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/…

HERSHEY HAS FOUND HIS FOREVER HOME

 

Our gorgeous Hershey has finally found his forever home...

A huge thank you to Sheh Lin and Ivan 

for giving Hershey the home that he was praying for... 

For Hershey's story, please click the link below.
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10153636268291015&type=1&l=ed2dbe0bab

RABIES - VACCINATION IS THE ONLY WAY

It is very sad to see that there are a large number of people that are unaware of the concerted efforts that have been taken by animal welfare organisations as well as individuals to trap, vaccinate, spay and neuter, and rehome (as far as possible) or otherwise release these dogs to areas with designated feeders and carers.

Most of us use our own resources for this with no funding from the authorities because the authorities do not want to invest in long term, sustainable solutions to the stray management issue. Because if they did, then there would be no more strays for them to catch, and therefore there would be no more dog catching contractors and therefore no more money to be made.

Please bear in mind that the councils all over the country have been catching and killing dogs barbarically for years, and yet the stray population is rampant. I shall not go into the details of why it doesn't work in this thread but clearly this shows that catching and killing does not work to reduce the stray population at all.

This culling spree will do nothing to eradicate rabies. Mission rabies have been actively vaccinating dogs across the world to stop the spread of the disease.

There is alot of information on this on the Mission Rabies website, among many other websites, on how to stop rabies spreading.

Mission Rabies (http://www.missionrabies.com/) collaborates with many rescues centres, shelters and animal welfare organisations across the world, one of which is The Mayhew Animal Home in the UK, where I used to volunteer for 2 years previously. And during my time there, I have learnt many things, and one of which is disease control and stray population control, where it was very clear that mass cullings or even systematic culling will not resolve these issues.

"Killing dogs has been scientifically proven to have no effect on rabies transmission or overall population, since new dogs quickly move into the area where killing has taken place to take advantage of the increased food resources and territory. This mixing of new dogs may even increase the risk of rabies due to fighting over territory and mates.

By vaccinating at least 70% of a stable population of dogs in the local area, they act as a barrier to disease transmission and stop rabies in its tracks, this protecting the people in that area from the disease. A healthy, vaccinated street dog population is the best protection for people from rabies." - Mission Rabies

Additionally, instead of spreading fear, people should be made aware of two very important facts (source WHO - http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs099/en/), so that they are aware of what to do should they get bitten by a rabid animal.

1. Immediate wound cleansing with soap and water after contact with a suspect rabid animal can be life-saving.
2. Every year, more than 15 million people worldwide receive a post-bite vaccination to prevent the disease; this is estimated to prevent hundreds of thousands of rabies deaths annually.

RABIES, MASS VACCINATION TO ERADICATE DISEASE, NOT MASS CULLING

Edited: This is the version which I have emailed to CM Lim Guan Eng​

Perhaps if each one of us could write him an email as well as post on his Facebook page, we can make a difference.

Email address: limguaneng@penang.gov.my
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/cmlimguaneng?fref=ts
Facebook page of MBPP: https://www.facebook.com/Majlis-Bandaraya-Pulau-Pinang-MBPP-824716250937723/timeline/

**********************************************************************

Dear Mr Lim Guan Eng,

I understand that you are concerned about the spread of rabies in Penang, but I do hope that you will re-consider your call to destroy all stray dogs as this method has been proven time and again to be ineffective in curbing the spread of disease as you will not be able to catch all dogs that could be carrying the disease.

I would also like to ask if it has been confirmed that the rabies cases reported were in fact due to dog bites? Rabies is spread by many other animals including dogs and cats, and in particular wildlife such as bats.

Having worked for the The Mayhew Animal Home in the UK for 2 years and having been heavily involved in animal welfare and rescue work in Malaysia for many years, I am can assure you that mass culling of animals usually does little if not nothing to control to spread of the diseases.

In fact International Organisations such as WHO have promoted mass vaccinations of dogs when dealing with rabies outbreaks.

http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs099/en/

This method has proven to be more successful than culling and at the same time will provide long term immunity which will help eradicate the disease in the long run.

Additionally, I am not sure if you are aware but the dog catchers that have been employed by all councils in Malaysia use very cruel and inhumane methods to catch and kill the strays.

I sincerely hope that you will consider a more humane and sustainable method to curb the spread of this disease rather than ordering the mass culling of strays.

Regards,

Natasha Fernz
Animal Welfare Advocate

DUKE THE DOG

UPDATE: Apparently a friend of a friend saw Duke lying on the highway at 4pm!!! So that means he was knocked down even earlier (who knows what time), and was baked in the sun, and then drenched in the heavy rain, before we rescued him at about 7.30pm... ugh humans are the worse creatures on the face of this planet!

*************************************************

24/08/15 Nicole Lee Suresh and I have had a long week, with our rescued kittens and cats. And we were on the way home after a long day after we had dropped off a stray puppy that we had rescued earlier in the day for boarding.

As fate would have it, I ignored Waze's instructions to take a particular route and decided to take the DUKE as I was more familiar with that route, and lo and behold we spotted this boy lying by the side of the road. We would have not noticed him if he did not move, but thankfully he did.

It was raining and traffic was heavy, but we managed to stop the car safely. And of course, thankfully we had everything that we needed to get him - leashes, a muzzle, a thick towel, some dog food and a medium sized crate.

When we approached him, our heart broke. We do not know how long he was lying there in the rain and in pain. He looked at us mournfully and we knew we had to take him. We put out some food for him but he didn't want it. So we tried to leash him and he let us do it easily. He even let us put the muzzle on easily. And thankfully we had a muzzle because when we tried to move him he screamed in pain and tried to bite us. We knew then that something was hurting him very badly.

We wrapped him up in the towel and carried him into the crate. And put him in the car. We tried calling a few vets but we were sorely disappointed as all of them just said that they were closed. We tried one of the hospitals as well but they said they would only call the vet once we arrived - eventhough we told them that we would go there right away. On the one hand we understand why they do this, but on the other hand it means that there would be a delay of at least another hour after we arrived, and traffic was absolutely hideous last night.

Finally, we called our regular vet. We knew he closed at 6pm, and it was already 7.30pm when we picked up Duke. He immediately asked what was the condition of the dog, and after I explained, he told us to bring him to the clinic immediately and that he will be waiting for us. We should have just called him from the start, but he's an aging vet and we knew that he would already be exhausted by this time so that was why we tried other clinics and hospitals.
 
We finally arrived at 8.30pm and my vet was there waiting as promised. After a thorough examination, we suspect that Duke has at least a fracture on his left hind leg, and some trauma on his right hind leg. There was also quite a few lacerations on his body and the insides of his legs. As Duke was obviously in distress and in shock, our vet gave him a pain-killer jab, a shot of antibiotics and another shot for liver and kidney support. He also took blood to check his organ functions before he is sedated for x-rays and possible surgery. We are so grateful that our vet is so dedicated and committed to the welfare of the furry ones...

We are pretty certain that Duke belongs to someone as he was clean, had no ticks, well clipped nails and was actually very sweet and even affectionate.

We will keep everyone updated on Duke's progress but in the mean time, please share this with all your friends, as his owner's might be looking for him.

DENVER THE PUPPY

24/08/15 Nicole Lee Suresh spotted this little mite running round our housing area a few days ago. But when she approached him, he would run like the wind. I went looking for him on Friday night, and when I found him, he ran away too. He would run as soon as we got near him. We tried luring him with food but he was not interested. We gave up after a few hours and called it a night.

The next day, a neighbour told me that he saw the puppy and he tried to give him some food but the little fella ran away. We tried looking for him but didn't see him... 

 And then on Monday morning, when I was out walking my kids, he came out of nowhere and started trailing us. He was abit scared of my male dogs and also my beagle (who is quite feisty), so I quickly got my helper, to take the three of them in, while I kept Cleo with me.

He immediately came running up to Cleo and followed us home. He was very suspicious of humans though, and kept running out before I could close the gate. I had to keep going outside with Cleo to bring him back in and finally after about an hour, we got him inside.

But then came the tough part... He was really fearful of humans and was actually quite snappy and tried to bite us a few times. If it wasn't for my Cleo, I would never have been able to get him in the crate. What we did was put some food in the crate and tried to lure him into it, but he refused to go in.

We had to then get Cleo to stand by the side of the crate by herself before he would go in. After another hour, we finally managed to get him into the crate. 

We took him to the vet, and had a long wait as there was alot of people waiting to see him. Denver was very snappy and unco-operative. My poor old vet, had to sit on the floor for half an hour coaxing him to calm down. We couldn't do much, but at least we managed to get a good look at his wounds and skin condition. Our vet prescribed antibiotics and anti-fungal and told us to let him calm down for a few days before bringing him back again, as the poor mite was very stressed.

We brought him home and tried to settle him in. But unfortunately he did not like being in a cage and was making alot of noise. We couldn't let him free with our other dogs because of his skin condition and also we do not know if he has any other issues that might be contagious, and in the end we decided that we had to board him where he can recover a little before deciding what to do with him.

Hopefully, he will get better, and he will start to trust humans soon. We will be putting him up for adoption once he has recovered. Alternatively, if you think you could adopt him now and give him the home that he deserves, we would be really happy. He would do really well in a home with a calm, older dog. All he needs is to be shown some love and kindness and he will be a beautiful dog...

HERSHEY THE PUPPY

UPDATE: HERSHEY HAS BEEN ADOPTED

**************************************

15/08/15 We picked up Hershey the Chocolate Pup yesterday after receiving a call from a friend. He saw this little mite being abused by some of the foreign workers there. He told them to stop but he knew that it was not safe for Hershey to remain there. 

Apparently Hershey turned up in the back alley of some shop lots 3 days ago. Someone must have dumped him as he is super friendly and came running to us when we called him and gave us lots of kisses... This is not how a typical stray pup responds to humans.

We have taken him to the vet, and he has been dewormed and is being treated for a fungal infection of the skin. His condition has already improved alot. We will be looking after him till he is ready for adoption. 

Please do share this album with all your friends so that we can find Hershey a good and loving home. He's very friendly and loves the company of other dogs.

STAR THE MUMMY CAT HAS BEEN SPAYED

20/08/15 We released this #mamacat today. She was very #happy to be back outside. She was #spayed last week as part of our effort to reduce the #stray population in our area. #spay #neuter #nomorekittens #responsiblefeeding

SUNDAY THE CAT

22/08/15 We had just sent one of our kittens to her new home on Saturday afternoon, and thought that we could have a well deserved break... But that was not meant to be... This gorgeous ginger cat was dumped. Literally dumped outside Nicole Lee Suresh's house at about 10pm or so. He couldn't move and was just laying there on a big plastic bag! We took him in and noticed that he had some lacerations on his face and paws and also a couple of broken nails. We checked him and he didn't seem to be in a bad condition, but he couldn't move. After assessing the situation, we decided that he was not in immediate danger, and kept him cozy in a crate.

We took him to a vet in the morning - not our regular vet as he is closed on Sundays. And unfortunately, the vet that we saw was a trainee and didn't really do much. He had trouble even giving a pain-killer shot to the cat. 


Anyway we took Sunday home and made him as comfortable as possible. He seemed much perkier after a good night's sleep. He ate well and we took him to our regular vet on Monday morning.

He was checked thoroughly and our vet noticed immediately that he had a very bad stomache. He did a stool test and confirmed that Sunday the cat had hook-worms. Our vet thinks that he might have been knocked down by a motor-bike but that there was no obvious injury. He probably couldn't move that night because he was in shock.

He was dewormed and put on a course of antibiotics. We were told to cage-rest Sunday the Cat for a week at least and observe him carefully.

We still cannot believe how cruel and nasty people can be... We are not sure what really happened to Sunday the Cat, but the fact was that he was dumped! To the person who dumped Sunday - know that you will be punished severely for your cruel deed , one way or another.

But for now, Sunday the Cat is safe with us. He is a really sweet boy and loves to be cuddled and petted. We will be looking after him till he is all better, and then he will be neutered before he is either re-homed or released to be cared for as a community cat. If any of you think you would like to have this gorgeous cat in your life, please give us a buzz...

BOOTS, NALA & PATCHES

UPDATE: All 3 kittens have been adopted ***************************************

BOOTS - MALE

PATCHES - FEMALE

30/07/15 These 3 little mites were rescued from a backlane in our housing area. They were really thin, full of fleas and had bad tummies. They have since been dewormed, and their tummies are all better now. They have also received their first vaccination.

NALA - ADOPTED

Please let us know if you would like to adopt any of these gorgeous kittens. Ideally, we would prefer it if Boots & Patches are adopted together as they are very attached to each other.

TERMS AND CONDITIONS FOR ADOPTION

1.       There is no adoption fee, but a donation is welcome to defray the costs of deworming, vaccination, neutering, boarding and other medical costs.

2.       The cats MUST be spayed at 6 months of age. This is NON NEGOTIABLE. We will take the cat for spaying if required.

3.       Two home visits will be conducted by appointment after the cats are adopted to ensure their well-being.

4.       The cats should not be caged unnecessarily.

5.       The cats must be provided with sufficient food, water, exercise, medical care (if necessary), vaccinations etc, and must kept indoors.

6.        In the event that you are unable to care for your adopted cats, you must contact us to discuss their future options and you must care for the CATS until suitable arrangements can be made.

7.       YOU CANNOT ABANDON THE CATS OR SURRENDER THE CATS TO A SHELTER.