Animal help in the Dominican Republic - for a better cooperation between humans and animals
New ways to new hope ...
Dear animal-friends,
you have had to wait a little longer for a new newsletter, but there are just too many patients who have to be looked after and so the administrative work has had to wait...
Ever since our big castration campaign, there have been a great many changes within the population. Whenever I drive through Las Terrenas and its surroundings, people stop me and ask me to have a look at their animals. Often it's just small things the animals need, such as deworming, remedies against dermal parasites or just some explanation about correct feeding. Unfortunately there are also difficult cases. Additionally there are still many female dogs we haven’t castrated yet.
In the same way I was called upon by some tourists who had found a dog with her seven puppies in an empty hotel at the beach – the dog-family was living there between litter and debris... Our friend Marina and I started to clean up, we gave them fresh water- and foodbowls, tended to all of the dogs with deworming and food. Marina lives near-by and was therefore able to feed their hungry mouths twice a day. And of course we started looking for suitable families to find a home for all of them. The four little male dogs were picked up quickly, so three little females and mother Isabella remained. I found families for them down in our village – very poor but animal-friendly people. To make sure all dogs get enough to eat, we bring them a sack of dry feed every week and at the same time monitor their health.
Unfortunately one of the little females vanished without a trace, but the rest of them are doing fine. Their castration was still pending; nearly nobody takes in a female dog that hasn’t been castrated. So we asked vetinarian Dr Angel July De La Cruz from Sosua for help and two weeks ago Isabella and two of her daughters were castrated.
Strangely enough we lately got a couple of patients in that had paralytic symptoms. A woman from our village asked me to take a look at her male dog, who had been paralysed for some days without any obvious reason, he couldn’t even lift his head. We took “Knoedel” with us and advised with our homoeopathic veterinarian in Germany about the possible reasons for the paralysis. Everything suggested a heavy metal poisoning. If you are wondering how that could have happened, well, over here they use pesticides which are long forbidden in Europe and the USA because of their toxic impact – here they go about with them as if they were sugar-water.
Knoedel got homoeopathic remedies and we did rehab-exercises with him all the time. After three days he was able to stand again (though a bit shakily), on day five he made his first careful attempts to walk and on day eight he was even able to lift a leg to pee ;-) After ten days we were able to bring him back to his family completely cured, on day twelve he felt strong enough to run all the way from the village up the hill to our place – since that day he comes over every night and we drive him home in the morning...
The next paralysed patient was “Teddybaer”, a German Shepherd-Rottweiler-mongrel, whose hind legs were completely paralysed. Since this had been the case for quite a while, he hardly had any musculature left there. He too got homoeopathic remedies and a special rehab- programm fitted to his needs. We were able to improve his general condition considerably, but the paralysis in his hind legs persisted. We also got slight paralytic symptoms in our backs, because Teddy is neither a small nor a light dog and the rehab-excercises demanded our whole sportive dedication...
Therefore we decided to make him a trolley, so that he could stay mobile and enjoy life. His owner (a dutchman), a german and an american friend made it with Buschi – at the end of this multinational co-work Teddy could proudly take possesion of his trolley and he instantly shot off with it...
In addition to the treatment of sick animals, castrations are still the most important part of our work. Thanks to a generous contributer we could, as already mentioned, accomplish another little castration-campaign with veterianrian Dr Angel July De La Cruz.
Not only Isabella and her daughters were castrated, but also four other female dogs (one of them much advanced in pregnacy!) and a male dog, who had already been on the waiting list.
And because there are still many uncastrated stray dogs in Las Terrenas and its surroundings and because the interest of the Dominicans in having their animals operated isn’t breaking off, we decided with Dr De La Cruz to start a little campaign with about ten female dogs once a month. For this our mobile animal clinic will be on the parking lot of the “Pet Shop” (Angel's shop for pet supplies here in Las Terrenas) every first Saturday of a month. This way we can also urge the people to buy adequate food or parasite remedies etc. right away.
Moreover I am hoping to find some help with consults and general provisions. Because in the long run I simply will not have the time or the physical constitution to save all of the animals single-handedly...
Of course such campaigns are only a drop in the bucket and we would like to start a bigger one at the end of the year with Thomas, Ines and Nina from the “Tieraerztepool”. But for that we need donations (we need them for the monthly campaigns, too of course...), because unfortunately we are short of money at present. Therefore we are appealing to you to help us – even small contributions can make a lot of difference over here and it would be a shame if we couldn't carry on with our work, now that the Dominicans are at last beginning to practice what we preach. Ending our work would mean a big setback for the well-being of all animals – please help us to avoid this happening, the animals need a lobby and nice people like you, who can make all this possible.
We thank you in the name of the Dominican animals
Miriam & Buschi
