4ourPaws Animal Shelter

10 FEBRUARY 2011 - LATEST RESCUE CASE - PUPPY WITH SPLIT PAW

Today we bring you the story of “the puppy with the split open foot” as well as news of our upcoming SAINTs book sales and exciting new colours in tshirts

At the end of last year, December 2011, we came across this poor puppy and her 4 siblings at a shack in Diepsloot Township. Her left back foot was completely split open and although the wound was already healed, her toes were loose from her foot, which caused her great difficulty with walking.

Our vet decided that she was too young and it was too soon to amputate her leg and suggested that we wait 1 - 2 months to see how she progressed before making a decision.

Ilse Claase, who was volunteering at our shelter when this puppy and her siblings were brought in by our fieldworkers, immediately offered to foster this puppy until we can find a good home for her. But, Ilse has fallen in love with this puppy in the meantime and has decided to give her a permanent home! Our sincere thanks to Ilse for giving this special girl such a wonderful life, after she has suffered so terribly in her short life.

30 NOVEMBER 2011 - LATEST RESCUE CASE - BLIND CAT

A while back, we shared with you the sad story about the colony of feral cats on a dairy farm in Benoni. The management do not want the cats and as a result the cats are not being fed and have to fend for themselves. We managed to trap most of the cats and kittens and found safe places for them to go.

On a recent visit to this farm, we discovered this poor, beautiful Siamese cross in a shocking condition! She is severely emaciated and malnourished and her coat is very matted and dirty.

We took her to our vet, dr Shelagh Hahn, who confirmed that she is completely blind in both eyes! She would not have survived much longer, had we not found her.

She is now recovering in our vet’s care where she is on a special diet, until she will be strong enough to be sterilized. This beautiful girl is an extremely affectionate cat and we believe that she once belonged to a family, but got dumped when she turned blind.

As soon as she has made a full recovery, this special kitty is going to need a very special home! Please contact us if you can give her a good, loving home.

As always, we are in desperate need of funds for her medical bills and care, as well as for all the other animals in our care. Please help us to help them by making a kind donation.

03 October 2011 - Rescued puppy

We recently discovered this poor, badly injured boy in Diepsloot squatter camp. We took him to our vet, Dr Shelagh Hahn, who confirmed that he must have been hit by a car, SEVERAL days before we finally found him!

Dr Hahn informed us that the right front leg was just too badly injured to try and save it and decided to amputate the leg. He was however, severely dehydrated, so she could not operate on him immediately. He had to go on a drip for 24 hours before he was strong enough to undergo this major surgery.

Fortunately this very sweet puppy made it fine through the operation and is now on the road to recovery! As soon as he has made a full recovery, he is going to need a very good home. Please contact us if you can offer him a home.

We are in desperate need of funds for his medical bills, please help us by making a kind donation or supporting one of our various fundraising initiatives. Banking details are available on the DONATIONS page.

RESCUE CASE - 25 JULY 2011

We were contacted for our assistance by Dawn Beckett, who had serious concerns about a black Daschund that was given by a dog owner to a domestic worker. On arrival, we found the emaciated Daschund, covered in fleas, with one puppy. We were told that the other puppy died. The remaining puppy showed signs of malnutrition and severe worms (very bloated tummy). There was NO proper shelter for them, only a piece of corrugated iron that obviously could not protect them from any of the elements such as rain, wind or cold. Since Dawn had already negotiated to buy the dogs from the domestic worker, we handed over the money and took the dogs.

The original dog owner placed the dog in a situation where the new owner could not afford to feed her proper dog food, de-worm her, de-flea her, supply a proper kennel or have her sterilized and as a result she and her two puppies SUFFERED – one of them to the point of death! Please also see a picture of both (below), where the mommy dog’s spine bones are clearly visible.

We desperately need a loving home for these two very special dogs, preferably together as they are inseparable and keep on comforting each other!

The dogs are now recovering at our vet, dr Shelagh Hahn.


Mommy with her spine showing - a shattering thought!	Little baby - saved at last.

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RESCUE CASE - 25 JULY 2011

PLEASE MEET MILO (pictures below).

Milo, like we have named him, was locked in a cage where he could hardly stand up. Inside the cage was a overturned bowl and a blanket, ripped to pieces. According to the neighbours, they have not seen the owners for the last TWO DAYS!

Milo is a beautiful, energetic dog, only five months old. He is now in boarding kennels and also looking for a loving home. He is sterilized, de-wormed and vaccinated.


A severely mistreated and malnourished Milo	A rather sad looking face - wondering what he did to deserve this.

BADLY INJURED DOG IN LION PARK AREA

Two of our recent cases (please scroll past the cat picture if you are a sensitive viewer).

We recently came across this badly injured dog in Lion Park Township. He had a large chunk missing on his back, most probably human inflicted. Fortunately our vet, Dr Grant Craig, managed to stretch the skin and stitch up the wound, and he is well on his way to recovery!

We also received a phone call from a member of the public about a very badly injured feral cat that appeared at their offices. The cat was obviously in a great deal of pain, but being a feral cat, they could not get close to it. We went out with our cat traps, but he just would not go into the trap. Fortunately our dedicated staff managed after a few hours to corner the cat and caught it with a blanket.

The cat had a very large open wound on his back from his neck to his tail. Fortunately our vet, Dr Shelagh Hahn managed to stitch up the wound and we took him to our shelter to recover. Two weeks later, we took him back to our vet for a check-up.

His wound had healed almost completely, but to our despair, his body went into shock from the anesthetics and he died. Although this broke our hearts, we take comfort in one thing: at least HE DID NOT DIE A SLOW, HORRIFIC DEATH FROM HIS INJURIES IN THE COLD WEATHER ON THE STREETS! The last 2 weeks of his life he had food, fresh water and a warm bed every day! Sadly these are just two of the types of cases that we deal with all the time.

If you are able to offer a home to one our dogs or cats, please email us. We always have animals looking for loving, forever homes.

We are always in desperate need of funds for all these animals medical bills, as well as for all our shelter animals, please help us by making a kind donation or supporting our fundraising initiatives (SEE OUR DONATIONS AND EVENTS PAGE). We also desperately need dog and cat food for all our shelter animals.

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THREE-LEGGED STAFFIE

We recently came across this poor Staffie in Diepsloot squatter camp. He was shaking terribly and on closer inspection, we realized that he could not stand on his front leg. We took him to our vet, Dr Shelagh Hahn, who confirmed that he had SEVERAL broken ribs and that his front right leg was very badly broken in MANY different places! She also confirmed that whatever happened to him, happened some time ago, so this poor dog had been in the most excruciating pain for who knows how long!

Dr Hahn informed us that the leg was just too badly broken to try and save it and decided to amputate the leg.

His ears had also been cut off, most probably a self done job with a knife or scissors. We suspect that he had been used for fighting.

Fortunately this sweet, strong boy made it fine through the operation and is now on the road to recovery! As soon as he has made a full recovery, he is going to need a very good home. Please contact us if you can offer him a home. We urge people not to give their pets to their domestic staff who live in Townships! They simply do not have the finances or transport to provide their animals with health care or veterinary treatments.

We are in desperate need of funds for his medical bills, please help us by making a kind donation or supporting our fundraising initiatives (see below) and please forward this email to all your friends and family? We also desperately need dog and cat food for all our shelter animals.

Banking details:

FOUR PAWS
Nedbank, Fourways
Branch code: 168405
Acc no: 1684110750

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MIRACLE KITTEN!

Read about our latest find - a true miracle kitten.....read more....

BRAVE BOY!
On a recent visit to Video Centre Township, we came across this injured German Shepherd cross. We were not sure what had caused the severe wound on the dog, but it was confirmed by our vet, Dr Shelagh Hahn, that the dog had been SHOT!? This poor dog had been in such severe pain and agony until we finally discovered him. His condition was really serious and we were not sure if he was going to survive. Dr Hahn explained that the bullet had caused a huge amount of tissue damage, especially to the muscle and it kept on forming blood clots. The wound also kept on bleeding for many days before it eventually stopped. But, slowly but surely our brave boy started to heal.

He is now in desperate need of a loving home. Please contact us if you can offer him a home. We also need funds for all his medical expenses. Please help us by making a kind donation towards his vet bills. Then there are two other ways to help: you can donate your jumble, i.e. any good condition clothing, shoes, handbags, linen etc. as SAINTs has a jumble sale for our benefit at every book sale they hold (email Amy on saints@mweb.co.za for details). (They are also doing another book sale in aid of us at the end of April) The second way is to purchase a calendar from Judd & Clawds Helping Hands. VIEW THE CALENDAR ADVERT HERE. Please help us to help those who cannot speak for themselves! Banking details: Four Paws Nedbank, Fourways Branch code: 168405 Account number: 1684110750

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DOGS, CATS, PUPPIES AND KITTENS ALL NOW UP FOR ADOPTION TO LOVING PARENTS!...read more

BAPSFONTEIN DISASTER!

On a recent visit to Bapsfontein squattercamp (outside Bronkhorstspruit), we discovered that a large section of Bapsfontein had been demolished and that the people had moved away and left their dogs behind! The remaining residents told us that they were all informed that they have to move out of soon.

We managed to catch 14 dogs and puppies and took them to our shelter. Most of them are very traumatized and bewildered, and we had to use our dog traps to trap them. WE APPEAL TO YOU: PLEASE HELP US WITH FUNDS (all the dogs are being vaccinated, de-wormed sterilized and treated), blankets, food, bowls, etc!

We realized that we simply will not be able to accommodate all the Bapsfontein dogs and contacted CLAW (Community Led Animal Welfare) who in turn contacted Wetnose, and in a joint effort we went into Bapsfontein on 27 January, and managed to catch another 30 dogs and puppies! Our sincere thanks to Wetnose for taking these dogs into their shelter.

There are many residents with dogs still remaining in Bapsfontein, so there will be even more abandoned dogs in future. We will continue to carefully monitor the situation.

Please forward this to all your friends and family, perhaps they will be able to assist, kindly spread the word?

Banking details:
Four Paws
Nedbank, Fourways
Branch code: 168405
Account number: 1684110750

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