Dumaguete Animal Sanctuary

Every Life Matters

RIP

Roberto

Roberto

We have some really sad news - one of our beloved senior dogs, Roberto, passed away during emergency surgery on 11 May 2025.

Roberto

Roberto

A few days ago, we noticed that he had difficulty urinating so took him for an ultrasound. It was discovered that he had stones in his bladder and they were blocking his urethra. We had to do emergency surgery or he would die.
Because of his old age, we took him to Animal Wellness as they have gas anaesthesia, but he had a cardiac arrest when given the pre-anaesthesia injection.

Roberto adopted

Roberto adopted

We rescued Roberto in January 2024 after he was reported lying in the middle of a field in a heavy rainstorm. He was thin and had difficulty walking due to arthritis.  You can read more about him on his profile page here.

Its so sad that he didn't get to live in our new shelter in the senior house we will be building, but he did get a lot of love, care and safety for 15 months at the shelter. A much better outcome than dying alone in a field.
You can see the difference a year made to him when you compare his rescue pictures to the one taken a few weeks ago.

Roberto

Roberto

Roberto

Roberto

Thank you so much to Roberto's two sponsors, Ivy and Catherine, for sending him so much love, treats and providing for his medical and daily needs.
Run free Roberto - you were very much loved.

Ryder

Ryder

Ryder

Ryder

Little Ryder, rescued in November 2024, never seemed to put on the weight of his siblings Rylee and Raya.  With Distemper still making its presence felt, sadly this was too much for Ryder who passed suddenly on 8 February 2025.  


We are so sorry you didn't make it Ryder, but hopefully Rylee and Raya will continue to thrive, and maybe find the home you were never to see.

Ryder

Ryder

Tippi

Tippi

Our beautiful girl Tippi died on 1 March 2025.
We found her hobbling around the side of the road with one foot hacked off.  She was very thin but still incredibly feisty. We had plans to amputate her damaged leg once we had built up her strength.
Tragically, she contracted distemper in the December outbreak at the Sanctuary.
She came very close to death but fought and regained her strength. However, the virus had entered her brain and nervous system and she was left with the characteristic twitch.
This in itself is not a huge problem. Many dogs go on to live full quality lives.
But distemper can affect every organ, and in Tippi's case, over the next two weeks she deteriorated rapidly, and her twitching got much worse.

Tippi

Tippi

She was still eating a lot but not gaining weight. We did every test possible and consulted with a number of vets, but she wasn't getting better, despite giving her every medication available.
She passed away surrounded by the people she loved the most.
Thank you to everyone who donated for her and sent love to her, and especially to her sponsors Susana, Jo and Brandon
Run free, my sweet, sweet baby girl.
Forever in our hearts

More Dogs Fall to Distemper

More Dogs Fall to Distemper

2024's Distemper outbreak is still being felt in the new year.  Two more puppies, Gideon and Juniper died on 12 and 15 January 2025 respectively.

Gideon, male

Gideon, male

Juniper

Juniper

All of poor Glimmer's puppies have now died, which is beyond heart-breaking, for us and for her.

Noelle

Noelle

Noelle

Noelle

We tragically lost Noelle to Distemper on 15 January 2025.  We rescued her on Christmas Eve as she was reported with a fractured vertebra in her neck, likely after a hit and run.
She was starting to improve with laser therapy but sadly caught Distemper a week ago.
This is a death sentence for new rescues as their immune systems are already compromised and being strays they are unvaccinated. 

Noelle

Noelle

Even if we vaccinate, which we do, their immune systems cannot form an adequate response and the virus overwhelms it.
In our new Sanctuary, we will have so many protocols in place to prevent outbreaks but right now, given our lack of space, outbreaks are difficult to prevent.
We are giving every possible herbal and conventional medications possible to our rescues to help them through this.
We just couldn't save Noelle.
Run free sweet girl. We are so so sorry we couldn't save you.