Dumaguete Animal Sanctuary

Every Life Matters

RIP

Hygieia

Hygieia

On 20 March 2022, w bought in a puppy showing signs of distemper. She was spotted by Marites and bought in by Miles, both long-time supporters of DAS, who will drop whatever they are doing to rescue an animal in distress. After assessment at the Sanctuary, Faith and her family agreed to take her in, with vetinary support from us.
Faith's daughter Ella named her Hygieia, Greek goddess of health, and thanks to them all, little Hygieia had a chance.
 

Hygieia

Under the care of the family and our veterinary assistants Rudylyn and Jerome, her twitching subsided, and her appetite grew. She was weak but was not crying or in any obvious further distress. We managed to source a Distemper antibody called Canglob D from Cebu, and with some kind donations, and yet another of our supporters Blake, we managed to get it flown over. We hoped the Canglob D would help her build a stronger immune response against the virus.

Dex

Dex

Canglob D

Canglob D

Sadly, it was all just too late. Ideally the Canglob D injections should be done before neurological symptoms were present but we wanted to try everything we could. During the night of 24 March, she started having full body seizures, a sign that the virus was attacking her brain. She continued to have seizures throughout the night and by the following morning they were non-stop, her body was becoming stiff and it was clear to us that it was time to let her go, so we put her to sleep on Friday 25 March 2022.

She was surrounded by love for the last week of her life. Faith, Ella, Christian and the cats were with her round the clock, staying with her through the nights, talking to her, stroking her and willing her to survive. It just wasn't to be.

We want to thank everyone who tried to help this little girl - those who donated, Marites who was feeding her on the street, Miles for going to pick her up and bring her to DAS, Blake for flying over from Cebu with the meds, and of course Faith and family who did so much for her (and also for refusing to take the money we gave them to look after her.)

Run free Little one, I hope you know we all loved you and did our very best to save you

Saffy

Saffy

On 11 March 2022 we had reports of this poor soul - very weak and just hit by a car. Despite being really full right now we couldn't leave him. One of our long-term foster parents and adopter Matty reported him and with the help of another adopter Dana, organised transport to the Sanctuary. Matty and Dana named her Safari - meaning 'journey' in Swahili, and we shorted it to Saffy.

Saffy when rescued
Saffy being treated

Initial tests on Saffy showed she was negative for Distemper and Parvo, but positive for Anaplasma, meaning she was anemic, very dehydrated and couldn't walk. She also has an infection and has multiple abrasions on her body, and not forgetting TVT, poor thing.

We gave her every possible medication and also IV fluids and oxygen. Pierre believed she had Sepsis given all her symptoms especially the rapid breathing and infection she came in with.  She put up a fight, but went into respiratory distress on 13 March 2022 and despite our very best efforts we couldn't save her.
Run free Saffy, we are so sorry that we couldn't give you the life you deserved.

Saffy

Saffy

Seth

Seth

On 7 March 2022, one of our board members Wing Jardeleza and friends  

rescued this poor dog in a terrible state.  Despite the chronic malnutrition and obvious mange, he had low red blood cells, low platelets and high white blood cell count indicating infection, most likely Anaplasmosis, a tick-borne disease.

He wouldn't eat any dog food so we had to go and get him some chicken, which he ate.  We had an amazing response to appeals for funds to treat him, with over 700 USD ( 36,470 pesos) in the last 12 hours for his care and also someone sponsored his stay at the shelter for the next year.

He settled in at the Sanctuary, receiving a good scrub and probably the first decent meals he had in months.

Wes receiving a transfusion

Wes being rescued

Despite all this, it seems that we were just too late in intervening, as Seth passed away at around 5:30pm on 8 March 2022.  Our staff check on new rescues every hour and Rachelle went to check on him at 5:30. He had vomited string and plastic bags and choked on them. He must have been so hungry on the streets that he was eating anything.
He was still alive but unresponsive when she found him . Staff administered oxygen and CPR but couldn't revive him.

We take comfort in the fact that he had a couple of good meals before he died.  It's so distressing seeing these poor souls suffer as they do.  Rest in peace Seth.
We will use the funds we raised to rescue another dog in great need that has been reported to us.

Noel

Noel

After getting progressively weaker and weaker this month, Noel passed away on 13 February 2022.  Rescued on Christmas day 2021, he was an old dog, very thin and with multiple tumours. One tumour on his front leg was huge and very infected.

We spent the first two weeks preparing him as best we could for surgery by trying to reduce the infection. Then we removed all the external tumours. The next step was to build up his strength for chemotherapy. However, he never recovered from the bacterial infection he had and the surgery site was continually infected despite trying different antibiotics. Over the last week he became weaker and weaker – also likely due to the ehrlichia that he had. He passed away from septicemia.

Here is a beautiful picture Jonathan took of him just after his surgery when he was feeling better and clearly happy to have the large tumour removed.
Run free Noel – we are so so sorry we couldn’t save you.

Thank you to his sponsors who have been helping out with his treatment costs and sending him love from afar.  You can read more about Noel's story on his profile page.

Wes

Wes

On 5 February 2022, we

received multiple reports of this poor dog that was in the same spot for a number of days, covered in red ants and clearly not doing well.  X-rays and inspection at Animal Wellness revealed a fractured pelvis, kidney disease, and concurrent infections of Erlichia and Aplasmia.

Wes when rescued

We called him Wes, and back at the Sanctuary we organised a blood transfusion to give him healthy blood from Jango.

Wes receiving a transfusion

Wes receiving a transfusion

Wes being rescued

Wes being rescued

He appeared to rally briefly, sitting up and eating a drinking a little, but the new blood could only sustain him for a few days.  He was unable to create blood cells for himself, and passed away during the night of 9 February 2022.

Rina and Rachelle were with him. He just stopped breathing at around 11pm.  At least he didn't die alone on the side of the road and hopefully he felt all the love. Rest in peace sweet boy.

Wes when rescued

Wes when rescued

Wes RIP

Wes RIP