Our Little Patients

Displaying pictures of just a few of the young ones in the Puppy Pen and the Kitten Ward. These are all stray animals brought in by some kind soul or the other because they have suffered an injury on the road or are showing some signs of serious sickness. Without exception, they are mostly all very young and the roadside is the most inhospitable place for them to be. Injuries and sickness is inevitable - usually from the entire litter, the strongest one will survive. The small pup being held so gently is in dire need of a loving touch. He is without his mother, the worst thing that can happen to a small animal. He has been deprived of the most important and nutritious food in the world, for him, his mother's milk. This is why, the very young usually don't even have a fighting chance of surviving for very long if they are sick. They have no immunity and are suseptible to all types of diseases. The small group fooling about, however, are survivors. The small black one in the forground has fully recovered and has since gone back to his locality and is being looked after by his well-wisher. The other two are also healing and go into play mode every day at intervals. We allow the little ones who are not infectious to get a little exercise in the middle of the enclosure where they play for some time. The kitten is quite healthy except for a small injury on one back leg. This type of patient has to leave the premises as quickly as possible to stay healthy and alive. We try to get such little ones adopted, making an effort practically on a war footing. Remember, we need a lot of help from our friends.

Accenture Group Visit to Deonar

We had a really large gathering in Deonar on this visit on Saturday, 25th Feb; forty in all. They toured the Centre, examining all our guests in the various enclosures, sat patiently through speeches about helping animals and what IDA India is all about, and then they enjoyed the best part, mingling with the cats, dogs, pups and kittens.
The pictures say it all. Is there any greater feeling than a small pup trying to lick your face? Check out the visitors to the blind and handicapped ward. The dogs loved them and made friends straight away, standing in line to be petted.
Some visitors enjoyed bathing a few of the dogs, and Lalu, our smiling poster boy, was ever ready to be "walked" on a leash!
You can see the whole group in the lovely picture, including some of our nosey parker doggies who love to get in the frame as well.

Volunteer Training Programme at Deonar Centre

On Sunday 19th Feb, we welcomed a lovely group of people at our Deonar Centre, all ready and willing to learn how to effectively improve their on-going efforts in animal welfare.
We had prepared lots of good material which we distributed to each participant, for instance, they got printed names and dosages for allopathic as well as homeopathic medicine which could be used for simple ailments when treating a local stray dog on the road itself. Dr. Nitin, our Head Vet demonstrated how to look for signs of ill health and so on. We thought and discussed of ways and means to improve the foster care and adoption programmes and why it was so important to see that every stray in Mumbai was finally sterilized and also vaccinated once every year.
To this end, we launched our new Mini-Census Project which depends largely on location of the volunteer and his/her interest in conducting this survey. Details of all local dogs of all ages will be entered in a small Register which was given to each participant. The survey radius will be around the locality within easy walking distance. With this we hope to keep tabs on all our community dogs and find out quickly who needs help or has to be spayed. Recently, we have had such sad cases come in due to simple neglect, that this inspired us to try and getting caring people involved in keeping a watch out for any animal in need. Hope it works out well.

Sara Fully Recovered

Remember Sara? She came to our Centre in a state of complete collapse. She was in the last stages of life. She was also accompanied by three tiny pups - her own! She had met with a horrific railway accident in which she had lost a major part of her front leg. The worst part of it was that the injury looked very old. Who knows what this dog suffered until she reached our Centre? Hard to even imagine.
The staff was so concerned for her that she got all the TLC, nutrition and medical treatment she required to get well enough for her operation. The front leg had to be amputated and when she had recovered enough, the op was completed.
We were quite nervous to see how she would recover from the operation itself, but Sara is one strong dog. She has bounced back. The wound is completely healed and she moves around the Centre with the greatest of ease. From the pictures, you can see what an exceptional dog she is. She is just beautiful, you never saw such eyes. She is also elegant and strong after her terrible ordeal. It is a pleasure to take care of all her needs. Her one surviving pup, Jojo is doing well also. At present he is in foster care.

Mom and Pups at Deonar

This is one super mom. Her little ones have been so well looked after inspite of the fact that she has been at our Centre, somewhat confined, for about a month. The first male got adopted last week and the second went to his new home yesterday. He's the handome brown pup standing by himself for the photo op. You can see the lovely little female, the biggest of the lot of the three bouncing babies. She is also the most playful and naughty and is still with mom, who is not complaining! Do hope we get a truly wonderful home for her as well.