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Kathmandu Animal Treatment Centre
Spring, 2009
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Little Lotus Hearts is so pleased to share with you the latest news from KAT. We are also thrilled to announce the creation of a second animal welfare agency in Nepal, this one in Pokhara, called HART. Last but not least, we have a happy story of survival and transformation, as we bring you the life of Shoe, a sickly puppy who made it off the streets of Nepal into a happy home in Tucson, Arizona; see how handsome and healthy he is now!
KAT has a new manager, Anil Bajracharya, and communications officer, Prerna Rai, in training. We welcome them and look forward to getting to know them better! KAT continues to struggle with internet and electricity problems. They are on the waiting list (two months long) for a broadband connection through Nepal Telecom. In June they've put out a long awaited newsletter, which you can view here in PDF format.
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In April, Jan Salter of KAT emailed us to say they have been worried about Tara, their plucky little paraplegic dog we sponsor, who had been doing poorly. (Previous features on Tara here and here.)
Earlier this month Jan emailed again with this encouraging update on Tara:
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"Tara has indeed been very ill. In fact, an Australian volunteer vet prepared me for the worst. But I could see that there was still a lot of fight in her and she was not giving up. Because of weakness, she could not lift her back-end off the ground in the way she normally managed so well before, so large areas of her back-end and tail had developed very nasty open sore areas. Being constantly wet from urination inflamed the problem.
I decided to bring her home for the extra special constant care that was needed. Now after a week, Tara is completely back to her old self! The sores on her back-end have been very difficult to treat, due to wetness, but with night time vigilance and contact drying, the sores are now almost cured. She now rules the roost over my other 5 dogs!
I have ordered a wheelchair for her, as I think she is getting weaker from old age now and this recent illness. It should be ready after a few weeks.
There is a wonderful man here 'Shanker' that can make wheel chairs for dogs. He makes wheel-chairs for humans. He made one previously for Tara, based on a proto type brought from US, but Tara hated it.
Since then, he has invented his own style of wheelchair which he designed for another KAT dog, 'Singhy'. (We found a home for Singhy; she is now in Canada.) This wheel-chair he made for Singhy was very light and much better than anything we have seen made in the west! So this time I hope that Tara will accept and adjust to this new design. Let’s see. Keep your fingers and toes crossed."
Little Lotus Hearts will keep you posted on Tara and her new wheelchair when it comes.
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Pokhara animal treatment centre to open.
Welcome HART!
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Nepal will soon have another welfare agency, the Himalayan Animal Treatment Centre (HART), located in Pokhara, Nepal’s second city. The property, a former chicken farm, has already been chosen and has several existing sheds and outbuildings that will be useful.
HART will implement programs that have already proven successful at Nepal’s pioneering animal welfare agency, KAT, such as the ABC program for street dogs. The ABC program sterilizes each dog, vaccinates for Rabies, and treats for any other health issues found. The dog is then returned to where it was found unless it is too injured or unwell to survive on the streets.
Pokhara is currently concerned about Rabies, so HART’s ABC program will be a timely and humane solution for the community. HART will present a strong humane education program for schools, colleges, and the community at large. HART also plans to visit all three of the Tibetan settlements in the area to offer clinics for their dogs.
Nepal has many animals in need. Our great wish is one day to have animal welfare centers throughout Nepal.
If you would like to help HART or KAT with a financial donation, you can do so through Paypal here. Specify KAT or HART or let the money be distributed where the greatest need is at the moment. Or, you can send a check to:
HAT UK (the umbrella charity registered in the UK)
The Little Manor
Tytherington Lane
Bollington
Cheshire
SK10 2 JS
U.K.
We will share the link to HART once they have completed their website, and will keep you updated on construction and other developments on the new center.
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One Nepali dog's story: Shoe comes to Arizona
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In February, 2007, Virginia LeBaron traveled to Kathmandu for work, and saw a puppy she couldn't leave behind. With the help of KAT, Shoe made it off the streets and into a wonderful home in Arizona, USA. Virginia sat down with Little Lotus Hearts and told us Shoe's story.
I am a nurse and I volunteer with the non-profit organization, The International Network for Cancer Treatment and Research (INCTR). We work in resource-constrained countries to help develop cancer control capacity. I volunteer specifically with the Palliative Access Program and primarily work on collaborative educational projects in Nepal, India, and Tanzania to help health care providers care for patients with advanced cancer.
Because of my work with INCTR, I have traveled to Kathmandu a number of times. I fell in love with Nepal the first time I visited which was in June, 2004—the kindhearted people, the delicious food, and the spiritual peace all made a lasting impression on me. I especially was drawn to Boudanath and it is probably my favorite place to visit in Kathmandu.
It is difficult to witness suffering, and it was hard for me to see people living in poverty and to see so many homeless animals in the street—especially dogs roaming around that looked very sick.
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We were conducting an educational workshop in an area just outside Kathmandu in February, 2007. I cannot recall the name of the complex, but it used to be a medical campus and had lots of buildings on a large plot of land. There were hundreds of stray dogs in this area. When we gathered for lunch many of the dogs came by, hoping for some scraps of food. In the canteen, I saw a very tiny puppy, about the size of a teacup, struggling to walk and trying to reach his mother’s breast for food. This puppy was clearly the runt of the litter—and the other dogs were fighting him and chasing him away. He was so tiny, and one of his back legs was not working well and his eyes were runny. But despite all of this, he had a very bright look in his eyes, something very special. People were giving the dogs, including this puppy, some rice and food which they gobbled up very quickly.
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Shoe's bandy legs were caused by a serious calcium deficiency. He was also very underweight.
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When we returned to our classes, I couldn’t stop thinking about this little puppy. He was so weak I didn’t think he would survive the night, as it was getting quite cold. I made a decision to take him back to where we were staying so he wouldn’t have to die outside, fighting for food. After our classes were over, I found the little puppy sleeping in a cardboard box. I snuck him back into the hotel where we were staying. Down the street was a convenience store where I found some soft dog food and an eyedropper. At first, the puppy didn’t want to eat or drink anything. He wobbled around my room and promptly threw up. Eventually, though, he took some sugar water through the eye dropper and ate a small amount of the dog food. He slept and slept and slept, his favorite place to sleep was in my shoe. Hence, I named him Shoe. I didn’t think he would survive the first night. |
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| Each day I wasn’t sure if he would still be alive. Gradually, though, he became a bit stronger and started eating more. He was still very small and weak, though, and soon it was time for us to leave Kathmandu and I was very distressed because I didn’t know what to do. I couldn’t put him back on the street—he would never survive—but he was too small for me to try to take back home. |
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I found out about the Kathmandu Animal Treatment Center on the internet. I was desperate to try to find a safe place for Shoe to stay until he was strong enough for me to bring him back to the United States. By this time, I was very attached to little Shoe, and he had come so far. I spoke on the phone with Jan Salter, the director of KAT, and she suggested I bring Shoe by, they may be able to help. I took a taxicab out to KAT and met the staff there. They were very kind, but they warned me that Shoe was still very fragile and weak and may not survive. They agreed to keep him and try to rehabilitate him with the hope that he would be able to return to me when he was older and stronger. Shoe’s leg still wasn’t working very well and he was so, so small when I left him at KAT. The staff was wonderful and they emailed me frequent updates and I made a donation to the organization to help offset the cost of caring for Shoe.
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| Shoe (left in both photos) and another homeless pup, Leica, grow healthier and stronger under the care of Jan Salter and the KAT team. |
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Once I knew Shoe was safe at KAT, I began the process of looking into how I would bring him to the United States. Jan Salter was instrumental in making this happen. Having her in Nepal to coordinate things from that end was invaluable. I was already in the U.S. and I could not fly back to Nepal to get Shoe. So, Shoe traveled via Thai Air to Bangkok and then to L.A. where I drove to pick him up. Animals cannot fly internationally in the cabin, so Shoe had to travel in the cargo hold. I was very worried about this—after all Shoe had been through I did not want to further jeopardize his safety. Jan was very reassuring, and she made sure he had the right crate, and prepared the crate with enough water and food for the journey. Also, the staff of Thai Air was wonderful and called me with updates during Shoe’s travel. A lot of the logistics depend on the country that is accepting the animal. The U.S. does not have a mandatory quarantine period, unless an animal is visibly sick or ill. I did a lot of research on-line to make sure I had all the paperwork I needed, but again, Jan and KAT were very helpful in making sure I had everything I needed for U.S. Customs. Certainly, the whole process was not cheap, but it was a lot less money than I expected. It cost total $600 USD to bring Shoe to the United States. The majority of this money was for the plane fare. There are people who pay more than this for pure bred dogs, and so I felt this money was a contribution towards rescuing a very special dog. |
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| Shoe arrives in Los Angeles (left). Shoe stops at Joshua Tree National Park on his way from L.A. to Tucscon, Arizona (right). |
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I live in Tucson, Arizona which is in the Southwestern United States. I think Shoe has a very happy life here! He has the run of the house, and a dog door that leads outside to my backyard and patio. He goes in and out, in and out, all day. He loves to lie in the sun (when it’s not too hot) or in the shade of the patio when it’s warmer. He loves to chase and fetch his chew toys. He has become quite a celebrity in Tucson, as there are not many (any?) dogs from Nepal here. Sometimes people will ask me if he is part coyote. He is a very, very clever dog and participates in dog agility classes. A number of my friends have dogs and he loves to play with them as well. I also have a cat named Kiwi, and they get along very well. I continue my work with INCTR and hope to get back to Nepal again soon. Shoe is a wonderful addition to my life, and I am so grateful that KAT helped me rehabilitate Shoe and facilitated his travel to the U.S. I continue to support KAT and its mission to help animals in Nepal.
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| Shoe enjoying the human bed in Arizona. |
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| Little Lotus Hearts would like to thank Virginia for sharing Shoe's story! And thank everyone at KAT, especially Jan Salter, for making Shoe's rescue possible. |
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| Virginia enjoying Nepal, and a beautiful stupa in Nepal, photographed by Virginia. |
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