STARVING, alone and abandoned at only a week old, puppies Tom and Jerry didn’t stand much of a chance of survival without a helping hand. Luckily, local resident and Puppy SOS founder, David Hanson, was on hand to save the duo. The pups were found dumped on the side of a busy road in Stanger, and the rest of the litter had allegedly been run over while trying to cross the road.
Hanson said the young pups were covered in mites when he found them.
“Their skin was crawling with mites. When I put them in the car the mites began jumping off the pups, there were even some in my eyebrows, and I had to disinfect the car when I got home. In the beginning they wouldn’t suckle so I had to force-feed them. Since then their recovery has been remarkable, and they are doing really well. They are now five weeks old and are being pups again, which is wonderful to see,” he said.
The local resident also started the Stanger Spay Campaign in the hopes of reducing the number of puppies.
“Invariably, because dog owners don’t get their dogs spayed, it causes a massive problem with hundreds of puppies being abandoned. While there are a number of animal rescue organisations serving the surrounding areas, there aren’t many that focus on the Stanger area. So I’ve asked a local resident in Stanger to help me out by picking up female dogs in the area to spay. It’s an area with a massive breeding problem,” he said.
Hanson is currently looking for a loving home for the duo, and urged residents to contact him.”I urge residents to e-mail me at puppysoskzn@gmail.com or visit our Puppy SOS KZN Facebook page. There are hundreds of puppies that need to find homes,” said Hanson.