GM, Viper and Oprah

Three dogs rescued by our affiliate in the western Visayas, the Aklan Animal Rehabilitation and Rescue Center, as told in their own words:

L to R: GM, Viper, Oprah as found

"Although they are unrelated, the fate of these dogs is intertwined. It all started one evening in Kalibo, Barangay Andagao when I drove home and I saw “something” scurry into the shrubs near a house. Was that a mangy dog in bad shape??? After a few years of animal rescue, I have become very inquisitive so I decided to check it out. Unfortunately, my guess was right. A female dog, still very young, nervously tried to stay out of sight. The “owners”, who claimed to be just “neighbours” as they often do to stay out of trouble, said that the had been feeding the dog for a few months but that they would be glad to see the back of it. I promised to come back for it soon. Back home I conferred with the two volunteers that were helping us at that time, Sanne and Bernard. We decided to go get her right that moment, so we grabbed the catch pole, gloves and a leash and soon after, “GM” as we named her, was safely into our custody. Only the next morning it became apparent how bad her condition was: her fur was totally gone and her skin had started to keritinise, a reaction to the damage the mites do to the hair follicles. She was undernourished and very shy. After a quick phone call to the vets at Aklan State University (ASU), we put her in a transport kennel to take her to them. 

"When we drove through the town of Banga, close to the ASU campus, we ran into one of the vets and we stopped to speak with him about his patient for that day, GM. As we were talking, we noticed an old dog limping around in the street ahead of us. He was also very mangy and of course we decided to rescue him too. Not having room for two dogs (we didn't have a spare kennel in the car), Sanne and Bernard carried the emaciated old timer some 2 km to the ASU veterinary unit, while I took GM there in the car. Would you believe that just around the corner, I rescued a totally exhausted cat lying in the middle of the road! The cat was extremely anemic but was saved and released again after a month. This was turning out to be some ride!

"Both GM and Viper were diagnosed to have demodectic mange, which can usually be treated succesfully with a combination of a few shots of ivermectine 10 days apart, a healthy, vitamin rich diet and a good wash down with sulphur soap every 3 days. 3 months later, both GM and Viper have shown good signs of recovery. GM a little more so than Viper because of her age of only 3-4 months when we found her, as opposed to Viper who we estimate to be around 10.

"Oprah's story starts in the week after I left for Europe and Sanne and Bernard took Viper for his repeat ivermectin shot and check-up. They found her in exactly the same spot where we had encountered Viper a number of weeks before. Later, it turned out that there was a perfectly good reason for this: both Viper and Oprah used to live in the beautiful mansion in that street, owned by a medic. Despite his profession, this medic had abandoned them as he probably thought they were too dirty and contageous to touch. Oprah was an extremely fearful dog. Her mange was not yet as bad as that of Viper, but she was more emaciated. Sanne and Bernard managed to nurse Oprah back to health, although she confined herself to her own kennel, keeping completely to herself with only Viper as occasional company. But unfortunately Sanne and Bernard had to leave, so it was up to our next volunteer, Nicky, to try and draw Oprah out. With lots of love and patience and armed with cans of tasty food, she gained Oprah's trust and slowly but surely, Oprah's confidence grew. Now, she's a much happier dog. Her mange is cured and she has become a social dog, looking after our 3 puppies."

L to R: GM, Viper, Oprah. Look at them now!