The KAT Centre's December 2011 Newsletter

Dear friends,

I’m enthusiastic about sharing this newsletter with you, which includes some heartwarming success stories and news about our exciting project to build a new, permanent KAT Centre.

You make these success stories possible! All of the KAT Centre’s programs depend on contributions from people like you. In addition to much-needed donations, you have provided encouragement, contributed time and effort, and told your friends and families about our work, and we’re deeply grateful.

KAT works very efficiently – 86% of the donations we receive go directly to treating street dogs and cats and educating our community about animal welfare.

This holiday season, please consider giving what you can to help us rescue animals in need and create a healthy dog population in Kathmandu. Your gift of £60, US$100, or NRs 7000 will provide essential treatment for a severely ill street dog, and £12, US$20, or NRs 1500 will enable us to free a dog from constantly being pregnant or nursing puppies.

Additionally, we would love to count you among our regular supporters. It’s easy to set up monthly donations and give the KAT Centre funds we can depend on to continue our work.

All best wishes,
Jan Salter
Founder, KAT Centre

Love at First Sight…?

Most dogs with disabilities don’t survive on the streets of Kathmandu. But sometimes the compassion of a couple of people saves a life.

Kiran Tuladhar noticed yet another dog with a litter of puppies on the street in his neighbourhood in Kathmandu. It upset him to see even more dogs struggling to survive. As he watched the pups, who were less than a month old, he noticed that one kept stumbling and tripping over things. In fact, she’s almost completely blind.

Kiran couldn’t let the dog be neglected and eventually starve, so he brought her into his home. He and his family gave her constant loving care, and although they soon grew to love the little dog, he knew they couldn’t keep her forever. Once the puppy was five months old and didn’t need as much attention, he sadly brought her to the KAT Centre in hope that she would be adopted. She fit right in at KAT and quickly learned to feel her way around the Centre, only occasionally bumping into things.

Very few people in Nepal adopt street dogs, and animals with special needs are especially hard to find homes for, so we expected to shelter the puppy for a long time. But just a couple days later, a young Canadian woman named Ceilidhe Waugh came to the KAT Centre planning to adopt an animal who had very little chance of being given a permanent home by anyone else. As soon as she entered the Centre, a joyful little dog ran up to greet her. It was as close to love at first sight as anyone is ever likely to see – even though the dog couldn’t see at all. Within a couple hours, they formed a very close bond.

After bringing the dog home, Ceilidhe said, “She has no fear. She has figured out her way around the yard and the house brilliantly. Very few people believe that she’s blind when they meet her. In fact, she runs at full speed around the garden and barely misses a step – although she has fallen into the fountain a couple of times.”

Help Us Build a Permanent KAT Centre!

KAT’s main goals are to bring our Animal Birth Control and Rescue & Treatment programmes to the entire Kathmandu Valley and eliminate rabies from the Valley. Working from a rented property in the northern Kathmandu Valley, we have extended our project area throughout the city of Kathmandu inside the Ring Road (which encircles the urban area).

A property in the scenic village of Godavari in the southern Kathmandu Valley was donated to KAT, and now we’re asking you to help us build a treatment centre on this land. This new, permanent centre is the key to rescuing and sterilising animals in need throughout the Kathmandu Valley.

If you want to support this important capital investment, please contact us at KATinfo@katcentre.org.np. You can sponsor a specific part of the project, such as dog kennels, cat housing, or the operating room. Naming opportunities are available.

A Tiny Pup in a Shoebox Survives Against the Odds

The KAT Centre received a phone call a couple months ago about a female dog living on the street with a litter of tiny newborn puppies. Although we have sterilised more than 12,000 dogs in Kathmandu, this is still, sadly, a common occurrence. But this was different – the caller said the mother had rejected the smallest puppy in her litter and even gave her a brutal bite when she tried to get milk. Since this pup clearly wouldn’t survive on her own, the caller wanted to bring her to us.

He brought us a shoebox containing what looked like a tiny teddy bear. The odds are against such a young, helpless puppy without a mother to feed her – she’s very vulnerable to disease, she would need to be fed every couple hours all night and day, and it isn’t possible to buy proper puppy formula in Nepal. However, KAT’s dedicated volunteers came to the rescue and made a commitment to foster the pup in their homes – no matter how little sleep they would get! They carefully watched her health, always kept her warm, and fed her a special diet of infant milk powder, egg yolk, yoghurt, and water. Simona brought her home from KAT every afternoon in a basket so she could feed her all through the night.

For the first few days, the tiny dog just lay in her shoebox, curled up in a towel. She looked pretty lifeless and we were worried that she might not survive. But she was always eager to be fed and grew quickly, and her bite wound began to heal. It didn’t take long before she was eager to crawl out of the box and explore her surroundings, even though she was still too young to be able to even see what was around her. Viktoria named her Auris, which comes from the Latin word for gold.

When Simona returned home to Switzerland, Viktoria began bringing Auris home every night. “I have taken over the mother duty for this little pup,” she said. “There are changes every day – she is exploring our garden and can now climb steps, although she is still a bit afraid to jump down. We have a lot of fun with her!”

Eventually Viktoria and her husband Martin realized that their home would feel awfully empty without the puppy. “I started crying when I was thinking about giving her away,” said Viktoria. They gave up trying to find someone else to adopt her and decided to make her a permanent part of their lives. “We would never think again of giving her up! She belongs to us and we belong to her.”

The KAT Centre has many, many other puppies and adult dogs who need loving homes. Please come to KAT and help us create more happy endings like Auris’s!

Sponsor a Rescued Animal or a Kennel at KAT

Ruby, Winnie, and Max hope you will sponsor them!

Sponsor a kennel at the KAT Centre – support the medicine, food, and loving care for all the dogs who live in that kennel throughout the year!

Sponsor a dog – support one of the stray animals we have rescued who now lives at KAT because they can't adapt to street life again, often due to disabilities or chronic illnesses.

Sponsor the treatment of an animal in severe need. Make it possible for KAT to rescue an animal completely covered in mange, suffering from severe injuries, or worse. You can name the animal you sponsor!

A sponsorship is also a unique and heartwarming gift for a friend or relative. We will regularly send updates with photos of the animals you support.

Learn more about how you can help KAT save lives!

How Does KAT Spend Your Donations?

The KAT Centre is a 'no frills' organisation that works as efficiently as possible. We spend 86% of your contributions on our programs to treat animals and educate the public; only 14% is spent on administrative costs.

Because we value financial transparency, we want to share our income and expenses from our last fiscal year (July 2010 to July 2011):
     
     

• Money goes far in Nepal – see the impact your donation can make
• Join us on Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube – get the latest news, photos, and videos about KAT and the animals we rescue!
• Learn about volunteering at the Centre!

You can help stray dogs in Nepal - forward this email to your friends, ask them to sign up for our newsletters, and invite them to visit our shelter or our website: www.KATCentre.org.np.