When outreach workers with Sidewalk Specials in South Africa go out into villages, they often provide dog owners with the resources needed to keep their pets safe, healthy, and alive.
They offer families services, medications, and education for their pets, like sterilization, flea medicine, heart guard, and more. As an organization, Sidewalk Specials is on a mission to meet people where they are and offer resources that help owners become better pet parents.
While they try hard to keep pets with their owners when possible, there are often cases when the neglect is so bad that rehoming the dog is a much better option.
Sometimes the dog’s owners are resistant to the idea, but sometimes, they recognize that their pets aren’t being cared for and they welcome the help – even if it means saying goodbye to their pet forever.
Recently, workers were doing outreach and they came to a house with a tiny puppy in critical condition. The poor pittie pup, Pumpkin, was standing on some rocks shaking, barely able to stand.
The rescue workers wanted to take the 2-month-old puppy and provide him with medical care and a proper home, but they weren’t sure how the owner would react. Thankfully, the owner was completely on board!
Not only did the puppy’s owner surrender the tiny Pumpkin but they also signed Pumpkin’s mom up to be sterilized!
Once back at the clinic, they discovered that Pumpkin was “riddled with worms, anaemia, and tick bite fever.” While Pumpkin receives medical care, Sidewalk Specials is working on finding him a loving home to call his own.