We have a choice, ignore a problem and let someone else sort it out, or do something about it. We do.
10% of your website building fee will be set aside in our fund, you will be notified of this. Once an animal is in need, your earmarked contribution will be used to help that animal, you will be notified how your money was used and what the outcome is. Should you wish, you will then be kept up to date, on an irregular basis, about how the animal is doing.
In truth, we spend way more than 10% of our income on animal welfare (the pet food bill alone, is enough to make me weep), but we wanted to adopt a slightly more structured approach to the problem.
Bill was found in a dry stone wall in the snow December 13, 2008 in the Alpuharras. He was approx 5 weeks old and starving. He had a severe respiratory infection and was not expected to survive. He was nurtured by our female GSD (see image) and thrived. He lived with us before disappearing without trace 5 years later. He was our first Spanish rescue.
Sasha had been previously owned/rescued locally but had been attacked twice by a pack of dogs. Nearly disembowelled, she recovered from surgery but started living in our empty cave house. As we renovated the cave she would sneak into the cave to steal food. She only became tame again after a near fatal throat abscess. She was put to sleep in 2018 after developing pneumonia.
Bonnie was born with FeLV (Feline Leukemia Virus), to a feral farm cat. We took her from her initial rescuers when she was 5 weeks old as her mother was unable to feed her. She has been spayed and lives with a neighbour.
Found wandering in our street, starving and heavily infested with worms, ticks and fleas. The tick burden was so great her ears could not lie flat, and her toes were forced apart as they were in between the pads. She has been adopted by us, microchipped, passported, vaccinated and spayed. She has also survived having a tumorous lump removed.
About to be taken to the Perrera (where dogs are PTS after 7 days) as his owner was moving. He had lived in almost perpetual darkness - shut in a bedroom. Now hyper-sensitive to just about everything - he continually barked, and chases any moving vehicle. He required neutering and continuing treatment for epilepsy.
This kitten was found abandoned in our village in 2010.
We fostered him for 2 weeks until he was adopted.
We paid for him to be neutered and delivered to his new owner.
These poor newborn puppies were found in a bag of rubbish in the bin. Their 3 other siblings perished. They required hand feeding with formula milk every 2 hours. Because they had very compromised immune systems Buffer caught Parvo, he required emergency veterinary care. He was kept alive by us administering subcutaneous fluids. Both these dogs required microchipping/passporting and neutering/spaying. We had no offers of homes for them. They remain with us.
This cat was found the same day as Buffer and Beaulah. She got stuck in our trees. She remained there for 2 days before I had to climb an extended ladder to get her down. Originally from the local farm she refused to leave. We had her spayed. There were no offers of a home for her. She shares her time now between ourselves and a nearby cat lover.
Daisy was a an abandoned female dog that lived on the streets of our village for years, having 4 or more litters a year in and around the building sites and bins. Some of these puppies were caught and re-homed but most died in the street. Daisy eventually learnt to beg from local bars and during the busy season would become tame enough to cautiously take food. Her offspring would hang around to try and get leftovers but were seldom successful. I caught Daisy when she was so close to having puppies she could not run off (she could still bite!). 3 days later she gave birth to 4 puppies in our work room. She was fiercely protective, attacking anything that went near the puppies. We needed to build a straw shelter for them outside as Daisy wasn't house trained. The puppies thrived and eventually we were able to separate Daisy from her pups and put the puppies up for adoption. We had to vaccinate all 4 puppies twice before they left us. Daisy was initially very disruptive in the home. She was spayed as soon as the pups were adopted. She had Leishmaniosis, incurable - it is carried by sandfly and is a frequent killer of street dogs. She required daily medication to keep the symptoms at bay until she passed away peacefully a few years later
These puppies were born to Daisy when she lived on the street. She eventually abandoned them and they were found in the road. We fostered them until they were accepted by a rescue centre on the Costa del Sol who rehomed all 3. These all required treatment for a full range of parasites including tapeworm, roundworm, ticks, fleas and mites.
Archie was adopted by an English Lady in Javea. She completed Archie’s vaccination and fulfilled her promise to neuter him.
Chanel was the tiniest of pups, and struggled against her bigger brothers and sisters. She was adopted by a Swedish lady in Marbella. She has a wonderfully pampered life, including a doggy pushchair, doggy playdates, silk cushion and an actual CHANEL dog collar! Chanel is neutered.
These remaining pups were adopted locally by an English couple running a cave house B&B. They live a very rural active life and it’s lovely knowing they are so close. I had despaired of finding them a home - so I took them to a car boot sale to meet & greet and socialise with potential adopters. I was super happy they were taken together. They are spayed/neutered.
Daisy had numerous puppies on the street. Daisy 2 was lucky enough to be adopted locally. When her owner was taken ill I was approached to help get her (and 3 other dogs) rehomed. Daisy 2 is the spitting image of her mother in both looks and temperament. It was quite fitting that after being lovingly fostered here for a short while, she was adopted in the UK by the people who originally pleaded for help for her mother. She has adapted brilliantly from living in the extreme weather to being a UK dog.
This pup was rescued with his mother. Another charitable organisation took the mother, who was one of Daisyś earlier pups. The bigger story here is that without being neutered there were 3 generations of dogs living in dreadful conditions on the streets. Being a feral puppy the only concern he had was food. He was starving. He wanted almost nothing to do with people but loved Lenny. He had a terrible cherry eye and needed surgery ASAP. When I phoned for quotes the best price was at a vet some 100kms away. They operated on his eye, and also removed a huge quantity of polystyrene, and plastic from his stomach which he’d eaten because he was starving. The original YouTube video shows Rusty James post surgery and was used to pay his extensive vet bills. He was also microchipped, vaccinated and neutered. He remains with us but is sponsored by a family in the UK.
He is a chosen dog. He was initially rescued with his 3 sisters in a bag drowning in the river. We were approached by the rescuer when he was a puppy as he was being attacked by his sisters. He was the runt of the litter and very nervous. He is now well over 50kgs and is the alpha dog. He is not a people dog, but he is calm and gentle. His type of dogs are usually breed by hunters to kill boars because of their weight and speed. They suffer terrible injuries and weak/old dogs are routinely slaughtered. These dogs required experienced homes because of their size and prey-drive. He has been microchipped/passported and neutered. It was reported in the UK in February 2019 that upwards of 50,000 Spanish hunting dogs are killed annually - often by hanging, drowning or being thrown into wells. The images are too distressing to show.
Zizi is again a MastinX, this time, her mother was a security dog living outside in a wood yard with little to no human contact. Her owner was again found trying to kill her, and her sister, as 4 week old puppies. Zizi was immediately sponsored by a family in the UK, but we had to foster her until she was old enough to travel. She now lives in Wales, and loves nothing more than playing in the woods and rivers. A big affectionate dog. In the UK she is spayed, vaccinated and insured.
Bluey couldnt be left. Although initially rescued, her rescuer was taken ill and all her dogs were rehomed or put to sleep. By this stage Bluey was nervous with people and therefore she would have been put down. She came to us, and spent a few week with her sister(before she left). Bluey is a big, fast dog and like Lenny has a high prey drive. She could only be re-homed to experienced adopters, although as videos show, she is exceptionally gentle with our dogs, puppies, cats and kittens. again at 40+kg she is a big, energetic dog. Like her sister, she is very affectionate towards people. She has needed spaying, vaccinating, microchipping and passporting.
Foxy was found by us, 100m away from our home, at the local farm, hiding under the barn door. She had come into season and there were a pack of local dogs queuing to mate with her. After chasing off the local dogs I was able to tempt her out with food. Once out, I managed to get her into a car and get her into our walled garden. She was a reluctant prisoner. She was spayed immediately before a pregnancy developed. After a while she became much more friendly to us, but remained aloof with our dogs. She was adopted by a young family in the UK. An only dog, she adores the children.
This small puppy was found in my garden. I think it had been hiding in the woodpile for sometime. She was given up by her Spanish owner as her dog had “accidently” had puppies and she couldn’t keep them. As we were already fostering Zizi we had to make an urgent appeal for someone to adopt her. Thankfully a lovely English lady, who was an experienced dog owner came forward. She lives about 50km from us and is has grown into a delightful, cherished dog. We paid for half of her spaying costs at a vet of our choosing.
Approached by some local farmers, this dog was hanging around their fields. They wanted her gone as they had young children. She was very thin, and probably had broken off a tether somewhere - she was used to people. We had nowhere to put put her so we arranged to borrow a friends walled yard. She was adopted by an English man who undertook to get her spayed. She loves nothing more than being one-on-one with him and stealing his socks!
Boris was a heartbreaker. I saw him wandering the streets a week or so after Easter. I bought him home before realising quite how young he really was. He was a massive ball of fluff. A typical puppy, he was starving, covered in parasites. This poor puppy had four massive tapeworms in his gut. He had grass seeds embedded in his skin. He needed an immediate veterinary examination and treatment. Obviously he was going to be a huge dog which meant he could not go to inexperienced owners, or those in rented or unfenced property. We had to turn down a number of potential adopters because they were not suitable. Thankfully we were approached by a dog trainer in Barcelona. Boris now lives in a woodland, rural paradise on the outskirts of Barcelona. I am so thankful that I get weekly updates on his progress and he is a much loved addition to their family. Boris had most likely been abandoned after Easter, as it is sadly all too common to see Spanish children with a holiday plaything. These animals just get left behind when the families return to the city. Sean had to make a 700km round trip to meet up with his adopters at a half way point as he was too young for animal transport. He has just been neutered.
This wee dog was our neighbours. She is about 2.5 years old and was born next door. The neighbour got another puppy last Autumn. At Christmas the neighbour went away for 6 weeks, leaving Wolfy behind. She was shut outside, but with access to an unheated room. During this time someone turned up every 7-10 days to put food down. The dog was constantly crying. We were throwing food over the wall for it to keep it going and eventually Sean climbed over the wall and opened an internal gate which allowed the dog to sit in the Winter sun. But at night the temperature dropped, on one occasion to -9C. The day our neighbour came back and unlocked the gate I took the animal from her. Her coat was matted, thick with painful thorns and grass seeds and she was very underweight. We had to pay to get her professionally washed and groomed so she could see again. Now recovered she is a sweet girl. I know she is spayed because I paid half of the cost 2 years ago. This dog was rehomed and legally adopted locally and now travells to and from the UK in luxury. I get to see her regularly. Please note, that we have free of charge, draft legal transfer of ownership documents in Spanish drawn up by our solicitor available for use on request.
These are feral farm cats. They arrived looking for food when they were kittens. Free to come and go, we got them both neutered/spayed. Buster (now "Felipe" ) has been adopted locally and loves being a house cat.
Nightmare ha ha! They were found by English neighbours on holiday - they don’t live here. They were newborns in the bin. Again these kittens needed 2 hour feeds and formula milk (€22/tin!). The English family looked after them for the first 10 days and then we took over. We had to introduce them very carefully to the dogs. Bluey immediately became Mother Bum licker, and Lenny - who isn’t the brightest - seemed to think he and Bluey had had dog-kittens. Anyway, the end result was they were accepted and the kittens think they are half dog. But having been hand reared the kittens have not left home! We had to get all four neutered/spayed. There are no offers for homes for these kittens
This was a female feral kitten who was hungry enough to come in and want to steal our cat’s food. As soon as we could catch her we got her spayed. She now is only ever seen up at the farm at a distance.
This young female dog was found by Spanish friends, who helped us trap her. She had been starving, and on capture, had recently had, or lost a litter. She had chronic Leishmaniosis. We liased with a Spanish rescue assocation and has now been fostered in Madrid, in a home, and is undergoing at least 6 months of treatment. She has learnt to trust humans, and has an affectionate nature.
These kittens, possibly siblings were found abandoned in the road in June this year. Dehyrated, upper respiratory infections, eye infections, and suffering with flea, tick, worm infestations. Possibly lost when the mother cat was moving them, or starving due to the loss of their mother, these kittens were extremely timid and aggresive. Locally we have had problems with 2 colonies where the people who used to look out for these animals have died or moved away, resulting in a lot of cat deaths. These kittens have all had veterinary care, vaccinations and are now neutered. 1 has been successfully released outside, the other 3 have now been adopted.
I had heard a cat crying for a number of days every time I went to the bins. I always check the bins to make sure none have been thrown away, but couldn’t locate the animal. I eventually saw a small, obviously very ill, kitten crying in a locked walled garden. I climbed over, then I covered it in my t-shirt and brought it home. It was very weak, thirsty and hungry. We left it in the work room to recover. He was much better the next day when I took him to the vet. But he had such a bad infection he had already lost his eyes and was totally blind. Unable to see, he would have starved to death in the walled yard. We had to keep him in a cage so the dogs would get used to seeing him, and he would get used to their smell. Eventually Bluey became his friend, before we introduced him to the other dogs. We had him neutered. Billy III is now rehomed and is an inside cat. We took the difficult decision to rehome Bill because he began to jump over our walls, at a time when there were 3 large loose dogs nearby and because of the traffic.
Every other month I allocate one day to make a 200km round trip to Centro Veterinario ABC, a vet that specialises in microsurgery at reduced rates for rescue animals. I collect as many animals as possible, and liase with a Spanish lady who legally rescues local cats.
In 2021, since lockdown restrictions to travel ended, we have so far taken 17 cats and 2 dogs to be sterilised. We have rehomed 4 dogs and 2 cats and funded 1 dog to go to the UK. 5 cats are prebooked for neutering for October 2021. On November 2nd two cats are going to the UK. We also rehomed 3 elderly cats for palliative care clients. And in case I forget (not that we can as he reminds us every daybreak) we adopted a Rooster in need!
The current costs to neuter/spay (excluding the cost of anti-inflammatories, antibiotics, and collars) street animals at ABC vet, Zurgena:
Its costs €70 to vaccinate puppies and yearly thereafter €35 per dog.
Our local vets charge double that amount.
Dogs like Wolfy, Rusty James need regular grooming and trimming costing between €20-€40.
Any street dog runs the risk of Leishmaniosis.
Any feral cat in this area usually has FeLv or FelineAids.
It is very difficult to re-home cats of either sex or age even if they are neutered.
A high majority of cases of abandoned female dogs are because they are pregnant.
Most trapped female cats are pregnant.
Costs to transport cats or dogs to UK start from €350 per animal.
Please note we do NOT fundraise. We are self funded. We are not a charity, but we do liase with other reputable associations to aid and assist each other.
