Many owners are unaware of the costs involved in properly caring for the puppy or kitten which they have acquired. Some owners cannot cover the whole cost of deworming, flea/tick treatments and vaccinations but many truly care for and want the best for their pet and it is often uplifting for them to care for a pet. We ask owners to pay for these treatments but we do not want to euthanase pets simply because owners cannot pay for all the preventative healthcare - hence we would like to subsidise some of the cost for some owners.

Young pups and kittens require 2 or 3 vaccinations to prevent some serious diseases such as distemper and parvovirus in pups and snuffles in kittens. We also vaccinate against rabies when the pet reaches 3 months of age. You can help us to support and uplift these families and pets by sponsoring a course of vaccinations for a puppy or kitten.

In our work in the communities we see MANY dogs with mange. Mange is a common skin disease in dogs and puppies in our poor communities. Mange can be intensely itchy and debilitating and is caused by different kinds of mites and affects many kinds of animals including, in the case of some mite species, humans.

Options for treatment include dipping and injections, but at AML we have had great success by using the newer (and safe) tablets now available. In most cases one treatment is sufficient to cure the mange so there is no problem with owner compliance where they must keep returning for further treatments.

It is very important to treat all the cases of mange which we see, not only because it is very painful for the dog but also because sarcoptic mange is highly contagious to other dogs and also to people. The tablets are also effective against fleas and ticks, eliminating infestations of these for several weeks as well.

AML provides (and often heavily subsidises) the treatment for mange and we have had excellent results, massively improving dogs' lives! Many thanks to pharmaceutical company Zoetis for donating Simparica.

We have a carpenter who makes kennels which we allocate to poor owners whose dogs have little or no shelter. The kennels remain the property of AML and we check on the use of them often, making sure that the dogs are properly cared for. Kennels cost us approximately R400 per kennel and we are always looking for wood offcuts, old pallets as well as any donations of screws, spray paint and gun plastic plus bedding, towels, foam and, of course, financial - any amount helps.

Many dogs have benefitted from the kennels and we hope we can continue to make more – please support this campaign.

One of AML’s main aims is sterilisation of pets. Many pets face euthanasia each month because there are not enough good homes for all those born, and many pups and kittens born in the poor communities die at birth or within the first few weeks of life – many suffering along the way.

Each female cat or dog can produce more than 60,000 new lives in 7 years and there are many benefits to sterilising your pets apart from the overpopulation problem – and your pet does not need to have a litter – there are no benefits – please do not add to the problem!

We have a clinical facility in Montagu which is registered with the South African Veterinary Council where we can do sterilisation surgeries and other minor procedures which are necessary, such as treating wounds. We also use a registered clinical facility in Ashton. Please note that these facilities are for welfare cases only and are not open to the general public.

We have assisted with a few feral cat sterilisations where we have used a 'trap-sterilise-release' program. We need to ensure that these cats are all being fed and monitored after releasing them back into the area where they came from. If you are aware of feral cat problems you are welcome to contact us although we cannot promise to assist – we have to ask people to help us to help them. That is, we need you to make sure that the cats are truly feral and do not belong to someone, and we need your help to catch them and bring them to us to be sterilised.