Dear Friends of Zeus
The last four months have been a busy period at Zeus as we were faced with so many things that needed our attention. Sadly, it was all the usual things - from lost and found dogs to abandoned and abused cases. Sometimes, we wonder if it would ever end, but that is wishful thinking, because as long as there are ignorant or uncaring humans, the problems will never cease as these are the people that are the cause of the problems.
But we plod on, doing the best that we can, because we want to show other humans, that it is possible to be informed and caring, and that is returned manifold by these wonderful dogs.
We try our best to keep readers informed regularly about our work via our blog and updates on Facebook. So please join us by clicking Facebook if you are not yet on our FB. You will be updated on all the happenings at Zeus Communications.
You must have recently read on our blog that at the end of October, we had to rescue 10 dogs from a neighbouring shelter that was going to close because the owner could no longer care for her dogs. We, together with all our volunteers, could not bear to see our neighbours being sent to be put down. We have come to know and love them through our fences for almost 10 months – how could one bear to see them put down? Our hearts could not bear it. The signs were all there – the lady could not even afford to feed her dogs and the poor dears were fighting for food because of hunger. We could not take it seeing those starving dogs fighting for the precious food, and getting injured in the process. So we donated dry dog food every week before that shelter closed.
Now they have joined us, we are amazed at how the dogs are getting along with our dogs. In their hearts, these doggies knew they were getting their 3rd chance at life, they knew they were going on death row, so they co-operated and behaved at our shelter. So there have been no dog fights, perhaps because there is more than enough food for everyone and no dog needed to fight for food, perhaps they know that at Zeus, they would have a forever home, perhaps they sense that everyone at Zeus will have more than enough room in their hearts to share love with them.
We are so excited as we are preparing to move to a new kennel on 1 December and all our 43 dogs will be able to stay under one roof. It will be a free roaming concept and the dogs will be able to run and play freely, as they are always meant to be.
But we can’t do it alone and we need your help. We are a private animal shelter – run with passion from volunteers who are the voices for the animals. We rely on sponsorships to keep the animals alive and healthy at the shelter. We are now running full capacity after taking in the additional 10 dogs that were going to be put down. If you would like to support our work, please write in to dogstalk@starhub.net.sg and your contribution will help these animals greatly. If they can, they will certainly thank you with a woof and a lick!
We are also thankful to have a team of dedicated volunteers with such big hearts to help take care of the animals and to ensure that the animals receive their basic needs i.e. food, shelter and medical care.
Christmas Gifts for the Shelter Dogs – Meatloaf Cakes and Cookies Christmas is around the corner and we are working together with The Barkery to give our shelter dogs a treat! The dogs love the meatloaf cakes very much and we hope that you will make their wish come true by sponsoring either a meatloaf, cake or cookies for Christmas. The Barkery will arrange to send the goodies to the doggies on Christmas Eve.
Christmas Presents for Your Pets – Music CD for Pets An animal’s sense is much more sensitive than a human’s and they are influenced by the sounds around them. Research has shown that animals’ moods can be influenced by music and some types of music can help to reduce stress.
Margrit Coates is a world renowned animal healer and she recognized the need to produce music composed specially for animals and which is sympathetic to their environment.
My dogs are testimony to that – they love the music CDs and they listen to it every day; it’s relaxing and it helps to calm them.
The following CDs are available on sale at $28 each (including postage).
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Music For Pets
Beautiful Music suitable for playing to all animals.
Help heal your pets on the physical, emotional and mental levels with crystal thereapy |
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Animal Angels
This album is a perfect present to give your animal loving friends and family.
Beautiful music to share with pets and horses, especially composed by the
phenomenal Stuart Jones. |
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Connecting with Animals
Connecting with Animals takes lace when we tune into them via our minds and hearts.
Animals communicate with us all the time but humans often ignore
this way of being or misunderstand what they are saying. |
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Animal Healing
This album compiled by renowned healer Margrit Coastes, aimed specifically for playing
to animals from cats to horses. The Album cleverly avoids sounds that pets might find distressing. |
Zeus Communications 2012 Calendar
Zeus Communications’ 2012 Calendar is on sale! Proceeds will aid the street dogs who count on us to give them a 2nd chance to live. Vagabond dogs usually have nothing, and it’s up to us to give them the love they deserve.
All proceeds from the sale of the calendars will go towards the upkeep of the shelter dogs that the volunteers have dedicated their heart and soul to helping.
Facts & Figures to Run a Shelter a Month
Rental of Boarding Facility & Caregiver - $3,000/-
Canned Food (10 units a day x $2.50) x 30 days - $750/-
Dry Food (20 bags x $65) - $1,300/-
Miscellaneous (e.g. Frontline, flea and tick shampoo, garbage bags, etc...) – $600/-
This amount excludes medical fees for the shelter dogs if they fall ill.
The shelter is currently running at full capacity and we now have 43 dogs at Zeus Residence – your contribution to help us to keep them alive is greatly appreciated.
RESCUED
Xiao Hei the Dog with the Fractured LegVet fees have been pretty high for us since July; we have had several rescue cases like Xiao Hei, a dog that disappeared for 2 days. His caregiver was so worried that one evening, she decided to jump into a 5ft deep canal to search for Xiao Hei. How many people would bother jumping in to a drain to save a dog, let alone a lady in her 60s? That was what Mrs Ong did, stunning her husband, by her dedication and how she followed her instincts and heart into the canal to search for Xiao Hei. And thank goodness she did. Poor Xiao Hei was hiding in the drain, injured and could not walk as he had fractured his front right leg. Xiao Hei was in so much pain that he struggled and wanted to bite his rescuers. After they managed to get him out, they brought him to the vet for treatment but his injuries worsened. The rescuers decided to call Zeus Communications for help and advice. We suggested that they seek a second opinion before deciding what to do. Immediately, Xiao Hei was discharged from the first vet and was transferred to Mount Pleasant (Bedok) where he was attended to by Dr Lesley Teo.
After performing an X-ray on his leg, Dr Teo suggested that his leg be amputated to make it easier for him to move around, otherwise Xiao Hei would need to drag his front leg around, and that would cause more sores.
When Xiao Hei was discharged, he was put under the foster care of Anita, who has kindly taken care of him.
But there’s a happy ending – very good news that we can celebrate with – Xiao Hei has been adopted by a family!
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| The canal where Mrs Ong used her heart and followed her instincts to find Xiao Hei. |
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| Xiao Hei after surgery and coping well. |
JD – The Jurong Dog also known Affectionately as Ah Boy
Finally, it is such a great relief that, after 6 months of trying, we’ve managed to rescue JD. The first thing that we did was to bring him to the vet to be examined, where he was found to have severe heartworm. We weren’t surprised given the living environment that he was staying in all his life.
It was such an anxious time as JD was receiving his treatment. Severe heartworm treatment is very stressful for the fragile dog – there was a risk that he might not pull through the treatment because of the amount of adult worms in his heart. We prayed and hoped very hard that he will pull through to enjoy a warm and loving home he truly deserves after living on the streets for so many years.
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| JD's first visit to the vet and he had to stay over for heartworm treatment. |
JD is such a fussy eater, that it caused a few worried moments. His tastebuds changed every day, we tried different things - roast chicken, fried chicken wings, honey chicken. JD will refuse to eat if he does not get want he wants. So, like little servants concerned for his health and not wanting him to lose weight, we obliged his Royal Highness’s needs. Volunteers Letty and Irene had to cook a variety of chicken for him. If he was not happy – he would just walk away. But, guess what, he’s a smart boy. I told him that there would be no more fussy eating habits, he has to eat what the other dogs are having. And now, he has finally come to terms and eats what is given to him. All he wanted was guidance!
But we can’t help but sneak some special treats, especially from his godmothers who will pan fry his chicken, roast it or honey bake it for him. JD must have been a Prince in his past life!
If you like to help with the dogs’ medical fees, a cheque can be made to ‘Mount Pleasant Animal Medical Centre (Bedok) Ptd Ltd’ or ‘Mount Pleasant Animal Medical Centre (Redhill) Pte Ltd’ and please kindly mail the cheque to 8 Raffles Avenue, #02-04, The Esplanade Mall S(039802) and write “Rescued Dogs Medical Aid" behind the cheque.
Adoption Drive
We will be organizing an adoption drive every weekend till the end of the year on the following dates:
Dates: Saturdays and Sundays
3 & 4 Dec
10 and 11 Dec
17 & 18 Dec
Time: 3pm to 6pm
Venue: Ericsson Pet Farm, 16 Pasir Ris Farmway 2
Viewing is by appointment only. Please contact the following representatives if you are interested in adopting a loyal companion home.
Irene (Hp: 8298 8129) / Hilda (Hp: 9199 6662) / Tia (Hp: 9641 4903) / Jeannie Hp: (910 90475)
Please click to Adoption to view the dogs.
Rehoming
Some of the shelter dogs have found their forever homes, namely Sally (Cross Shepherd), Nichol (Cross Beagle), Xiao Hei (Cross Breed), Ringo (Cross Lab), Twinkle (Schnauzer), Baxter (Cross Maltese), Wally (Maltese), Casper (Maltese) and Ryan (Golden Retriever).
We are very thankful to their owners for giving the dogs a second chance and for opening up their hearts and home for them.
Do you recall Crystal the scalded cat? She is now living the lifestyle of a Princess. I am sure that in her past life, Crystal was served by several slaves! She sleeps on a leather sofa with her four paws in the air and just imagine it - her slaves fanning her to keep her cool. Crystal has found her forever home with our volunteer Jeannie who adores and loves her very much.
In the last 4 months, we were notified of several lost dogs – a Schnauzer was reunited with his owners. However, the rest remained unclaimed and they have gone to good homes.
We received the following dogs:
A Male Maltese
A Male Shih Tzu
A Male Schnauzer (Reunited with Owner)
Please visit our blog and google for Lost & Found – we have owners still looking for their missing dogs and we hope that their pets will be reunited soon with them.
ABANDONED PETS
What is new with our society?
Scooter the Cat
When owners tire of their pets, they conveniently throw them out. Scooter a Cross Burmese cat had an ear infection, gingivitis and tooth decay – can you imagine how much pain he was going through? He was rescued in Simei and is now taken care of by our fosterer and she is giving him all the tender loving care that he deserves. Please click Scooter to read about his plight.
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Smokey was abandoned at Sin Ming
industrial estate and to our horror
he was fed with rotten food. |
Smokey the ChihuahuaIn August, we were alerted by a caller that an owner had abandoned his Chihuahua at Sin Ming industrial estate. When the rescuers went to get the dog at the factory, he was co-operative – however, when they arrived at the vet, he tried to bite them and the same evening, he bit the fosterer. They had no choice but to send him to me to be disciplined – and guess what? He ended up being such an adorable and loving dog – sometimes dogs just need a firm but loving hand and they become model dogs! We named him Smokey and I believe he was abandoned because the family members didn’t know how to handle him.
Ryan & Snowy
This is such a bizarre case. An irresponsible owner decided one day, “I shall not have dogs” and then proceeded to dump his beautiful Golden Retriever and Shih Tzu at Sungei Tegah. Ryan, the Goldie and Snowy, the Shih Tzu, both males were found by Iris while she was driving in the area. An old man approached her to help these poor dogs who were eating scraps off the floor in a factory. These dogs came from homes - how do you expect them to survive on the streets? Please click Ryan and Snowy to read about their story.
An utterly ignorant and ill-informed owner abandoned his sheltie at the groomer – why? Because of ticks. Guess what? The dog didn’t invite the ticks on his body, the ignorant owner didn’t give him the protection he needed, and walked him around streets picking up ticks. When the parents found out, the owner then refused to bring the dog home. So, if the owner didn’t shower for a week and picked up ticks in his body, will his parents be right to also dump him at the orphanage? Where is the rational thinking in this?
The dog was so sad and confused when our volunteers picked him up from the pet shop that he kept asking what is going on and why isn’t he going home and going to someone’s home instead. We know that in his heart he loves his master very much – unfortunately his master was in NS and the parents did not want to take care of it anymore. But the Sheltie is now in a better home with a more understanding and well informed owner - Tia adopted him and re-named him Bambi.
A Fox Terrier named Tessa was recently abandoned by her owners. She was tied up at a void deck for several hours till a kind soul brought her home and called our volunteers for assistance. Tessa is now under foster care and if you would like to adopt her please click Tessa to read about her plight.
We would like to thank all our guests for attending the Doggy Tea Party with Rosina on 22 October. We hope that you had great fun with your pets and that you understand your dogs better. The funds raised from the event, will go towards the upkeep of the 43 dogs at the shelter that are waiting for homes.
Zeus Doggy Outings to the Park
The weather has not been too kind to our dogs – and we weren’t able to bring them to the park for our monthly outing. When the monsoon season is over, we will resume our monthly doggy outings to Pasir Ris Park. Details will be available on our Facebook/Blog.
Please stay tuned to our blog for more animal stories.
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Our first family photo together, from standing from left: Javin, Jacqueline, Jeannie (with Xiang Xiang), Nancy (with Sugar) , Hilda, Steven, Ida (our Doggies Favourite Nanny), Clement.
Seated from left: Tien Nee (with Snowy), Lynda, Rosina (with Bambi) and Tia. |
From the bottom of our hearts, thank you.
