Dusty has found a forever home

We all know that the SPCA does amazing work in re-homing stray and abandoned pets.

One of their most recent success stories is that of Dusty. On February 26, Durban & Coast SPCA received a call from a member of the public who was working on a construction site in Pinewood Road. He had seen a stray dog roaming around the area.

Inspector Nish Ramsamy arrived on scene and found that Dusty was a bit nervous, but soon warmed up to the Inspector.

“He was brought back to our SPCA and as Inspector Ramsamy opened the van door, the dog was happily wagging his tail. Inspector Ramsamy fell in love,” said Durban & Coast SPCA marketing manager Tanya Fleischer.

Inspector Ramsamy named the pooch Dusty. Upon his health check in clinic, Dusty, was diagnosed with mange and put onto treatment of weekly Bravecto, two weeks of antibiotics and 10 weeks of Ivomec injections.

He was fully recovered by the end of June and has been patiently waiting for his forever home ever since. Last week he finally went to his new home.

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It is widely believed that the SPCA will keep an unclaimed dog for just seven days, and if that animal has not been re-homed during this time it will be put down. Dusty’s story shows that this is not the case.

“The seven days people refer to is the pound period, not the date of euthanasia,” said Fleischer. “We don’t have a countdown for the animals in our care.”

By law a stray animal has to be kept for seven days, allowing the owner the opportunity to come forward and claim their animal back in the event that they have been lost or stolen. After seven days, the stray will undergo a health check and will then go up for adoption.

“We keep all animals for as long as we can,” she said.

“If the animal in our care becomes stressed or very ill, only then will we put them to sleep as it is cruel to keep them if they are not coping with being in a cage or if they are very ill or contagious.”

The SPCA encourages the public to sterilise their animals, thereby reducing the number of unwanted litters. They are also the only animal charity that has the power to fight for the Animal Protection Act in court.

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