WORLD WORLDWIDE EAST-EUROPE BALKANS - ANIMALS - Network for Animals - Silent killer stalks street dogs in the Balkans.

 

Email not displaying correctly? View it in your browser Forward this email to a friend Share Tweet A horrific disease is killing Balkan street dogs. We can rush crucial medicines to prevent more suffering. Please donate now Dear friends,  Life as a street dog in the Balkans is always perilous, characterized by a constant search for food and shelter – but this painful reality becomes intolerable when disease strikes, and right now, it is estimated that up to 70% of the region’s street dogs have a merciless, cruel killer called leishmaniasis. Credit: Love Hope Rescue Leishmaniasis is a horrific insect-borne disease that can cause skin lesions, weight loss, vomiting, diarrhea, and prolonged, painful death.  Street dogs are at high risk of developing horrible symptoms due to weakened immune systems because of their awful existence on harsh streets.   Tragically, unless the disease is caught early, they may be too poorly even to tolerate treatment, and will die an agonizingly long, slow death due to kidney failure. Credit: Friends of Dogs Montenegro Unless we can provide comprehensive medical treatment, the suffering will only get worse. Will you help us? Basic medicines for preventing and treating leishmaniasis work wonders, but they are simply not affordable for most local shelters and rescue organizations. That is where your kindness and compassion come in. With your generous donation, we can easily save lives – can you find it in your heart to support these vulnerable animals?   Our partners cannot stand by and let the dogs suffer and die; but neither can they afford to save every life – without YOUR help. For just $310 (£250) per life saved, we can empower our partners to administer this essential treatment to as many dogs as possible. Will you help us make a difference today? Zena before and after receiving a life-saving course of milteforan, a highly-effective treatment for the deadly leishmaniasis disease.   Credit: Love Hope Rescue This medicine saves lives! Just look at what a course of treatment can do for a dog suffering from this horrendous disease. Zena was a street dog in Podgorica, Montenegro, loved and fed by locals. After she was bitten by an infected sandfly, she contracted leishmaniasis, and the deadly silent killer began to take its toll. As her condition deteriorated, those who once fed her now shunned the diseased dog, until she was little more than a bag of skin and bones, with the disease causing her skin to peel from her body.   Luckily, our partner, Love Hope Rescue, heard of her plight and sprang into action, giving her a course of life-saving milteforan with no thought to the costs involved. Today, she is on the road to recovery, thanks to this miracle drug.   In other similar scenarios, groups of animal lovers have had to pool their resources to afford one course of treatment, saving a single life. Credit: Love Hope Rescue With every $310 (£250) we raise, we can save one life. Please help us stamp out suffering for Balkan street dogs by donating generously today! Our partners work across the Balkans to save dogs in distress. But with so many animals in need, we can’t always answer their desperate pleas for financial assistance.   Our partners in the Balkans urgently need your support to save more lives and provide crucial medical care for dogs with deadly leishmaniasis. Will you be the hero that Balkan street dogs need today? Please donate now For the animals, Gloria Davies (and Max and Flora!) CEO and Founder Network for Animals P.S. The Balkans are a hotspot of animal diseases, and leishmaniasis may be the deadliest of all. Without our support, countless dogs will die a painful death. Please help us save lives and prevent suffering by donating generously today! Banner credit: Friends of Dogs Montenegro Subscribe to our newsletter!