Taking Care of Los Perros

My first impression of Hound Heights was that it was a bit messy, with rickety cages set up all over the tree-shaded hillside, but well run. The dogs were kept in groups of three to six in simple housing mostly made up of small breeze-block buildings surrounded by wire fence nailed onto roughly hewn wooden stakes. The dogs seemed happy. Four staff worked to keep them well fed and watered, and what I really liked was that every dog was walked every day, along the wildflower-encrusted trails that zigzag down the hillside. It was evidently the dogs’ favourite part of the day, as those that could joyously bounced at their doors when it was almost their turn to be taken out.

Many of the dogs here are overweight. Xenii gives strict instructions to her staff to keep food and water bowls topped up; I guess it’s to ensure that the slower or more timid eaters get their fill. It’s my only criticism; I prefer to keep dogs on the slim side, for longevity and greater health. Skin problems seem to be a big problem here, with a lot of the dogs showing flea allergies or mange. They all receive medication daily (AWARE has two vets, Claudia and Elsa, who come several days a week to prescribe medication for the animals) but to me it’s clear that, for these dogs at least, the donated dry food, despite it’s good name, isn’t helping their immune system any. But the majority of animals here are happy and healthy, perhaps thanks to the fresh mountain air, daily exercise, and oxygen-rich environment that´s also doing wonders for me.

Thankfully, Xenii is well read on natural diets for animals, and I’ve been given free rein to take some of the worst dogs, put them together, and take charge of their feeding. The dogs at the Animals Taiwan holding centre are all fed raw meaty bones (mostly chicken and the occasional fish or lamb rib) and a blended mix usually composed of green leafy veggies, garlic, fish oil, egg yolk, and apple cider vinegar. Unlike most shelter dogs, none of the AT dogs have fleas. Ticks were kept to a minimum during my tenure thanks to daily helpings of garlic and vinegar. Since starting to give the Animals Taiwan dogs the veggie mix every day, we had seen incredible improvements in the health of all the animals, and all those with recurring skin problems are now showing off beautifully healthy, shiny coats. I hope that I can show such improvements in the AWARE dogs under my care during my stay—I’ll happily come back in a few weeks to check.

We’ve been spraying the flea-allergy and fungal-infection dogs here with apple cider vinegar, as it creates an acidic environment parasites can’t thrive in without any nasty side effects for the animals. We discovered after a few days that the apple cider vinegar is actually fake, made up of some acid and apple flavouring. We’ve searched high and low for the real stuff but haven’t found any. But we may be in luck: Dee, a regular volunteer at AWARE with a dog of her own who has had a long-term and stubborn skin condition, listened intently to how we feed the dogs at Animals Taiwan and the profound positive effect it’s had on their health. She memorised the formula and went straight out to get all the ingredients for her beloved dog.

Three days later, Xenii was over the moon to play me the message that Dee left on her answer machine, telling of her utter disbelief that the new, natural diet has already made a great difference to her dog’s condition; the first signs that she has noticed are that the dog’s eyes are no longer weeping or red. I smiled when I heard how happy Dee was. Dee has spent a fortune trying every potion possible to cure her pet of her painful skin condition. We’ll see how well it goes from here. Anyway, Dee is taking advantage of her newfound source of apple cider vinegar to make sure that the AWARE dogs can start to benefit in the same way.