Prevention
Through various prevention projects, we make a difference for stray dogs in Portugal.
Our vision
Of course, in our hearts we would love to bring every shelter dog to the Netherlands and find them a good home. And of course, we want to cure every sick dog. But we also know that this does not always contribute to a sustainable solution. Ultimately, prevention is at least as important as curing.
Disease prevention
In the care of the stray dogs in at the shelter, the emphasis is placed as much as possible on prevention. Ticks, mosquitoes, and sandflies transmit unpleasant diseases in Mediterranean areas, such as leishmaniasis, ehrlichiosis, and heartworm. MARKdierenarts has repeatedly managed to obtain parties of pipettes and tablets with huge discounts that protect the asylum dogs against parasites. Every dog is also vaccinated annually. The costs for this are covered by sponsors. For each dog, we look for a sponsor who pays for a year of disease prevention.
Castrations
The huge surplus of unwanted puppies in Portugal cannot be solved by adoptions alone. That's why our on-site volunteers are working hard to provide education to prevent unwanted litters.
Our vet MARKdierenarts and his team spend a week each year neutering dogs and cats voluntarily. We have agreed with the shelters that the puppies coming to the Netherlands will also all be neutered as soon as they are old enough. In this way, we are doing everything possible to counter the enormous surplus of dogs and are working on multiple fronts towards a solution.
