At just six weeks of age, Eyevy was completely blind in one eye and half her face was deformed. She was admitted to the Mdzananda Animal Clinic in Khayelitsha. Their veterinarians believed she had chewed on a live wire.
Unfortunately, Eyevy’s previous owners had left her injury without treatment too long. An infection had spread to her eye, blinding it completely. The electric shock and infection also caused most of her teeth on one side of her face to fall out and she only had half her tongue. The skin around her mouth started to rot and die. At Mdzananda, Eyevy’s face was stitched up repeatedly, but each time the skin would die around the stitched area.
After numerous stitchings, her skin started to heal. She received further treatment and care.“Even though she was in pain, Eyevy was the happiest puppy we’d met, always offering licks, skew faced smiles, and tail wags,” said Marcelle du Plessis, Fundraising and Communications Manager. She needed a very special home and found it with Laetitia Genis, her husband, and their two-year-old daughter, Lila, in Kuilsriver.
They named her Eyevy because of her special eye. Leatitia saw Eyevy, then named Lila, on a Facebook post and immediately fell in love. “In the post, her name was actually Lila, which is the same name as our daughter, so we saw it as a bit of a sign,” said Mrs Genis. “It’s so nice to come home and someone is so excited and wants to be all around you.
She brings this atmosphere in the house of constant love. She has also taught our daughter to share and a lot of patience, which is a great improvement for a two-year-old” says, Mrs Genis. Today, two years later, Eyevy, Leatitia, and Lila have become patrons for the Mdzananda Animal Clinic. To support the organisation through the difficult Covid-19 time and the financial difficulties, they have put together a video to appeal for support from the public.
“The clinic’s services are essential to help the pets of Khayelitsha but the clinic has been hit hard by the pandemic. They lost significant funding, had increased expenses, and were robbed three times during lockdown,” says Mrs Genis.
“The really scary part is the impact it’s had on our donors. People have started canceling their monthly debit orders and many bounced due to difficult times. This income is our organisation’s blood flow,” says du Plessis. “We’re also concerned that corporates won’t be able to donate into the future due to the economic impact.”
A campaign called “Become a #PawMember” launched on the 6th of October with the aim of signing up 1000 Paw Members, each donating R100 per month. “If we can have 1000 people signing up, our deficit will be covered. R100 per month might not be a lot to you, but to one pet it can change their entire life,” says du Plessis.
Leatitia and Eyevy signed up as Paw Members donating R100 per month. “Without Mdzananda we wouldn’t have Eyevy and she wouldn’t have received such great treatment.” She felt that her R100 donation was not enough. She wanted to encourage more people to sign up. Together with Mdzananda, they compiled a video showing her, Eyevy, and Lila.
In her video, she speaks about why she supports Mdzananda and encourages people to sign up. Her video can be viewed on the Mdzananda Animal Clinic Youtube channel (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MVSyFi-v-Mo), their Facebook Page (Mdzananda Animal Clinic), and Instagram (@mdzananda_animal_clinic).
To sign up as a Paw Member, visit www.mdzanandasecure.co.za, email [email protected] or visit their website at www.mdzananda.co.za to find out more.
The organisation serves up to 1000 community pets per month through consultations, hospitalisation, general and orthopedic surgeries, continuous sterilisations, mobile clinics, an animal ambulance, and abandoned pet adoptions. The organisation has a strong focus on community empowerment and education to ensure responsible pet ownership in the future. They work in the heart of the community and pride themselves on gaining the community’s respect and trust so that they can work together on improving the lives of pets in the township.
Picture: Supplied