Today is World Spay Day

By: Mdzananda Animal Clinic

On the last Tuesday of February, World Spay Day shines a spotlight on the lifesaving power of spay/neuter and the need for affordable services, particularly in low income communities.

Did you know?

• An unspayed female dog, her mate and all of her puppies and their puppies’ puppies, if none are ever neutered or spayed add up to 512 in 3 years and 67 000 in 6 years.
• An unspayed female cat, her mate and all of their offspring, producing 2 litters per year, with 3 surviving kittens per litter can total 376 in 3 years and 66 088 in 6 years.
• If there are so many animals being born, how many are being euthanized?

At the Mdzananda Animal Clinic, Khayelitsha, we have found that there are many superstitions and incorrect beliefs about sterilizing a pet. We have compiled ten reasons why to sterilize your pet.

• Your female pet will live a longer, healthier life. Spaying helps prevent uterine infections and breast cancer, which is fatal in about 50 percent of dogs and 90 percent of cats.
• Neutering provides major health benefits for your male. Besides preventing unwanted litters, neutering your male companion prevents testicular cancer.
• Your spayed female won’t go into heat. While cycles can vary, female felines usually go into heat four to five days every three weeks during breeding season. In an effort to advertise for mates, they’ll yowl and urinate more frequently—sometimes all over the house!
• Your male dog won’t want to roam away from home. An intact male will do just about anything to find a mate! That includes digging his way under the fence and making like Houdini to escape from the house. Once he’s free to roam, he risks injury in traffic and fights with other males.
• Your neutered male will be much better behaved. Neutered cats and dogs focus their attention on their human families. On the other hand, unneutered dogs and cats may mark their territory by spraying strong-smelling urine all over the house. Many aggression problems can be avoided by early neutering.
• Spaying or neutering will NOT make your pet fat. Lack of exercise and overfeeding will cause your pet to pack on the extra pounds—not neutering. Your pet will remain fit and trim as long as you continue to provide exercise and monitor food intake.
• It is highly cost-effective. The cost of your pet’s spay/neuter surgery is a lot less than the cost of having and caring for a litter. It also beats the cost of treatment when your unneutered cat escapes and gets into fights with the neighbourhood stray!
• Spaying and neutering your pet is good for the community. Stray animals pose a real problem in many parts of the country. They can cause car accidents, damage the local fauna, transmit diseases to other pets and become victims of human abuse. Spaying and neutering packs a powerful punch in reducing the number of animals on the streets.
• Your pet doesn’t need to have a litter for your children to learn about the miracle of birth. Letting your pet produce offspring you have no intention of keeping is not a good lesson for your children—especially when so many unwanted animals end up in shelters. There are tons of books and videos available to teach your children about birth in a more responsible way.
• Spaying and neutering helps fight pet overpopulation. Every year, millions of cats and dogs of all ages and breeds are euthanized or suffer as strays. These high numbers are the result of unplanned litters that could have been prevented by spaying or neutering.

You can help save animals’ lives by participating in World Spay Day.

Sponsor Suzie and Sonja as they Cycle the Argus for Animals to raise funds for sterilizations. Sponsor them with a once off amount or an amount per kilometer (109km). R200 covers the cost of one sterilization.

Suzie and Sonja are pet lovers who always do their utmost to help animals in need – from volunteering to feeding street dogs to cycling the Argus tour. This will be Sonja’s 9th cycle tour and Suzie’s very first tour ever.

Sunday the 8th of March they will be ridging the full 109km race from Cape Town to False Bay and back. This is not only a physically challenging experience, but an experience of mental stamina. We are backing you all the way Suzie and Sonja – you can back them too by sponsoring them!

You can sponsor them on their Back a Buddy site or by making a donation to the below bank account.

Back a Buddy Site: http://www.backabuddy.co.za/champion/project/cycling-the-argus-for-animals

Bank Details: Mdzananda Animal Clinic, Standard Bank, Account: 075595710, Code: 025009, Reference: Argus+YourName

About Mdzananda Animal Clinic (www.mdzananda.co.za) The Mdzananda Animal Clinic is the only permanent, veterinary council registered animal clinic in Khayelitsha, a township just outside of Cape Town, South Africa, home to more than 1.6 million people and their animals. The clinic provides primary veterinary healthcare services including consultations, hospitalization, general and orthopaedic surgeries and mobile clinics. Their clients are primarily dogs and cats. The clinic has a strong focus on community empowerment and education to ensure responsible pet ownership into the future. It is also referred to as “The Happy Clinic” by clients and supporters. The Mdzananda Animal Clinic is made possible by IFAW (International Fund of Animal Welfare) since 2003 and individual donors and supporters.

Invitation to “Staying Young while Getting Old”

by Mdzananda Animal Clinic

The Mdzananda Animal Clinic is hosting its end of year fundraiser at Friends of Vondi’s on the 12th of November, 7pm. Come enjoy this social event where likeminded animal lovers come together to listen to inspiring speakers, mingle, have a drink and snacks. Lucky draws, prizes and auction included. “Staying young whilst getting older without Botox Prozac or Viagra” will be presented by Professor Wayne Derman.

With “anti-ageing”, “preventative medicine” and “wellness” fast becoming key buzz words in personal health care and performance, this talk provides both an entertaining and intellectual perspective aimed at encouraging the listener to evaluate their current state of health & wellbeing from a holistic perspective. This talk describes the aging process and how it affects each of us. It evaluates which risk-factors to watch out for at each stage of life and details which evidence based strategies are effective in the anti-ageing and preventative medicine realm. Dr Derman motivates the listener to take control of their lives and adopt the “5 step plan” for life quality and longevity. Dr Derman is an animal lover and will be giving some tips for our furry friends too.

Professor Wayne Derman is a renowned sports, medicine and health journalist, lecturer at Sports and Exercise Medicine at UCT and was the Chief Medical Officer for both the South African Olympic and Paralympic teams. He served as flight surgeon to cosmonaut Mark Shuttleworth during the “First African in Space” mission in Russia and recently was the expert witness in the Oscar Pistorius trial.

“Professor Wayne Derman had our audience enthralled. He delivered his talk so naturally and eloquently and humorously told a fascinating story – one which we did not want to end – 9.4/10!”   –  Dena Bloch; Chapter Administrator Africa’s Gateway Chapter YPO

“A presentation exceptionally highly rated by our guests at 9.4/10! Pure enjoyment from all who attended” – Richard Van Rensburg; Education Chapter Cape Town Chapter YPO

Join us for a fun filled event with drinks, snacks, gifts and auctions. 12 November, 7:00 pm, R50 (donation to Mdzanadna Animal Clinic). Vondi’s Shop, 58 Regent Road, Sea Point
RSVP to marcelle@mdzananda.co.za / info@vondis.co.za

 

About Mdzananda Animal Clinic (www.mdzananda.co.za)

The Mdzananda Animal Clinic is the only permanent, veterinary council registered animal clinic in Khayelitsha, a township just outside of Cape Town, South Africa, home to more than 1.6 million people and their animals. The clinic provides primary veterinary healthcare services including consultations, hospitalization, general and orthopaedic surgeries and mobile clinics. Their clients are primarily dogs and cats. The clinic has a strong focus on community empowerment and education to ensure responsible pet ownership into the future. It is also referred to as “The Happy Clinic” by clients and supporters. The Mdzananda Animal Clinic is made possible by IFAW (International Fund of Animal Welfare) since 2003, Dogs Trust UK since 2012 and individual donors and supporters.

Books for Woofs Book Drive

by Mdzananda Animal Clinic

The Mdzananda Animal Clinic Khayelitsha is having a Book Drive for our annual charity book sale at Cavendish Square Mall on 28 – 31 August. We are appealing to you to donate your second hand books to us before the 26th Aug especially the new contemporary books.

Drop Spots:
2a Pavilion Place 281 Beach Road Sea Point (24h security)
Mowbray Veterinary Clinic
84 Durban Road 4 Bay Beach Ave
Sunset Links Milnerton (arrange: gretha 0834504563)
Kenridge Tygerberg Animal Hospital, 78 De Bron St

Mandela Day Kennel Building for Khayelitsha Pets

Spend your 67 minutes with the Mdzananda Animal Clinic building kennels for the dogs of Khayelitsha!

The overarching objective of Mandela Day is to inspire individuals to take action to help change the world for the better, and in doing so build a global movement for good. Ultimately it seeks to empower communities everywhere. “Take Action; Inspire Change; Make Every Day a Mandela Day.”

Join us as we reconstruct wooden pallets into dog kennels. Everyone is welcome to join us! For those who prefer something less straining there will be some other activities too including cage & facility painting, planting, gift card packaging and charity shop organizing.

Date: 18 July (Corporate & Work Groups); 19 July 10am (Everyone)

Place: Mdzananda Animal Clinic Khayelitsha, 21297 Govan Mbeki Road

Cost: R67 / R167 (you decide what you can donate to the cost of the kennels);

Lunch: Extra R50 gets you some lunch catered by Learn for Earn (need to book)

Bring along: Hammer per person & paint brushes. If you have any extra wood, paint or nails bring those along too.

RSVP by 16 July to marcelle@mdzananda.co.za / 0823577613 / 0214331942

The Mdzananda Animal Clinic is the only permanent, veterinary council registered animal clinic in Khayelitsha, a township area just outside Cape Town, South Africa.

Highly respected and supported by the people they serve, Mdzananda Animal Clinic was founded in 1996 in response to the need to provide veterinary care to a fast growing community that had no access to help for their animals.

Today the clinic serves up to 1000 animals per month through consultations, surgery, hospitalization, x-rays and mobile clinics for for sick and injured animals, primarily dogs and cats.

It is often of the opinion that people in townships should not own pets. We have a different opinion. Anyone who visits Mdzananda has the pleasure of meeting owners who adore their animals. Even though our main focus is on animal healthcare, we are committed to effectively making a change in the lives of community. We have a strong focus on community empowerment and education to ensure responsible pet ownership. We focus on understanding the community’s needs, embracing this, gaining their respect and trust. In this way we can effectively make a difference in the lives of the people as well as their animals.

A community that loves animals is a healthy community. By looking after an animal people learn responsibility, respect for life, compassion and non-violence. These are valuable attributes which flow over into everyday life enabling a healthy community.

For more information please visit http://www.mdzananda.co.za / http://www.facebook.com/MdzanandaAnimalClinic

Table Talk market this Saturday morning, 9-12

Join the neighbours again this coming Saturday for our regular Table Talk market at Mossop Hall in Cheltenham Road, starting at 9am. If you’d like to book a table or want to know more, call Richard 082 732 9507 or Mark 082 900 7779.

Sponsor Marcelle as she skydives for Animals

 

 

by Mdzananda Animal Clinic

 

You’ve got to be mad to work at the Mdzananda Animal Clinic and Marcelle is taking it to the next level.  The clinic’s fundraising and communications manager, Marcelle van Zyl, has been given the opportunity to skydive for free. She will be using this opportunity to challenge herself and raise funds for the Mdzananda Animal Clinic.

 

On the 11^th of May, in Atlantis Cape Town, Marcelle will be taking the 4000 meter jump equaling 60 seconds of free fall. “I am quite scared but I won’t let that get me down. This will be my first skydive.  I am quite sure that I will be screaming from the moment I leave the plane to the moment I reach the ground,” says Marcelle.

 

The aim of the challenge is to raise R10 000 by getting people to sponsor her. These funds will be used to fund half the cost of installing security cameras at the clinic. The clinic has been victim to numerous burglaries and theft. Security cameras are needed to protect the staff and animals. “I am far from an adrenalin junkie; I am actually quite a “keep to myself” person. However, I do mad things when it comes to helping animals and skydiving is on my bucket list.,” says Marcelle. Marcelle will be jumping in a Cool Dogs outfit.

 

As part of their fundraising efforts, the Mdzananda Animal Clinic started the Mdzananda Cool Dogs.  Cool Dogs are volunteers and supporters who raise funds for the clinic by challenging themselves. Anything can be seen as a challenge – running a race, playing a match, hosting an event – anything fun and challenging.  To make things more challenging the volunteer can perform the challenge in a Cool Dogs doggy one-piece.

 

You can sponsor Marcelle by donating a once off amount or an amount per meter. Donate via Back A Buddy www.backabuddy.co.za/champion/project/skydiving-for-animals or directly to the Mdzananda Animal Clinic’s bank account: Mdzananda Animal Clinic, Standard Bank, Account: 075595710, Code: 025009, Reference: Sdive + YourName.

 

The Mdzananda Animal Clinic is the only permanent, veterinary council registered animal clinic in Khayelitsha, a township just outside of Cape Town, South Africa, home to more than 1.6 million people and their animals. The clinic provides primary veterinary healthcare services including consultations, hospitalization, general and orthopedic surgeries and mobile clinics. Their clients are primarily dogs and cats. The clinic has a strong focus on community empowerment and education to ensure responsible pet ownership into the future. It is also referred to as “The Happy Clinic” by clients and supporters. The Mdzananda Animal Clinic is made possible by IFAW (International Fund of Animal Welfare) since 2003, Dogs Trust UK since 2012 and individual donors and supporters.

Table Talk market this Saturday

 

Our friendly neighbourhood market is happening again this Saturday morning from 9 — see you there!

Picture your Pet with the Easter Bunny

by Mdzananda Animal Clinic

Don’t miss out on this fun for your furry friend!

 

 

Animal Welfare Education Centre Launches in Khayelitsha at the Mdzananda Animal Clinic

by Mdzananda Animal Clinic

The Mdzananda Animal Clinic is proud to announce the launch of their Education Centre! You are invited to witness this special event.

Since 1996, the Mdzananda Animal Clinic has been providing health care to the pets of Khayelitsha, a community of 1.5 million people just outside of Cape Town, South Africa. They believe that it is of great importance to not only help the animals but to also ensure for the empowerment, upliftment and education of pet owners. The Mdzananda Animal Clinic is proud to launch their Education Centre sponsored by Uthando.

Research in changing human behaviour (especially in the animal welfare sector) has shown that education is the core of transformation. This issue is extremely prevalent to the team at the Mdzananda Animal Clinic. A research project conducted by the International Fund of Animal Welfare (the clinic’s main funders) showed that community members dearly love their pets. They do however feel that they have insufficient knowledge on how to look after their pets. Most important of all is that they are very eager to learn.

Since the inception of the Mdzananda Animal Clinic the respect and understanding of animals have grown year by year. The clinic’s veterinarian, Dr Brian Bergman, says that he has noticed a significant change in attitude of the general community towards animals since he first started working at the clinic. “I believe this is because of the existence of the clinic. Simply by having a clinic available shows people that animals have needs”.

With the launch of the education centre, the Mdzananda Animal Clinic will be actively increasing the education of their clients.  Even though education has been given to pet owners when pets were brought to the clinic for help, a formal education procedure was never in place. The new education centre is the start thereof. The education centre doubles up as a waiting room for animal consultations. This room is filled with basic educational posters in Xhosa and English as well as two televisions playing educational videos. While will be learning while waiting to have animals examined.

Monthly workshops will be held at the education centre on weekends. These workshops will cover the basics of animal caring, animal health care, respect for life and how you as an individual can make a difference. They hope to include weekly puppy classes as well. Apart from animal related education the workshop space will also be open to skills development workshops to empower community members further.

On the 15^th of March at 10 am, Uthando owner James Fernie will be cutting the ribbon for the opening of the centre. This will be followed by the debut education session presented by Paul Jacobson, owner of Vondi’s Holistic Petfood. The topic will be that of “how to make wholesome, homemade food for your pet”. Paul says that he feels privileged to open the centre. “The enlightened person acknowledges the positive impact that a natural, wholesome and organic diet can have on health and longevity. Yet, when it comes to our companion animals we don’t always apply these same principles of healthy living. By caring for your companion holistically and naturally you will resolve your pets health problems, be it skin allergies, digestion or arthritis as well as promoting longevity and well being.”

The Mdzananda Animal Clinic hopes to launch a further education program to accompany the centre in the near future. This depends on the availability of funding and will involve employing an education officer to run programs at schools in the community and in the greater Cape Town area.

Load shedding alert

Press release from the City of Cape Town below – it looks like the times we are likely to be affected are as follows:

12:00 to 14:30

20:00 to 22:30

04:00 to 06:30

City advises of Eskom load shedding

The City of Cape Town was informed this morning by the National Eskom Control Centre that they are initiating and have already started implementing Stage 3 load shedding. Stage 3 is the highest level of load shedding possible.  Attached is the list of main stations, suburbs and times that are scheduled for load shedding. The City will keep residents and business informed of any updates.

Whilst the City is doing everything in its power to assist Eskom for the sake of our residents and businesses, it is important to note that the City is wholly reliant on Eskom for the electricity supply to the entire city. The City is only responsible for electricity distribution in certain parts of the city.

If a customer’s electricity supply remains off for longer than the period specified in the attached tables, they should please send an SMS to the City’s technical operations centre on 31220. In certain cases the restoration of power results in what is known as ‘nuisance tripping’ which often goes unreported due to the assumption that the outage is due to the load shedding.

The City regrets the inconvenience caused, but would like to assure residents that all areas are treated fairly whether they are supplied by the City or by Eskom.

Customers can do their part by switching off all non-essential appliances and by monitoring their usage. Please note the constraints on the electricity supply are felt throughout the day during the summer months i.e. there is no ‘evening peak’. As such, responsible consumer practices should please be applied throughout the day.

Any further queries should be directed to Eskom.

Eskom load shedding schedules are at: http://loadshedding.eskom.co.za/