Last week, Suzanne, Hearty, Michael, Odi, and his fellow student friend Kaila headed out onto the streets around East Manila to deliver food to the hungry stray dogs. 

Captivated by Jeff’s work (Jeff the delivery driver who rescued Divi, read more on that here) in feeding the street dogs on his rounds in between deliveries, we accompanied him on some of his regular spots and provided plenty of quality dog food for the day, as well as gifting some to Jeff, for his future visits to these dogs in need.

An Early Start

The day started early at the Treatment Centre – 3am! The team prepared a mixture of dry and wet dog food and loaded up water containers before heading out at 5am for the 2.5 hour drive from Concepcion Tarlac to Cainta, Metro Manila. 

Our first stop was a warehouse where several dogs reside. They usually come out at night when it is cooler and quieter, so they were a little apprehensive by our presence at first. However, several soon appeared. These dogs normally rely on scraps of food left in the rubbish by people, and so a tray of kibble is a bit unknown to them. By mixing the biscuit with some wet dog food, the meal was made more palpable and enticing for them. 

Next up was a telecom department. This is one of Jeff’s regular spots. As soon as the dogs saw him, they instantly recognised him, bounding around his feet. It was a wonderful sight to see, they clearly know and trust Jeff and are grateful for his deliveries of food! 

Dog Condition

Apart from having rough coats, a little mange and the odd patch of missing fur (all as a result of sleeping on hard ground, living outside and roaming with other dogs) the dogs were in relatively good health. They weren’t too poor in condition and had no obvious sickness. Our team would have stepped in and rescued any which were thought to be in dire need. 

Feeding Stray Cats

Lastly, we headed to an area near the telecom where there was a group of kittens with a couple stray dogs. The kittens were very hungry and underweight. What was lovely to see was that the dogs allowed the kittens to eat first and waited their turn to receive a meal from our team. Animals can show such wonderful compassion and this was seen here – no chasing away of the kittens or stealing their food. Everyone had a fair share!

More Stray Feeding

We hope to provide quality dog food through our stray feeding programme every other month. As per Jeff’s advice, a lot of dogs would prefer to come out at night, when they feel safer. The costs of doing this are greater, as our volunteers would need overnight accommodation – but the impact and number of dogs we feed would be greater. 

Please help us feed dogs in need. Just £6 will feed about 10 dogs. Please help us grow this feeding programme.. With a greater presence on the streets, we will encourage more people to give up their time to feed dogs in need and recognise when a dog is suffering, so that we can intervene if necessary and give the dog the care it needs.

£20 would provide a sack of dog food which we can provide to people like Jeff to help with their drive to feed dogs in need. 

Thank you.