Silent killer stalks street dogs in the Balkans.

Life as a street dog in the Balkans is always perilous, characterized by a constant search for food and shelter – but this painful reality becomes intolerable when disease strikes, and right now, it is estimated that up to 70% of the region’s street dogs have a merciless, cruel killer called leishmaniasis.

Leishmaniasis is a horrific insect-borne disease that can cause skin lesions, weight loss, vomiting, diarrhea, and prolonged, painful death. 

Street dogs are at high risk of developing horrible symptoms due to weakened immune systems because of their awful existence on harsh streets.

Tragically, unless the disease is caught early, they may be too poorly even to tolerate treatment, and will die an agonizingly long, slow death due to kidney failure.

Basic medicines for preventing and treating leishmaniasis work wonders, but they are simply not affordable for most local shelters and rescue organizations. That is where your kindness and compassion come in. With your generous donation, we can easily save lives – can you find it in your heart to support these vulnerable animals?

Our partners cannot stand by and let the dogs suffer and die; but neither can they afford to save every life – without YOUR help.

Zena was a street dog in Podgorica, Montenegro, loved and fed by locals. After she was bitten by an infected sandfly, she contracted leishmaniasis, and the deadly silent killer began to take its toll. As her condition deteriorated, those who once fed her now shunned the diseased dog, until she was little more than a bag of skin and bones, with the disease causing her skin to peel from her body.

Luckily, our partner, Love Hope Rescue, heard of her plight and sprang into action, giving her a course of life-saving milteforan with no thought to the costs involved. Today, she is on the road to recovery, thanks to this miracle drug.

In other similar scenarios, groups of animal lovers have had to pool their resources to afford one course of treatment, saving a single life.

Our partners work across the Balkans to save dogs in distress. But with so many animals in need, we can’t always answer their desperate pleas for financial assistance.

Our partners in the Balkans urgently need your support to save more lives and provide crucial medical care for dogs with deadly leishmaniasis. Will you be the hero that Balkan street dogs need today?

For the animals,

P.S. The Balkans are a hotspot of animal diseases, and leishmaniasis may be the deadliest of all. Without our support, countless dogs will die a painful death. Please help us save lives and prevent suffering by donating generously today!

Banner credit: Friends of Dogs Montenegro