Amira
It started small and simple … but it quickly grew into huge and complicated — a disaster.
One mare bites another on the neck. It happens occasionally. It’s typically not a serious situation. But Amira, the elderly “auntie” (age 20), didn’t heal from her wound. Over the course of three short weeks, infection spread rapidly. She developed an abscess. It grew at a ferocious pace.
By the time her owner brought her to us, Amira was in terrible shape. The open wound was some 6 inches across, oozing and painful. She wasn’t holding her head up. Her heart rate was high. She had a fever.
If you saw her today, after such a description … you wouldn’t recognize her.
Amira’s near-miraculous recovery is a testament to the power of your compassion, your caring heart.
Our supporters give life and hope to a working animal on the other side of the world … an animal who serves faithfully to keep families alive and well … the animal they depend on for their livelihoods … an animal they literally can’t survive without.
Amira is just one among many beautiful examples of compassion in action.
As soon as she arrived, and our team saw the danger she was in, they rushed to meet her most urgent medical needs. They quickly gave her tetanus antitoxin, anti-inflammatory drugs, and crucial antibiotics.
Then they sedated her — and started on the grim but necessary work of carefully cleaning and surgically trimming and repairing the devastated site on the mare’s neck. She had suffered ligament damage, but the medical team was determined to save as much of her tissue as possible … to give healing a chance.
With the worst of the emergency behind them, they bandaged the area. But their work was far from over. Almost every day for the next two weeks, Amira’s wound required major attention and care. The initial infection had been so severe, and the bite so deep, that healing in some parts of the wound was excruciatingly slow.
But these dedicated veterinary heroes never gave up. The support of our donors enabled them to be there: two senior clinicians and two veterinary students … all of them patiently and faithfully providing gentle but also top-quality medical care to this animal in her time of need.
They devoted themselves to her, with the utmost dedication, for more than a month.
Yes, it started small and predictable … but Amira could have easily lost her life had it not been for the attentive owner, the American Fondouk, and our supporters.
Working animals are brought to us day after day, their lives at stake — and their owners’ futures hanging in the balance.
Please empower our medical team to save more lives like Amira’s. They must be ready at a moment’s notice to take action. Your giving makes it possible. Donate here.
