Pea visits the brand-new, permanent home of the Dumaguete Animal Sanctuary, a nearly three-hectare property the group now owns outright, with quarantine kennels, a special-needs house for disabled dogs, and pens for rescued goats and cows. She also brings her newly rescued kitten for a vet checkup, where the sanctuary's vet explains his growth, his eyes, and how to clean a cat's ears without traumatizing him. The visit shows how much food, money and equipment it takes to run animal rescue in the Philippines.
Getting there
- The sanctuary's new facility is in the area the captions call "Zambanga," about a kilometer off the highway down an unpaved, rocky barangay road
- Pea wishes the government would pave it, since transporting supplies will be hard especially when it rains, though she admits this is normal in the provinces
- Her low-suspension car scrapes along and she keeps apologizing to it, promising it a bath at home
- No GPS, no internet, no cell signal; she jokingly realizes she never told anyone where she was going
- She always brings tons of dog food as a donation because the sanctuary goes through bags and bags every month
Tour with shelter manager Rea
- Rea calls it "the new and the final, hopefully" location
- Staff kitchen: where they prepare dog food and sometimes eat lunch
- Quarantine area: 40 kennels. After isolation, new rescues stay here for at least two months before joining the general population; they have their own gazebo and space to run, plus a view of Apo Island (captioned "Apple Island")
- Special-needs house (still being built): for dogs with two legs, mostly hit-and-run victims, dogs that can't handle loud noises, and blind or deaf dogs. Pea asks if she can rent a room; Rea: "If you lose your arms, maybe"
- More pens down the hill for two goats and two cows; they've also rescued horses, which all got adopted, and were supposed to rescue a monkey but couldn't get there in time
- Clinic building, still echoey and empty; Pea asks viewers for any spare MRI machine, X-ray or ultrasound equipment
- The property is almost three hectares and the sanctuary owns the land, so nobody can kick them out and the dogs have a home forever
- The bright blue color scheme was Christine's idea; the goal is a clean, Santorini-like look
- Pea says if she ever retires she'll spend it volunteering here; Rea says that's not retirement, Pea says it's more fun
Vet checkup for her kitten (called Boo Boo, Boo and Burrito) with Dr. Rose
- Pea found him in a trash can and has had him almost two months; "he is a pig"
- Weight: 1.6 kg, good gain for two months
- Age: about four months based on his teeth and his still-small testicles, though his body is already big
- Very active, no fleas or other external parasites, shiny coat
- He poops a lot, which is fine as long as it's formed
- When she first had him dewormed he passed live adult worms "bigger than him," like a scene from Alien; his belly was huge even though he was skin and bones because parasites were eating him from the inside. Dr. Rose says this is common in tiny rescued kittens
- His grayish-blue eyes are permanent; Pea says only about 2% of tabbies keep bluish or gray eyes, so she "won the lottery" with a "rare kitsy"
Ear cleaning advice
- His ears get dirty often, but there's no inflammation or sign of ear mites; it's excess cerumen from natural oils, and some cats produce it faster than others. It has nothing to do with diet and isn't a sign anything's wrong
- Just remove the buildup when it gets excessive
- Method: fill the ear with cleaning solution, keep the head tilted up, massage the ear, then let him shake it off. Water in the ear is not a problem
- Don't push anything in with cotton buds
- Most cats hate this, so make it enjoyable with treats afterward so he doesn't associate cleaning with trauma
- The organic solution Pea bought at a vet store is fine
- Verdict: he's in great shape; they'll do microchipping later
Wrap-up
- Pea says she once wanted to be a vet but it's too late, so she'll volunteer instead
- Her message to viewers in the Philippines: be kind to the animals you meet, they need your love
- Closing skit: she's a half-blood Vulcan like Spock, one foot in the East and one in the West, offering a mind meld on Filipino culture, until "pon farr" hits and she gets distracted by Captain Kirk
