How to Take Care of Street Dogs

Street dogs, also known as stray dogs, make up a sizable portion of India's animal and pet population. They are frequently discovered by the pathways, crossings, and roadways, without many of their necessities like food, shelter, and basic immunizations.

If you are here, I can almost guarantee that you have felt compelled to find the most efficient and effective approach to assist some of the stray dogs. So, without further ado, let's look at some actions you can take to assist them.

1. Provide Good Water, Food, and Shelter

Street dogs often eat and drink water from puddles, open outlets, and other areas that are susceptible to infections and germs. Thus, another way that you can contribute is by-

• providing them with water in a fresh bowl or keeping a bowl of fresh water outside and
• giving them some food (such as rice with egg or chicken, roti, or some dry pedigree food packets in a fresh container)

thereby keeping them safe from searching for food and water in the trash and dumped areas.

2. Sheltering them as per the Climate

Street dogs, among other needs, lack a proper shelter and are hence prone to sleeping in rains, cold, and other climactic conditions. Thus, another way that you can help them is by providing climate appropriate shelter such as –

• Making a cardboard shelter and covering them in plastic during the summer and rains
• Giving them a gunny bag as a shelter during the winters so that they don’t catch a cold

You can try to provide basic shelter from a lot of homemade stuff to stray dogs thereby keeping them safe in severe climactic conditions.

3. Keeping a first aid for the pet at home

Another way that you can help street dogs is by keeping a set of first aid readily available. Since they are astray, they are prone to cuts, bruises, and infections, which if not treated in time can be harmful and fatal. Some medications that you must include in this kit are –

• Betadine ointment - ₹30
• Himax cream - ₹65
• Negasunt Powder - ₹85
• Topicure spray - ₹275
• Melopet/Melonex - ₹90
• Neomec - ₹100
• Fipronil - ₹157

Thus, keeping some medicines handy and reporting them to an NGO for a further check-up is another way that you can help your local stray dogs.

4. Giving them reflective collars

A lot of stray dogs while sleeping or crossing roads can’t be spotted from afar – a consequence of which has led to many dog accidents. Hence, providing a reflective collar is extremely helpful because their build is such that they can be stopped from afar, in dark prone, or dim light areas, thus making the person aware to go slow and carefully.

You can provide a set of collars to the NGO and request a professional to put them on as all of them might not have the most appropriate reaction to your action.

5. Report any offensive actions towards them in your locality

RAISE YOUR VOICE

Not a lot of people are as considerate and helpful to stray dogs as much as you may be. They may not be treating them well, instead might be showing signs of cruelty such as kicking, devouring them of their basic needs, and troubling them.

If you see any such actions that happen, you should take a step to stop them by reaching out to those people. If they turn  deaf ear, reach out to animal welfare, appropriate NGOs, and other professionals who can look into this matter.

6. Get them dewormed at the Veterinarian

Every pet, particularly stray dogs who have open access to trash, garbage cans, and other objects around the streets, needs to be dewormed - which means eradicating the infections and germs already present in the body.

Therefore, you can always help them by getting a deworming done to protect them from infections, microbes, and diseases. You can ask for the deworm medicines from a vet and they can refer the right one to you. 

7. Getting them the needed vaccines

All dogs need some important vaccinations at certain stages to be safe. While individual pet owners can keep a close check on this with their visit to the vet, most stray dogs miss out on them. You can always assist them in this area by reaching out and helping an NGO that supports in taking care of stray animals and arranging a vaccination and sterilization drive for stray dogs. This way, you’ll be taking a step to protect and provide stray dogs with basic safety.

8. Provide them love and care

Being unsheltered and on the street, what they lack the most among other necessities is love and care. Every dog deserves that – whether it’s a house pet or a stray. Thus, you can always go a mile by spending some time with them, building rapport, training them in the basics, and keeping them happy. It doesn’t take much – just some time and love from your end.

Stray dogs are just like any other. They too need the same basics as one at home but are devoid of most of them. But if you wish to go that extra mile, you can always do so in the most basic steps that can go a long way for them.

It’s also important to remember that you don’t need to take care of 20 dogs, if everyone takes care of 1-5 of them, a lot of them will be benefitted that way!

We hope that this article has helped you in finding effective and helpful ways to assist a stray dog and we also hope that you’ll be taking one of these steps very soon!