Written by Yanic Klue, owner of atFrits Dog Hotel & Daycare Centre
Photographs supplied by atFrits Dog Hotel & Daycare Centre
In association with the Cape of Good Hope SPCA, atFrits Dog Hotel & Dogcare Centre started the Cape Town Pet Upliftment Project (CTPUP) 2 years ago in an effort to get all dogs and cats from disadvantaged families in the Cape Town CBD and Atlantic Seaboard vaccinated and sterilised.
Why did CTPUP start?
“This initiative came about one day when, near our facility, one of the people who lives on the street with his dog was arrested and put into jail. His poor dog had nowhere to go, and we could not take the dog into the hotel because he was not fully vaccinated or sterilised,” says Yanic Klue of atFrits Dog Hotel & Daycare Centre in the Cape Town CBD.
“I felt it was so wrong that an animal should have to pay the price for any wrongdoing of their owner, a person living on the street. So I decided there and then that I must put something together to ensure that all the dogs living on our streets get vaccinated and sterilised. Then, if something happens to the owner, the dog will be able to come and board at our dog hotel without risking putting our other resident dogs at risk of infectious disease or impregnation. And so, the Cape Town Pet Upliftment Project (CTPUP) was born.”
How does it work?
Disadvantaged people either have no visible means of income, or their income is insufficient for family subsistence or is below the minimum wage, making pet sterilisation, vaccination and microchipping unaffordable and financially out of reach. Someone with the financial means to sponsor a disadvantaged person with pets simply buys them a voucher for spaying/neutering, vaccination and microchipping.
“Our vision is that all dogs living on the streets of Cape Town will always have a roof over their head should something happen to their owner. This way, we alleviate the pressure on animal welfare organisations, most notably the Cape of Good Hope SPCA, which is where most animals end up when their owners fall on hard times.”
“Thankfully, we started CTPUP a few months before Covid and lockdown hit. During level 5 lockdown, when the people living on the street were transported to Strandfontein, atFrits was able to house more than 20 animals who had been living on the streets of Cape Town but were beneficiaries of CTPUP.”
“We know every single dog living in the street in our community by name. We keep an eye out for them because we live and breathe “dog”. Their vaccination booklets are also kept on file at atFrits for safekeeping, and we know the history of all the dogs,” says Klue.
When and where?
Every Wednesday, the Cape of Good Hope SPCA Mobile Unit is in the parking area next to atFrits Dog Hotel and Daycare Centre from 13h00 to 14h30, ready to help animals in need.
How CTPUP keeps your pets safe
By sponsoring a sterilisation (R400), annual vaccination (R100), or an Identipet microchip (R100), we can keep all the disadvantaged pets in our community healthy, both for themselves and the other pets in the community with who they may interact with at parks and other public places.
How to help
You can help support the community by bringing a homeless person from the street and their beloved dog (or cat) to the SPCA Mobile Unit. If you can’t bring them in person, you can purchase a voucher online or use the SnapScan code below. You can also elect to sponsor the first people and their pets who are on the waiting list if there is no specific person or pet you wish to sponsor.
You can buy a voucher at atFrits by scanning the CTPUP SnapScan code at the atFrits reception or by purchasing online on the SPCA website.
Thank you to M-Pets for sponsoring crates to help the community transport their precious pets to and from atFrits, and for the free collar for every dog who is vaccinated and sterilised.
Story: John’s cats
John is a resident of the informal settlement on the mountain slopes of the Bokaap, where he has lived all his life. John is classified as homeless because he has no official home address, and his dwelling is not so much four walls rather than an assortment of materials cobbled together that he has connected to form some shelter from the elements for himself and his beloved pets.
Says Klue, “Recently, we sterilised and vaccinated five cats in our community. Their owner, John, absolutely loves his cats and thanks to an amazing donation from Jenny Buckner, his cats were collected from atFrits by the Cape of Good Hope SPCA Mobile Clinic to get sterilised. The cats were dropped off again at atFrits on Friday, where a very eager John was waiting for them with open arms and cuddles to welcome them home.”
“I am so happy for the help with my cats,” says John. “I really love them, but I struggled with all the kittens that were born and died from hunger. Now my five cats are sterilised, and we can live happily ever after. Thank you to the dog hotel - my neighbour down the road - for loving me and my cats and for getting me the help I’ve needed.”
Find out more
For more information, visit https://capespca.co.za/campaigns/cape-town-pet-upliftment-project-ctpup/.
For more information about atFrits Dog Hotel & Daycare Centre, call (021) 200-4244, email info@atfrits.com or visit https://www.atfrits.com/.
