01/11/2026
We agree with the advice. “Don’t rescue more animals than you have a plan and the capacity to care for.” The animals already depending on you have to come first. Take one in without a plan for what comes next and it can end up with nowhere to go. Stay overstretched for too long and the work itself can’t last. Drown in rescue and you starve the work that makes rescue less necessary.
But the advice doesn’t tell you what to do when five orphaned puppies are already in front of you and no one else can take them. At that point, walking away means leaving them to suffer and die. And the kids who did everything right by asking for help are left to watch it happen, holding something no child should have to carry.
Saying yes to puppies this young isn’t one decision. Without their mum, they need feeding every few hours, day and night, plus vet care and weeks of looking after before they’re old enough for homes. And then finding them homes…
And there will be a next litter. These days, we find or someone brings us a box or bag of abandoned puppies or kittens every week. Every one of those litters starts with a mum who wasn’t sterilised, in a community left to manage the consequences of a problem it hasn’t been given the means to prevent. Rescue will always be part of this work, but right now it’s carrying far more than it should. The long-term answer is turning off the tap: sterilising and vaccinating community dogs, and supporting the people in Kibera who already look out for them. Until prevention catches up with the need, we’ll keep finding ourselves in front of puppies like these.
So we’re asking, and we mean it: what would you do? Tell us in the comments.
And if you’ve been thinking about welcoming a dog into your family, please adopt. Buying a puppy, even from a breeder who calls themselves ethical, adds to the demand that drives backyard breeding in Kenya. Adopting gives a home to a dog who’s already here.
WhatsApp message us on 0791 420 477 to learn about our adoption process and meet the puppies and dogs looking for homes.