By Violina Kirova | Administrator
Reporting Period – 01.04.26 – 30.06.2026
In the period of Aril through June 2026, Animal Rescue Sofia continued to work with stray animals in Bulgaria. “The Farm” shelter is the place where we treat, socialize, rehabilitate and rehome dogs and cats from the streets of the country.
With the support of the donors of Animal Rescue Sofia, in the period April – June of 2026 Franzisca Veterinary Clinic admitted for treatment 279 dogs and cats, while the vets also attended to the animals placed in “The Farm” shelter. A total of 2 763 manipulations, treatments and surgeries were performed. Forty dogs and cats found their homes with good and responsible owners.
The stories of Zayo, Cookie, Jorko and the Easter litter of puppies are accounts of how we helped some of these dogs and cats.They are just a small number of the animals that we rescued during the reporting period.
Zayo
Zayo came from a small village in north-west Bulgaria. When he arrived, we only knew that he was roaming the streets there, while his lower jaw was hanging torn apart. He was a young, male dog that was awfully shy and withdrawn, and apparently in a lot of pain and discomfort. We gave him the name Zayo, which means rabbit in Bulgarian.
The clinical examination revealed that the lower jaw was broken and the wounds around the fracture were infected. Zayo’s tongue was black and dry. We weren’t sure, if he had been able to swallow food at all, since the accident happened. Zayo also had alopecia due to demodicosis and heavy infestation of fleas and ticks. He also had multiple cut wounds on the belly, some of which were also badly inflected. Antibiotic and analgesics treatment started, as soon as he was examined.
The vet conclusion was that Zayo got hit by a car – the impact had broken his jaw and afterwards he most probably got under the vehicle, which inflicted the rest of the wounds.
After the admission and initial stabilization, Zayo was operated and fragments of the fractured lower jaw were removed, along with the hanging and irreversibly damaged skin. Zayo also got a nasogastric tube to feed him. The belly wounds were cleaned and stitched.
After the operation, Zayo gradually built trust in people and started to find enjoyment in life. He was relieved from the pain and the medical care and regular feeding did wonders for his well-being.
Zayo is currently waiting for adopters in our shelter. We hope that someone will be able to appreciate what a wonderful boy he is, despite the missing lower jaw.
Cookie
Cookie was found on the road of a small village in Bulgaria in a very bad condition. She was a nine-year-old dog that weighed only two kilograms. Judging by the condition of her coat, she had been roaming the streets for a long time.
The examination at our clinic revealed that she had mammary tumours, in addition to the matted coat and terribly irritated skin. X-rays showed that luckily there were no metastasis and Cookie could be safely operated on. The mammary tumours were removed and despite her age, she recovered from the operation quite quickly. Cookie is now a cheerful, miniature-size dog that is waiting for her adopters in our shelter. Her old age is probably the reason why going home takes a bit longer for her, but being the lovable and cuddly dog she is, we are sure she will soon be united with a wonderful family.
Jorko
Jorko came from a municipal shelter in Sofia. He was admitted there, at 3 months of age, with fractures on his legs and pelvis. Since he could not get the surgical treatment he needed at the municipal shelter, he was transferred to our shelter. Apart from the multiple fractures, the puppy was anemic and also had a fungal and bacterial infection of the ears.
Jorko had an urgent surgery to fix the fractures and also received treatment for the infections. After the post-operative recovery, he underwent successive surgeries for removing a pin from one of his legs and an additional femoral head ostectomy. Jorko recovered very quickly from the orthopedic operations and soon there were no signs from the depressed puppy that we met at the beginning, when he was experiencing a lot of pain.
He now has a loving German family and lives the life as a happy pet.
The Easter litter
The Easter litter was a litter of 8 puppies abandoned in front of the shelter on the night before Easter. They all got names that in Bulgarian were related to Easter as a name day. Four boys and four girls were left in a small box in the middle of the night, when they were only a month old. The puppies had spent the night, cuddled to one another in the box they were abandoned. Luckily, none of them had dared to go out of the box and get injured on the busy road close to our shelter.
The puppies stayed in our facility for a couple of months, until they were fully vaccinated. The Easter litter all found their homes with families in Germany.
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