Using Animal Care to Promote Empathy in Children

During Vusumnotfo’s June 30 spay day a mother dog was operated on, leaving her 5 puppies without milk. So Vusumnotfo staff took on the duties of feeding the puppies by syringe.

The following week, when the puppies were about 4 weeks old, Vusumnotfo staff Nomcebo and Sbonile took the puppies to Hlanganani Primary School for sharing. It was an amazing experience for the students, as captured in the photos and comments from below:

Mapule - It was incredible to see puppies fed from syringes, and to know that its possible for them to bottle-feed just like human beings, so all in all it was a learning experience for future vets in our school.

Thobile - It was a good, fun and educational experience for the kids. It was good for the kids to see the puppies live because some of our students have only see puppies on TV.  Dogs tend to be kept for security only so puppies to play and hold are not the norm at all. 

Sithembile - The learners enjoyed having the puppies in their hands and it was the first time for some of them to see puppies as young as these ones.  A few were afraid to touch the puppies but after some time, even they started to come closer. 

Busi - Its was a great experience for our kids to just hold the puppies & play with them, and to learn that they can be fed with a bottle! 

Princess - It was a great experience for both learners and teachers; the kids asked a lot of interesting questions like “since they are so small, can they be called a puppy?”