They are lovely, sweet dogs from Tigger House who have been waiting patiently for many months to be able to fly to the USA and find homes with loving families.
There is now a very good chance that they will be able to travel in the next several months, after more than two years during since it has been extremely difficult to bring our shelter animals to the USA. They are among more than 40 dogs waiting for adoption, and we pray more of them will be able to travel in the future.
Red Heart is a sturdy, shaggy, friendly shep mix who came to the shelter two years ago. He is about four years old, very healthy and playful, would make a wonderful family member.
Arami, which means patient or calm, is a lovely, good-natured dog as her name suggests. She is five years old and was rescued in the street after giving birth to several puppies last year. She loves people and gets along well with other dogs.Both Red Heart and Arami are sterilized and vaccinated. We will keep you posted here as their travel plans develop, and we are hoping that more Tigger House dogs will also be able to fly to the US in the not too distant future. Thanks for keeping all our dogs in your hearts!!!
Meet Red Heart and Arami!
STUMPY NEEDS A HOME!!!
STUMPY is a short, stout, funny, friendly and mischievous dog, a lab/mutt mix who was rescued in Afghanistan and is eager to find a family home. He is now living in Falls Church, northern Virginia, and is available to meet and greet potential adopters any time. He loves people but is nervous around new dogs at first. He has stayed in various shelters, foster homes and rescue facilities in Canada before reaching the USA in September. He is doing well on leash walks and practice visits with a small, female rescue dog. He would need time to adjust to a new home with another dog but his intentions are good. He is a real sweetie!!!
For more information call 703 577 4460 or 954 594 7439.
A MIRACLE FOR PAI KAJ
Our sweet and long-suffering PAI KAJ, an Anatolian shepherd mix with a chronic deformity in her front legs due to infant malnutrition, lived in Tigger House for five years and then came to the US in early 2021, in hopes of finding the right home. She got expert treatment at the Veterinary Orthopedic and Sports Medicine facility near Baltimore, where they fabricated custom braces for her paws and ankles, and she then stayed for many months with our dear friends at Southern Oasis Pet Resort in Maryland and at Dudes Dog House in Virginia.
Finally, in January of 2022, a wonderful couple in Falls Church, who had already adopted a delicate hound with three legs and an eager Rottie boy with badly deformed front legs from birth, welcomed Pai into their home, where she instantly bonded with the entire human and canine pack. Feline introductions are still a work in progress.
CONGRATULATIONS to Pai Kaj and eternal gratitude to Meg, Youssef, Daphne and Timmy for opening heart and home to our dear Pai. The photo here shows all three dogs mellowing out after just a few nights together.
Sometimes miracles really do happen.
Stop the Presses!!
We have wonderful news about Golden, Blinky and Butterfly, who arrived from Kabul in June and have been eagerly waiting for the right homes ever since. They stayed for many weeks with Andrew and Dan at Dude’s Dog House and Spa in northern Virginia, where they were treated like royalty by the loving staff, and introduced to many potential adopters. We are delighted to report that after much effort and dedication, all three dogs have now been adopted and are adjusting to life as American pets. Thank you so much to Denise in Orlando, Florida, who adopted our dear deaf Blinky, to Brittany and the Bowen family in northern Maryland, who adopted our sweet shy Golden, and to David, Maggie and Rusty in Takoma Park, who adopted our whirlwind girl Butterfly. Congratulations to all three families and their grateful new home companions!!!!
Thank you for your thoughts about Tigger House during this chaotic and constantly changing time in Kabul. All the shelter animals (40 dogs and 30 cats) and staff are safe at this time.
You can help in two ways:
1. We need your donations to continue to support the animals both in country and those that are awaiting homes in the U.S. You can make a donation through this website on our donation tab.
2. We also need homes for the remaining 6 dogs and 3 cats that were brought to the US in the last shipment. The animals are located in Virginia/Maryland/DC and Wisconsin/Minnesota areas. We are looking for homes only in those areas at this time.
If you are interested in adopting and would like more information, please email us at kabulcritters@gmail.com. And please keep in your thoughts the safety of the people of Afghanistan and our beloved rescue animals, as well as many more who are still out there in the streets, homeless and vulnerable to harm.
To adopt an animal or find out more, please email us at kabulcritters@gmail.com
or call our US office at (703) 577- 4460.
This is Tigger House
Tigger House is a small, low-cost animal shelter and veterinary clinic for homeless, sick or injured small animals in Kabul, Afghanistan. It has been in operation since 2004 and has cared for several thousand dogs and cats, as well as the occasional bird, rabbit and monkey. It has a full-time Afghan staff of 10, including a para-veterinarian, and English-speaking manager, and two assistant vets. It provides vaccinations for rabies and distemper, deworming, surgical spaying and neutering, and treatment for a variety of ailments including skin and eye infections, respiratory and urinary infections, abscesses and vaginal/uterine cysts, and traumatic injuries.
You can read more about our mission and needs here.
Good News from Tigger House
At a moment of upheaval and hope for change, we share good news from Tigger House. This photo shows two of our shelter rescue dogs, Babs and Beaver, posing in front of their brand new winter dog house. We had 8 of them built by a local carpenter, and have replaced most of our old ones. They are sturdy, raised, roofed, and roomy enough for several adult dogs or a dozen puppies. The nights are frigid during the winter often near zero at night, and all of our dogs are much warmer and happier now.
The Cat Who Remembered...
It was a chilly autumn morning in Kabul. I came down the alley, dragging a heavy suitcase. It had been months since my last visit when the coronavirus had forced me to rush home. Now, I was not sure what to expect. Most Afghans, who often gather in crowded mosques and weddings, were fearful and hunkered down. The few foreigners I knew were locked into their compounds. It was going to be a lonely trip.
As I trudged along, passing guards with masked faces, I steeled myself to find no one waiting for me at my office entrance. For years, I had fed a variety of neighborhood cats each morning, then watched them play in the garden while I drank my coffee. It was a calming ritual in a place where violence could erupt at any minute.
One of them, a frail but scrappy ginger cat, I had taken home to the US with me, after a truck bomb blew out my office window where she often sat in the sun. Having miraculously survived, she would now be safe forever, and when I returned home, I knew I would find her napping next to the window in my office.
But I also knew that by now, the other cats of my Kabul alley would have probably given up on me and retreated into the shadows, nosing in garbage piles by day and hiding in culverts by night. I had always left supplies of cat food behind, but I was never sure if they would last long enough.
Some of them could have been injured or fallen sick in my absence, or perhaps even died. I would have no way to know. Each step felt heavier. I did not want to reach my door, find no one waiting, and hear the steel barricade shut behind me.
Then, with half a block to go, I glimpsed a familiar gray and white cat sitting on a wall. She was not one who had ventured into my garden, but I had often fed her outside the gate. As she heard my footsteps slowing, she crouched, ready to jump down and run, but briefly turned her head my way.
Her eyes widened, then lit up in what I can only describe as joyful astonishment. She uttered a long, plaintive cry, and I understood it as clearly as if she had been speaking English. It is you! You are back! Where have you been? Why were you gone so long?
Then she jumped down and ran over to me, swishing against my legs in that unmistakable ingratiating feline gesture. As I continued on my way, she trotted beside me. When we reached my entrance, it was indeed bereft of cats, but I suspected she would soon inform the neighborhood of the news.
Sure enough, early the next morning when I went out to the garden, there was a black kitten waiting on the wall and a shaggy tabby watching from under a rosebush. Twenty minutes later, the cat I was most anxious to see appeared on the roof and leaped down immediately. She was a slender gray creature with topaz eyes, keenly intuitive.
Two years before, after a close friend had been killed in another bombing, she and I had spent many hours together, sitting on a garden bench and contemplating the mysteries of life. When she curled up on the grass near my feet, I knew she would be back every day.
The gray and white cat, basking in the distinction of having spotted me first and announced my arrival to the waiting multitudes, regally ignored us all and groomed herself in a corner.
As I watched her, I thought about the concept of recognition. I had received a few formal honors in my career over the years, but the look of unabashed welcome on that cat’s face, when she spied me coming down the alley, was all the recognition — and appreciation –I could ever want.
Everyone Deserves a Home...
Winter in Kabul is cold and snowy, so housing is essential for the protection and rehabilitation of our residents. We are in the process of building additional dog houses and would appreciate your participation in this project. As you can see, Tigger House residents are thrilled to have their own home!
Click here to help provide a home for Tigger House residents.
Please Adopt Lily!!!
She is a sweet female hound mix dog, about four years old, who has been at Tigger House for the past two years. She was rescued from the street and has adapted very well to living in the shelter with other dogs. She also loves people and is easy to manage. She has been spayed and vaccinated and is in excellent health. She would make an excellent companion for any home and we can arrange to send her to you.
Please call 703-577-4460 if you would like to know more.
Some Of Our Guests
