About
Rescue Education Sanctuary Quarantine
RESQ is dedicated to providing care at low-to-no cost using recycled goods and materials.
The RESQ Mission
Rescue
RESQ is dedicated to providing food and medical care when possible for stray and/or undernourished animals. We work with other private rescuers to provide safe spaces while training strays for rehoming.
COMING SOON: See our IMAGE GALLERIES for animals up for adoption, they will be marked by their photo.
Not able to adopt? We still have the option for you to SPONSOR an animal. Sponsors provide a small monthly payment that goes directly to the animal they choose to help. We send you photos and receipts every month with an update on the animals health and activities.
Education
We are dedicated to educating dogs and their humans! There is a lot that dogs don't know about us. That's why they give us weird looks. The same can be said regarding what we don't know about dogs.
Did you know that a dog will communicate with their eyes? Or, that a cat develops the ability to 'meow' so that they can communicate with humans? Well, don't be surprised. They want foods. They don't understand that their muddy feet aren't allowed on the furniture. And, they won't take them off the furniture, until we teach them.
See our EDUCATION Guidebooks and Videos for RESQ´s common training tools and educational seminars.
Sanctuary
Due to the incredibly high numbers of strays, RESQ is currently unable to take in additional animals. We are full up, bursting at the seams with fluffy, opinionated boarders, and we are dedicated to finding them homes before we bring in more. We understand that we will likely always operate at capacity. That is why, we work with area farmers to provide for the strays that they encounter in the countryside. Together, we build bedding and shelter using repurposed crates and materials obtained from produce markets. Using donated clothing, blankets, etc we create a warm, or cool, environment to live in, and we get an easy destination for food deliveries, medical checks, and Buddy Time.
To get HowTo Guidebooks on building animal shelters from re-purposed materials go to our TOOLS PAGE.
To get instructions on how to cook our balanced dog and cat food download one of our Cookbooks.
Quarantine
Medical care, in the field and at home, is a big part of the RESQ mission. When dealing with stray animals, we are always very careful to avoid spreading disease between the field and the RESQ populations. We use field-only clothes and maintain a special area to disinfect between the field and the sanctuary.
We strongly suggest that new rescues or new members of the family be kept in quarantine for at least 30 days, or longer if the quarantined animal is undergoing treatment for a contagion (ex. mange). Consult with your vet.
RESQ has a separate room for new animals where their health is monitored and they are treated (most strays will come in with fleas at the very least). They can safely adjust to the new environment, people, and healthy RESQ diet. Meanwhile, their temperament can be monitored for placement within the RESQ sanctuaries.
Go to our MEDICAL Section to get the RESQ Medical Field Guide and How To Care For Your Pet At Home.
The Team
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Jenn and Moe are a full-stack development team. Their ¨free time¨ away from the RESQ animals is spent building new websites for personal or business use. Jenn specializes in Design, UI/UX, Advertising, and Marketing. While Moe specializes in Code Development, Compliance Consulting, and Website & Systems Engineering. In short, Moe puts the present into the package; Jenn makes the package look pretty. They are currently living on a mountaintop in Europe, with all their fluffies, and—you got it—RESQing animals.
Our History
Jenn and Moe have lifelong experience working with animals, both independently, and as a team. Both women were born with debilitating medical conditions which were eased when aided by support dogs. Each disabled person-support dog pair must be trained to give commands and to complete tasks; to this extent, Moe and Jenn allow the dogs an opportunity to express their natural tendencies. A dog that likes to climb or jump can be given tasks that involve climbing, jumping, or standing on back legs. Conversely, a dog that likes to jump that displays early signs of hip dysplasia should not be given jumping tasks; instead, give these dogs retrieve tasks. This recognition of the animal's individuality is a unique method that Jenn and Moe use to train their own medical alert dogs.
Moe has an extensive background with cats and dogs. She has a gift for making hospice care comfortable for the terminal animal and family members. At 5 years old, Moe trained her first emotional support dog, a Lhasa Apso, named Stevie who followed her by voice command. Moe has studied animal behavior for over 30 years and uses her vast knowledge base to communicate with animals silently, using body language, or even their own language.
Jenn's experience includes working with farm animals and small animals. She also has experience providing animal medical care. Jenn's background in linguistics shows in her love of teaching her dogs new words. She will quickly tell you that her dogs know over 300 words in the English language. Some of them even speak French, German, and Spanish. Jenn follows the theory that animals communicate with us silently, but also in our own languages. Cats, for example, would never meow in the wild; only mother cats and kittens communicate this way. Otherwise the ct would never be able to hunt for food as a natural predator would. Instead cats have come to see us as the mother species and have learned to meow in response to our own talking in order to get food and other creature comforts. Jenn has combined basic hand commands with RESQ's unique dog training methods to create an expanded sign language that accompanies her dog's 300+ word vocabularies in both auditory and visual ranges.
Sally's experience comes from lifelong rescuing of birds, cats, dogs, and hamsters; as well as, from years of working in pet stores and veterinarian offices throughout the USA. At one of the pet stores, she had the opportunity to work with Zoo-2-You to place a 6-foot long Albino Burmese Python. Sally also spent weeks playing Mama Owl to a rescued baby barn owl. Sally passed her love of animals and desire to help strays onto Moe. It's a family thing, as a girl her family had horses. Her Stardust was a black Appaloosa with a sprinkle of white paint. She primarily spends her retirement in the RESQ gardens, caring for the older and medically dependant animals, and playing adoptive Momma to any new charges brough into RESQ.
The RESQ diet is varied and intended to adjust to seasonal foods that you have available. It has been created by Jenn, in consultation with veterinarians in 3 countries and 2 continents. It was successfully implemented and tested by RESQ #1 over a 2 year period of time, during which proper nutrition was provided to over 35 undernourished dogs and cats. With this in the field success, RESQ #1 has created recipes for diet specific medical conditions, for returning to health and maintenance, and for hospice care as well.
Need some Web Development done? Check out Jenn and Moe's company Pir8 Eye. Get a discount on new projects by mentioning RESQ2020.
Our Business Partners
We have a fantastic group of partners in the area that help out a great deal!
IN MEMORIAM Juan 'La Cerisa' who was our first local contact in the area and helped us to create the idea and uses of RESQ. He has since passed away, but his love will carry on with RESQ.
Frutas Morales is a Los Velez based produce company with 2 large "fruterias" in Chirivel and Velez Rubio areas. They are one of the first produce companies to embrace our "strange" ideals and to begin donating their extra produce at the end of market day. They jokingly claim to be "Antigua" and do not have contact information as such, but are happy to be put in contact with interested parties.
Frutas Lizarte is a Los Velez based produce company that is family run in the Chirivel area. You will see 'Papa' Lizarte every week with either one of his daughters out to help. They are always happy to see us; in fact, they tend to scold us if we show up late!
Carniceria Thomas is a Chirivel located butcher that gives us usually about 10-20 pounds of off cuts for only 1 euro which pays his costs for the carry bags and electricity. If we manage to show up at the right time, he also has bags of "trash" cuts for us for free (these are bones, fat trimmings, and more).
Pescaderia is a local fish vendor that quite happily and freely gives us his off cuts, old produce, miscellaneous / left over shell fish, and more. Must be something about the smell, but here at RESQ, there are no bad smells just interesting ones. (Some way more "interesting" than others! According to our furry charges the fish guy is hands down the favorite partner of RESQ.
Cooperativa Chirivel is a local co-op group that grows local produce and helps to connect the community. We do not use them as much these days as we have more than enough produce from the market vendors. They do great work for the community so we would rather that produce go to someone who needs it. The Chirivel Co-op does hold a special place in our hearts though as the second local group to embrace RESQ. Every week we would receive a large crate full of seasonal fruits and vegetables for free. The Chirivel Co-op now has a corner store where they sell local produce, as well as artisan goods, honey, wood, etc.
Panaderia is a local bakery that donates a great deal of information to RESQ. While the baker never has enough bread to go around, much less to donate, she will patiently talk to RESQ about local information (if she's not too busy). They also have a bunch of animals they feed with the old breads.
Bar El Poligono in Velez Rubio supplies RESQ with 2 kilos of local honey every few months. Local honey is an Elixir of Life that does everything from heal wounds (in people, dogs, plants...) to help with asthma and upset stomachs. And, while this liquid gold is not provided by Antonio for free (nor would we ask him to, Long Live the Bees!) it does come at an incredibly low price of 6 euros a kilo. For LOCAL honey!
We would like to make a quick shout-out to all the Los Velez area Ayuntamientos (Town Halls) for their patience in dealing with our queries. One might think that this is all part of their job, but the front desk clerks in general have been fantastic in dealing with our 'strange' and 'foreign' ideas.
The Budget
RESQ's Current Yearly Budget
2139.80 Food + Materials
625.00 1st year minimum medical (per dog)
4380.00 Property Expenses
4120.00 Vehicle Expenses
3760.00 IT Expenses
Total: 15,024 Euros Per Year
OR
~1,000 Euros per Dog per Year
Food
RESQ strives to offer each of our charges the most nutritionally balanced diet available. This includes a diet that is 40% vegetable, 10% fruit, 25% protein, 20% starch, and 5% fat. The fruit and vegetables from the market and the meat from the butcher and fish seller provide enough food in their nutrition categories to provide for 80% of the diet for 15 animals a week, at 2 meals a day. Market provides roughly 15 pounds of produce, the fish seller about 2 pounds, the butcher about 10 pounds.
This is one weekly produce market, a butcher, a fish seller, and 3 volunteers. Imagine a fleet of volunteers that could clean up several markets a day. We would have so much food left over that we could feed the city shelters as well.
The following prices are reflective of costs per week, for 15 animals at 2 meals per day.*
Common Foods Received on Market Day (depending on season)
(Some of the foods listed below are not suitable for dogs; however, volunteers love them.)Vegetables: artichoke, beets, broccoli, cabbage, carrots (including green tops), cauliflower, celery, eggplant, gourds, green beans, kale, lettuce, lima beans (including shell), mustard greens, parsnips, peas (including shell), potato, pumpkin, radish, spinach, squash, yams
Fruit: apples, apricots, banana, cucumber, kiwi, lemon, melon, orange, peach, pear, persimmon, plum, pomegranate, strawberry, tomato
Herbs: fennel, garlic, parsley
Meat: chicken and turkey (head, neck, organs, carcass, skin, leg bones, feet), goat and sheep (head, cut-offs), pork (skin, fat, bone, head, cut-offs)
Seafood: anchovies, clam and oyster (in shell), mackerel (whole, heads, tails), random fish steak cut-offs, innards, sardines, squid and octopus (whole)
*Cost: 1 euro for the butcher
There is still a large gap in the diet that comes from the lack of starches and grains, an ~20% gap. Starches that RESQ uses are rice, pasta, and flour. (We don't give the dogs potatoes as the green ones contain solanine.) Nine out of ten times, the RESQ diet will be a mix of rice and pasta, but we keep large bags of flour in the storeroom for those times that ingredients run low.
Starches: 2 kilo of rice, 2 kilo of pasta, 1 kilo of flour
*Cost: 4.95 euros
Because the RESQ diet depends on what is available at market and in season, there is no guarantee that the butcher will have a bag for us, or that market will be open (bad weather), and so on. We currently pay for several items out of pocket to keep in the RESQ storeroom. We also freeze, dehydrate, and can the excess foods for those lean weeks.
The following are items that we like to keep in store for those times that the diet is not very even.
Protein options: almonds, beans (red, white, and black), chickpeas, eggs, lentils, canned tuna in oil (used infrequently as tuna is high in mercury)
Grain options: couscous, oats
Vegetable options: frozen mix bag, sack of potatoes
Fat: oil from tuna can, olive oil, sunflower seed oil, vegetable oil
*Cost: 17.30 euros
The final addition to the RESQ diet is a high protein (30%) dry dog food and a neutral dry cat food. Mixing the dry foods into the recipe ensures that the animals get enough fiber, vitamins, and minerals, regardless what chance items we get at market. As such, the dry dog/cat food provides a great base for the RESQ diet. (We also soak our dry food in homemade broths, tee hee.)
*Cost: 5.10 euros
Not to be forgotten is the cost of water, an essential part of caring for any animal, particularly strays. RESQ uses bottled water in some sanctuaries due to the high mineral content of the tap water. Mineral buildup is a concern for older animals and animals with urinary/kidney/liver medical conditions. Some of our other animals receive distilled water to keep the tap water minerals from their systems. For all our countryside charges, water must be transported as there are no water sources available. Ideally, all of our animals would receive distilled water to prevent mineral buildups from forming, but our budget does not always cover the propane necessary for this option. The below cost is for the bottled water only.
*Cost: 12.80 euros
Cooking Materials: bags, butane, dehydrator, electric, food processor, juicer, knives, large bowls, oven sheet pans and oven, pots, pans, Tupperware, utensils. All provided by donations.
Total Cost of Food + Materials per Week: 41.15 euros
Yearly Total: 2139.80
Medical
Cost per dog, this supply kit for one dog will last most of the year.
Medicine: aloe vera oil, apple cider vinegar, baking soda, chamomile tea, chamomile in oil, garlic water, hydrogen peroxide, iodine, licorice root, rubbing alcohol, toothpaste, white vinegar, vasoline/antibiotic cream
20 euros
Supplies: screw top bottles (2), squirt bottles (2), carry container, cotton balls, face wipes, field carry containers/bag, gauze, small jars (2), large and small scissors, markers, nail clippers, notepad, q-tips, storage containers, tape
35 euros
Vet: antibiotics, de-worming medicine, flea and tick collar, flea and tick medicine*, microchip, pet passport/medical records book, rabies, spay/neuter, vaccinations, vet visit cost (also surgeries)
*Both medicine and collar are recommended due to the high and debilitating leishmanosis presence in our area. We would normally only recommend 1 poison at a time, or the proper natural garlic regime.570+ euros
Total: 625+ euros per dog for the first year
Animal Supplies
Bed*, blanket*, cold weather jacket and booties*, collar*, food and water bowls, hairbrushes and picks, harness*, id tag, leashes* (regular/ nose lead/ short lead for training), notepad and pen for daily and medical records, toothbrush, toy box, toys*
*All fabric items can be upcycled from old/donated clothing.Currently acquired via donations and upcycling projects
Volunteer Jobs and Worker Supplies
Volunteer Jobs
Trainer, kitchen crew, medical crew, exercise/yard time/potty time crew, driver for property pickups (vet visits, grocery, deliveries), property manager, IT, market crew, front desk/resale/secretary
Split regular/general property work (yard/cleaning) between kitchen, exercise, and property manager. Tree trimming, septic work etc. will be handled by trained professionals for insurance purposes.
Currently RESQ operates with only 2 full time volunteers and a part time volunteer.
Imagine what we could do with a full crew!
Supplies
Radios, pouch/belt/fanny pack, carry case, pad/logs, pens, treats, work gloves and shoes, work jackets, work clothes (all weather pants and long sleeve shirt), cold weather gear (hats, scarves, gloves, ear protection, socks, face mask, eye protection, thermals, emergency warm packs), warm weather gear (bandanna, sunscreen, water bottle, emergency cool packs), towel, thermal blanket.
Currently acquired via donations
On-Site Tools
Radios, shovel, hammer, nails, bucket, screws, screwdrivers, trash cans, brooms, brushes, dust bins, hedge trimmers, trash bags, gloves plastic and garden, nonslip mats, hot water bottles, fire extinguisher, cleaning supplies (washing machine, clothes line/rack, mop and bucket, broom and pail, vacuum cleaner, lemon or lavender soaps, clothes pins and racks, vinegar, sponges), kitchen supplies (stove, large pots, chopping boards, knives, large stirring spoons, peeler, strainer, large mixing bowls, and large food containers).
Currently acquired via donations
Property Expenses
Monthly
Rent 230 euros, Water 10 euros, Internet and phones 40 euros, Electricity 70 euros, Gas (Butane) 15 euros
Monthly Total: 365 euros
Yearly Total: 4380 euros
Vehicle Expenses
Currently both vehicles are suffering from major issues: the station wagon has been parked due to a broken transmission, and the van is currently limping valiantly with aluminum exhaust tape keeping the power steering coolant leak down.
Gas, Diesel: (currently 0 euros, station wagon is out of commission), 20 euros per month
Gas, Petroleum: 40 euros per month
Maintenance (0.50 euro cents / kilometer): about 30 km per week, 120 km per month, 60 euros per month
Insurance: 30 euros per month
Monthly Expenses Total: 150 euros
Break Down Expenses: 150 euros van power steering leak fix, 20 euros van exhaust sealant fix, 1500 euros station wagon transmission fix, 500 euros new tires and balance for both vehicles
Spanish ITV Inspection: 250 euros per year
Extra Yearly Expenses: 2320 euros
Total Yearly Expense: 4120 euros
IT Expenses
We have a fantastic IT and Web Presence crew that donates about as many hours of work to the cause as they actually bill us for, so we couldn't be happier with the services of Pir8 Eye. We even get a 15% non-profit discount on everything!
Website Creation (resq.pir8aye.net): 5 page website at discount, 1000 euros
Email Creation (contact.resq@gmail.com): 320 euros
Social Media Creation (Twitter, Facebook Page): 280 euros
Maintenance (website, email, and social media): 90 euros per month, 1080 euros yearly