Homeless and living on the streets of Lisbon, Vítor Neves has suddenly found an army of fairy godmothers and fathers – all because of his love for his dog, Kayla.
Aged around 8, Kayla lives with him on the streets. In fact, she is the reason he remains on the streets, because he hasn’t been able to find accommodation that will allow him to keep his dog.
This has led IRA – standing for ‘animal intervention and rescue’ – do what it does best: intervene. But in a supremely positive way.
Aside from paying for Kayla to be microchipped, vaccinated, dewormed and deflead, the charity has purchased her a waterproof cape, and made sure Vítor has new shoes, a cellphone (so workers can know where to find him) and a warm waterproof jacket.
Posting updates on Facebook, IRA has stressed the charity’s only expenses have been for Kayla. The rest has come directly out of volunteers’ pockets.
Further help has come by way of helpers trying to ‘prepare Vítor for interviews’.
Kaya meantime has been lavished with treats and even had a few ‘free’ beauty treatments – including a massage and a ‘paticure’.
The next hurdle has been to find day-time foster care for Kaya for when Vítor succeeds in finding work.
According to the IRA facebook page, offers of help have been pouring in, and at least two seem to be do-able.
Now it’s just a question of waiting to see what happens next. But without doubt, Vítor Neves’ plight on the streets of Lisbon would never have been noticed had he not turned people’s heads for the care and attention he lavishes on his four-legged friend.
