Cantinho da Lili was born and Liliana was able to use a location with some old kennels for a time but they were unsuitable and she was running out of room as more dogs came to her for care. She moved to the present location in Gouveia in August 2013 from where she continues to work tirelessly for the dogs in her care.

 

Liliana is helped and supported by a handful of dedicated volunteers who give their time freely to clean the kennels, feed and care for the dogs. We thank our volunteers immensely for their dedication even in the extremes of weather we have here in Gouveia! Liliana is also supported by the generosity of people who donate money, food or other items and the wonderful people who are patrons of some of the dogs.

 

Liliana is hugely grateful to her partner, Carlos, her family and friends for all their love and support.

 

The centre has 12 purpose built kennels comprising of a sheltered area with beds and an outside area with fresh drinking water. The outside area urgently needs concreting as at the present time it is just earth, some of the dogs are digging large holes and urine just gets soaked up. Unfortunately the cost of this is far more than the centre can afford at around €3500.

 

The dogs kennels are cleaned out daily with all fecal matter disposed of, urine washed away and bedding checked. The dogs get let out of their kennels daily to run and play whilst their kennels are cleaned. Unfortunately due to lack of volunteers, some days the dogs only get half an hour to have time being stroked or played with and to run around. With more help we could spend more time with these dogs who so desperately need it.

 

The dogs are checked and fed daily. In the winter the dogs eat around 30kg of dry food every day, in the summer it is around 20kg. There is often a dog that needs veterinary treatment for an ongoing medical condition, sickness, vaccination or sterilization.

 

All the dogs and puppies in our care receive regular worm, flea and tick treatment and all are vaccinated and microchipped. See the FAQs for more information on vaccination, microchipping & other health issues.

 

Cantinho da Lili is a not for profit organisation. The centre does not have large overheads, our rent is fairly low and the only bill we have is for water as we do not have gas, electricity or a phone line on site. Liliana herself does not take a wage and relies on her family for financial support for herself and the centre. However due to the lack of volunteers and the amount of dogs we have we employ one part-time member of staff. With around seventy dogs in our care at any one time we do have huge outgoings in food bills and veterinary care particularly.

 

The primary aim of the centre is to rehabilitate and rehome abandoned and neglected dogs. We would love to see our kennels empty with all our dogs living with loving families. Realistically that is not going to happen at the present time and so we also have other aims. Firstly to raise money to help with the upkeep of the centre and to encourage more people to volunteer their time to help care for these dogs. Secondly to raise awareness about the amount of abandoned and neglected dogs there is here in Portugal and to campaign to end all animal cruelty.

 

Due to the huge amount of stray and neglected dogs here in Portugal we are always full to capacity. When we do have space we sometimes rescue dogs from the horrific conditions of the municipal kennels. See the FAQs for more information on the stray problem, abused animals and the municipal kennels.