Hello, I am Shailja; I run this tiny initiative Roadside Romeos which looks after dogs that are in distress and needing medical intervention in the city of Lucknow, besides feeding around 30+ dogs one square meal, every day. It started with me in school feeding my lunch to the dogs and rotis at night to the cows around until  4 years ago when I first rescued an injured cat in my hostel during my graduation, it is then I realized that animals born on street come into this world and suffer their entire lives. Since, then I have been regularly feeding dogs and other needy animals in and around my vicinity, getting them vaccinated and sterilized along with providing them medical assistance during needs.An animal born on streets leads a life of hardship every single day, from fending for themselves to having zero security and facing multiple challenges each day but a few individuals like you and me are bestowed with the powers of compassion and kindness to make their lives a wee bit simple and disrupt that pattern of suffering for them.It started with me looking after 2 dogs but now it has grown into a small family of 30+ and we cannot just turn our backs on them, to make this sustainable we prepare meals for these dogs each day and seeing them resting their heads on the pavement waiting and wagging their tails on hearing our footsteps approaching is a treat to sore eyes and that is what keeps us going.  

The cost of feeding these dogs every month leads to around INR 8,000, which includes dry and wet dog food, rice and butter milk packs. Along with that we need to refill our curated medical emergency kit which requires basic deworming tablets for adult dogs and liquid ones for puppies, Betadine, Dettol, Negasunt powder, anti-tick sprays, some neo mac tablets and so on along with cotton in abundance, which costs us anywhere around INR 5000-6000 following up we also need to save up money for dogs who are extremely sick and need long term care, to pay for their foster expenses, treatment, supplements and medicines. They are vaccinated yearly in order to take away the risks of dogs dying of deadly diseases like parvo and distemper which kill thousands of them every year, dogs are treated on the spot for any bruises or wounds and rushed to the vet the minute they show signs of lethargy or appear frail detecting several fatal diseases within time. Dogs that require round the clock treatment are admitted to Jeev Basera Lucknow, our usual consultation veterinary doctors are Dr Vijay and Dr. Surya in Gomti Nagar.Apart from enjoying the free food, the dogs also get sterilized as they reach of age, as their population grows at a fast rate, thus to keep them safe and secured it is pivotal for them to be spayed/neutered. Prior to the intervention of HSI in Lucknow, we got our dogs operated at a private clinic which would cost us at a subsidized rate rupees 2500 for the surgery and the post-operative care but now with the expert intervention by the HSI  team that has been covered and we could not be more grateful about it. Roadside Romeos over the course of past two and a half years has rescued close to 50 dogs and coordinated adoption for 25 dogs!
I am trying to raise funds for the dogs under my care and new ones that are brought to our attention and you can help us sustain by donating a little something for them, no amount is big or small as it is always the intent that matters. I hope you will help us help them have a better shot at their lives. Thank you.
You can stay up to date about our work by following us on instagram @roadside_romeos_