Kei, a Malinois cross showed that she is much more than just a man’s best friend. Kei took on a violent armed robber – and despite being shot in the face, she saved her owners’ lives in an extraordinary act of bravery at their Benoni home during the early hours of October 3.
Even though Kei’s jaw was severely shattered, the little canine desperately tried to alert the neighbours by running up and down at their gate. When she failed to get their attention, she sought further help.
Pet insurer, dotsure.co.za, was so moved by brave Kei’s love and devotion that they settled the veterinary hospital bills that included several procedures and reconstructive surgery on her jaw.
The Lamonts family adopted Kei from the Boksburg SPCA in 2020, and the distraught family called the SPCA for help when they found their canine hero with a shattered jaw and top molars, severely injured tongue and other shrapnel injuries after the horrific home invasion. Kei was unable to bark because of her wounded jaw.
The family’s other dog, Holly the Biewer Yorkshire terrier was distressingly killed by the attacker, after a traumatic firefight.
After the incident, Kei was rushed to an after-hours vet where she was stabilised, scanned and operated on. She was then referred to the Onderstepoort Veterinary Academic Hospital in Pretoria for further treatment and initial surgery.
She is now home and her wounds have been dressed, but is on medication and is being fed through a tube. Further scans and treatment await – including the fitting of a plate in her jaw and a possible bone graft. All this is expected to come to around R60 000.
And dotsure.co.za will foot the bill.
“When we heard about the ordeal the Lamont family went through and Kei’s brave actions to save them, despite her own serious injuries, we simply could not stand back – we knew we needed to step in and help,” says dotsure.co.za chief operating officer David Roache.
“dotsure.co.za is a caring brand, and we know that pets are more than animals – they’re family. We’re deeply moved by this little dog’s heroism. The Lamonts have been part of our pet insurance family since 2017 and, because we care about our family, we felt that the least we can do is to foot the bill for Kei’s care.”
“We’re a caring company – and we’re passionate about animals. Kei is getting the best treatment, and we look forward to partnering with the Lamonts on Kei’s journey, hopefully back to full health.”
Sarah Lamont, Kei’s dog parent, said: “It’s so reassuring to know that people can be so wonderful and kind. Thank you to dotsure.co.za for making it so much easier for our family to recover from this traumatic incident and for proving that humans actually are good, after all.”
Picture: Sally Lamont, Kei’s “mother”