10 hour day - Fe's gets sterilised - Its official !

At 8:30 this morning I went to the shelter to pick up the dogs that were due to go to the vet today. There was Fe, previously sterilised last July and then pregnant & gave birth last December. There was Aunty, who was affected by Distemper when she was younger and as a consequence, nods her head 24 hours a day. And then there was Molly, who is currently on heat. So all 3 needing a little bit of special treatment during the operation.

The vet advised me afterwards, that Fe had definitely not been previously sterilised as there were no signs of scar tissue and she had both her ovaries & fallopian tubes intact. Molly's op was successful without complication and Aunty was sedated with a different anaesthetic to deal with her condition appropriately.

Also along today is Daeng Gwaa, the dog from the village. The owner of the dogs' father is still threatening to kill Daeng Gwaa.

From the shelter, Naiomi & Luca who are both suffering from a persistent cough. The vet said their lungs are ok and that was a relief. He suggested we change their meds slightly.

And finally this morning, I took along a village dog called Aidut, a Jack Russell / Beagle cross. He is suffering with blood parasites and last week his blood platelets were so low that blood poored from his nose. Today he received an injection to boost his blood condition. Cute little guy.

Left the 4 for sterilisation with the vet & took the other 3 back to the shelter / home.

Met up with Kh Yu at the NakornPayap International School to drop off some sales & information stuff for a forthcoming Movie Night they are holding to raise money for our shelter.

For lunch I met a friend at his home and his sister who is visiting from Holland. Renate joined me in the afternoon, when I went back to the shelter & collected Sandy & Diane to return them to their previous homes, now having recovered from their operations.

While we were at the shelter I could see Renate falling in love for so many of the dogs at the shelter and she found it very difficult to hide the tears.

We took Sandy back to Wat Doi Kam and met up with the usual crowd there and it was great to see so many of the pack. She was now sterilised and looking fatter than when she came to the shelter a month ago.








We then went to Big C and returned Diane to her mate, Valentino. He looked very happy to see her, standing back and chilling out as she polished off the remnants of a pile of chicken bones. Her small operation to remove her rear dew claws was a sucess and she no longer limped or showed signs of discomfort from her legs.







Learning how to drive away from Big C now, Valentino always wants to follow me and I inevitably turn back and stop him running. This hurts every time. Today though I did a bit of a detour and snaked through traffic till he lost sight of me.











At about 16:30 we drove to Kachow market to meet up with a coffee stall vendor who cares for dogs in the area. She had been looking after a little Labrador type pup who dragged his legs behind him. We picked him up and he will stay the night at the shelter before seeing the Orthopedic specialist at the small animal hospital tomorrow morning.




Dropped Renate off at her home in a flood of tears and promised we would do this again. She is a great animal lover and I look forward to seeing her again soon.

Picked up the 4 sterilisations from the vets and took them back to the shelter and their homes.

Arrived home at 19:00.

Help is at Hand

Today Tameer & Anne visited the shelter to help some of the residence with their ailments.

Here they are with Susy, giving her warmth and kindness and helping her to realise the healing within her.

Susy has a problem with her rear left leg, we believe from being hit with a stick. A bone in the leg was broken and has never really healed properly.

Tuesday with JJ & NuDee

After yesterdays fiasco of losing JJ, today I returned to his haunt to find him and keep my eye on him till he stopped running off. First of all I discovered his hiding place, his bed and then managed to get him to eat a little mixture of sardine & sedaline. Mary was able to join me and we followed him about, through bushes, under floors of buildings and then full circle back near to his bed where I was able to cover him with a blanket & carry him off to the car.

At the vets, I could see there was a strand of what looked to be a stitch from a couple of inflamed spots next to his willy. You can see on the pic, there are several lumps & bumps there. The vet said he would operate immediately as there was puss coming from each end of the strand and it seemed there was something wrong under the skin.

Sure enough, as you can see from the second pic, its an 18inch length of surgical gauze that had been left inside him, possibly to act as a drain to an abscess or something. But..... months ago.

Anyway its out now, the scar of the op will heal up and he will be fine. He is now back at the shelter for a week of R&R and after he gets his stitches out, he can go back to his home, hopefully a bit fatter & healthier.

I also visited Rama IX park to see NuDee. He looks great and was pleased to see me. He was full of smiles and his willy is looking normal, his head on the level and therefore no ear infection and best of all, his coat is thick and fluffy. Wish Nola was here to see him now, he would love to see her I am sure, armed with a big bowl of yummy food & vitamins!!

Later, back at the shelter I checked out Bill, Wallace & Mutt. Bill as usual looked very happy and Wallace looked so lively & almost handsome with his brown hair! Mutt appears to have a severe nervous problem going on. When he moves about, his legs seem to dance and he looks like a bucking bronco at a rodeo, all because he is excited to greet someone.

Lesson 1 !

I woke up today thinking that I must get down to Wiang Kum Kam and give BuunLai a nice shower but more of that later.

Received a call just after breakfast from Karin about a kind man who had seen an emaciated dog near The Gallery & Good View Restaurant on Charoen Rat Road next to the river. I made my way there and saw the poor creature tucking into a plate of food put there by Mary, the wife of the original caller and an extremely kind hearted woman. We stood and chatted while the hungry dog ate and tried now & again to get a little closer. I noticed he had off white puss dripping down his willy from its base but not blood and certainly not from the open end. This guy looks as though he has some infection there.

After a while I could see this was not going to be easy, with all the traffic buzzing past 2 metres away and I could see the dog was street wise enough to not trust a stranger bearing gifts. So I trotted over to 7-11 and bought a tasty sandwich and tried a dose of Sedaline ( sedative) with him. He ate some of it and settled down for a while looking at the rest. Mary & I were a little hot and dry from standing in the street & shouting above the traffic noise so when she invited me to her home, literally across the road, for a cool drink to wait for the sedative to work, how could I refuse. Duh Duuur! Lesson 1 - Never try to sedate & dog and then leave it out of your sight!

I called to Karin and she burst out laughing and when I called Rochan at Lanna Dog Rescue, just in case they had picked up this dog as they had also been asked to attend, I could hear a laugh in her voice too. They both said that dogs like to go off walking when they feel the sedative working and try to find a safe place to rest. Silly me......I totally agree.

Anyway, never mind, he will be back and Mary will give me a call when she see's him again. The refreshing cold drink at Mary's home however, gave me the opportunity to meet CeCe & Sun. They are both rescued from the streets and they have settled in to Mary's home nicely. It also gave us a chance to chose a name for him, JJ.

On the way back home, I stopped off at Wiang Kum Kam. Firstly to catch up with Lucky (Eyes), the dog with Glaucoma and found that his condition was just the same. I took a few pics and will send them to the vet for his further advice. Next door I stumbled upon a female with enlarged teats.

I asked the neighbour about the dog and she showed me a litter of 9 puppy's scattered on a rough piece of ground beside her home. She was happy and carried on cleaning & packing strawberries.

Then I went to see BuunLai. Kh Chom held him, while I shampooed and showered him with the medicated that Jo had kindly donated & left with Kh Chom last week. Well, as you can imagine, I got a free shower too and Kh Chom went to great lengths to hang on to BuunLai who at first wanted nothing to do with it all. After a while he realised we were making him smell & look a lot nicer and he gave in. After all, his girlfriend was watching !!

Dumped puppys

The owner of a local restaurant "Mr Chan Pizza " called the shelter this week to say they had 9 small puppy's dumped at their front door. They are about a month - 6 weeks old.

Karin circulated information to our team and asked for foster homes or maybe adopters. Karin's home is already full to the brim and it is not right for these young babies to be at the shelter yet. Despite that, Karin took a couple to her home and Mr Chan are trying to care for the remaining.

Take a look at some of the puppy's at her home. They just need love, care, and most of all the ability to safely play & sleep.

There are more just like these needing homes. They are healthy and well balanced in temperament. Some one would find a great friend in these pups.

Weekly feed atWat Doi Kam

Up early today to mix the food for the Doi Kam Pack. The recipe I prefer is 1kg of mince pork, simmered in water with plenty of garlic, a little chilli & tumeric for smell, look & flavour, approx half a kg of mixed veg and then when cooked through, add 2 kg of cooked rice (slightly dry, not sticky or wet) and then approx 2 kg of dry dog food, all mixed in a big bucket.

Today I managed to feed Oscar,Butch, Dam, Sonja, Taylor,Gina, Pat, & Blackie but Lady didn't eat despite showing herself from the forest. After the others had finished, the female who last time I thought was pregnant, turned up, looking very thin with swollen teats. She has had the babies! They must be in the forest being hidden away by the mother. If they do not get to the shelter soon, they will grow up wild and scared of people and just add to the numbers. If they get to the shelter soon, maybe there will be a chance of socialisation and then adoption.

John joined me for the feed this morning and it was good to sit & chat and drink coffee. It was also good for me to spot a few birds and listen to them singing. (Blue throated Barbet, Eurasian Jay, Asian barred Owlet, White throated Laughingthrush, , White collard starling, Hill blue flycatcher, to name a few)

Delivered a new bag of dry food to the monks for feeding during the week.

Met up with Karin and visited a new Dog Behaviourist who is starting up business in Mae Rim. They have agreed to take a dog,Sammy, from the shelter and train him for 2 months free of charge, in the hope that this might increase his chances of adoption. Very impressed with the facilities we saw and the competance of the trainer.

Had lunch with Ann & Tameer, 2 other volunteers and discussed some of the cases we have at the shelter and how they might be able to improve their health using healing energy.

In the afternoon Karin & I visited a sick American man who was confined to his bed. His wife who passed away not long ago, had kept 5 dogs at the house and he now wanted to find altternative homes for them, especially as he was returning to the states in April this year.

All 5 are mature adults, one of them has 3 legs, another is a bit angry at life in general and stands back from the others. Another male loose in the garden was just a lovely natured street dog. There were also 2 females, one loose in the garden and the other, constantly tethered by a chain at the back of the house as apparently the 2 females would otherwise fight. This chained dog was a sorry sight and it was obvious that she was extremely scared and abused.

The man said he wanted to get rid of the 4 loose dogs as soon as possible but the chained one, he would like his housekeeper to take to her home.

Personally I wanted to take the chained one away there & then but then what about finding the poor thing another home. Maybe the housekeeper might free the dog at her home? As for the other 4, maybe someone will answer our advertisements and we can put them in touch with these for adoption? ( I can but hope!)

Now I know even more why I do what I do

This morning Karin & I teamed up and visted the Small Animal Hospital in Chiang Mai to discuss with the Orthopedics specialist about a couple of cases we want him to see.

After that we visted Teresa, another volunteer, who offers foster care for puppies and also saw Sunshine (now Jasper). He is doing well now and is not limping at all. He is putting on weight slowly and is enjoying all the love & attention that he gets from Teresa & Nok, as well as the company of the pups.

I think they are going to have great difficulty letting go of those puppy's as they have grown so attached to them.

In the afternoon, wee returned to the shelter to collect Daeng & BuunKeow for their TvT injections, Luca, a cute little white puppy (pic) who is breathing badly and whilst there, we picked up Molly, as she was bleeding from her vulva. She is now 6 months old, so chances are it is her first Heat.




Sure enough, time to sterilise. We are so close to Molly, adopted by Kh Yom & Paen at the shelter, that we forgot to add her to the sterilisation program!

Then we went to a house in the village to see a dog with an ear infection and another that needed sterilisation stiches removed. Karin took the stitches out while I cuddled Luca and then we took the dog with the ear problem, Mee, to the same vet with us.

Daeng was ok after catching her, she didn't bite but she is extremely scared of people. The others were ok to handle except for Mee.

We needed to muzzle him as he was really upset from his ears hurting real bad. They had maggots in them and one side was ouzing blood. As you can imagine, he walks with his head at an angle and is in constant pain.





Took everybody home and when we returned Mee to his owner, she said that another dog Daeng Gwaa, who was very friendly with her from a neighbours house, was in danger of being killed. She explained that the neighbours father was threatening to take a gun to the dog if Daeng Gwaa kept chewing shoes and playing near his home. She said that he was also the man who people thought poisened many dogs in the area last year and had been to the dog meat restaurant, not far from the house, to ask if they were interested in another dog.

As we sat talking to her and offering to take that dog with us back to the shelter, the man passed by on his bike. He is a farmer, dressed in blue overalls, straw hat and flueresent green wellingtons. He looked about 60 + years of age. We looked at him and had many thoughts. The girl eventually decided after much persuasion from us to let us take the poor dog away. She has several dogs of her own and I fear for them.

What sort of world do we live in?

Daeng takes the bait

Today Karin & I visted Nakorn Payap International School, here in Chiang Mai, after one of the club / groups 'Roots & Shoots' invited us to go and talk to them about Care for Dogs.

We gave them a presentation, and I felt just like being back in the UK delivering power point presentations to management boards. Anyway we got our messages across, they are very keen to progress their interest in a project to help us in some way and Karin & I came away feeling happy that we had made new contacts.

On the way home, we called into the Royal Flora area to see if we could catch Daeng. Karin had brought sedaline with her and a tin of pilchards.

Indeed, Daeng took the bait and after 2 minutes was drowsy and didn't put up a struggle.

Poor thing, from the pic you can see the development of the TvT tumor growing from her vulva and start to appreciate the agony she must be suffering. This would undoubtably kill her, if left untreated. Additionally, other dogs around her, either through sniffing, licking or intercourse, stand a high risk of contracting the disease too. Have they already got it?

She is now at the shelter and we will make sure she gets her 6 - 8 weekly chemotherapy injections to help her recover.

I am very relieved that she might now have a future.

Weekly Feed at Wat Doi Kam

Tried to catch the TvT bitch on the way to the temple this morning but the other male dogs kept getting between me & her and I could not get near her. Keep trying ......

Felt bad when I got to the temple. Only saw Sonja and Dam. But after a lot of calling and whistling, a few more turned up for a decent meal.

Today I managed to see

1. Sonja - Feet much better for the rest at the shelter 2 weeks ago.


2. Dam - Bully boy


3. Oscar - Gentle old boy but definatly the boss


4. Gina


5. Pat


6. Taylor - Mange getting worse


7. Blackie - Limping on her front left paw (can't get near her)


8. Butch - So sad ( I just want to give him a big hug)

Where have the others gone? There were 15 here a month ago. Kam & Sandy are at the shelter right now but that still means that another 5 are out there somewhere.

A full load today

Mutt, liver problem , showing yellow gums last time, seems better today. Vet advised to still keep islolated and continue same medication for another month as he felt the parasites in his blood would still be active.

Wallace, the poor guy with severe mange pee'd & poo'd from fright as i lifted him onto the vets table. The vet said he was astonished and amazed as this case was the first he had seen with both types of Mange , Sarcoptic & Dermodex. He said the effect on the ears was due to sarcoptic and the rest of the body symptoms had needed a scrape test to prove which type of mange Wallace had. He prescribed .4cc of Ivomec 1xweek +Cefelexin 250mg 2xday. He also suggested we de-worm him as in his poo we saw both round and flat worms.

Misha is bleeding again from her vulva but this time the blood is dark, despite not having blood last week. Vet said this was definately due to her being on heat. - As we are currently treating her for heartworm and she is to get her second jab in 1 month, we will have to wait 2 months before we can sterilise her and stop her having this unusual heat.

Bill (Elephant Bill) is doing ok and today I asked the vet what the chances of her having an operation to improve her ability to eat, therefore rearrange her jaw. He said the best they could do would be to take some teeth out and cut the others. I was horrified that teeth might be 'cut' which might lead to later problems. Anyway, she is eating quite well and Kh Yom is helping the process by washing her mouth with gentle hose pipe spray every day. She now smells a lot better as she has had couple of showers too. Lets see how she gets on.

Naiomi & Bailey, 2 young pups previously diagnosed with Distemper, now appearing to have survived it. Their green nasal discharge has gone, lungs sound ok, no temperature and no hard pad. What a relief. Maybe there is a chance for these poor things after all.

Leo, only surviving baby of Leonie is looking quite weak. This week I have been watching the mother remove the food & water bowl from the baby's reach & bury it. She seems not to want humans to help her pup. Vet recommended to keep isolated & continue with same meds.

Diane is with the vet today for the op on her problem dew claw. Vet said he would do both the hind legs at the same time & same cost he said. Oh well clouds with silver linings come in strange shapes!

Wiang Kum Kam

Visited BuunLai today with Jo. We were a little taken aback by his pink coloured hair( that hair he has got) and Kh Chom said someone came yesterday and covered him in an antiseptic lotion.

Gave BuunLai some chews and made a fuss of him, then went to see Kh Chom's sister nearby.

Her dog Kaew she said was 15 and his ear was bleeding this week. She also said his willy was bleeding too. I looked at the cauliflower TvT willy and it ran blood down my hand. The ear was a mass of rotting flesh. I asked her if she had treated the dog for any of this and she said he was eating ok until last week when he started to bleed. I watched him stagger around on floppy legs and offered to take him to a vet and relieve him of his misery humanely but she said she would rather carry on feeding him. This poor creature deserves a better quality of life after 15 years hard labour.


We returned to BuunLai and found him playing with a scared brown female with a droopy tummy and puss ouzing from her Vulva.

I knew immediately it was Pyometra. The vet visit said the same but at least it was 'Open Pyometra' which meant that there is at least escape of the fluid. BuunKeow is being operated on today and I will take her back to the shelter tomorrow for R&R.

Kh Chom had said to me that the females in the area had all been given 'the anti pregnancy injection' Thats scares me, we will have to hurry up and do more sterilisations in Wiang Kum Kam.

Mondays!

Visited Nienke with Karin to collect Jacky and talk about the work she is doing in respect of Animal Behaviour.

Jacky seemed a little better behaved than when I last saw him and now it is time for him to find a good home with poeple who will give him attention that he needs. A lovely, full of energy young dog that would ideally suit open spaces and understanding family.

Met up with Sven in the city. (Sven & Sandra have adopted 2 adult dogs from us, Ling & Choban, who was rescued from the meat market, and who are sponsoring Mira.) Sven took us around the streets near his home, met many unwell dogs and owners of dogs that were their pride but were quite sick too.

Eventually we saw Wallace and managed to put him in the transport cage for a trip to the shelter.

Looked like he had been suffering from mange for quite some time and this treatment would probably take equally long to repair the damage to his skin.

What a great ending to a day.

Finally took Sunshine (New name Jasper) to his new home with Teresa & Nok.

The fostered pups are also pleased to see him.

This dogs now found peace at last.

Elephant Bill

Teresa joined me again today for the weekly feed at Doi Kam. A few of the pack were there to see us and get fed.

On the way up & back down, stopped to try to catch the TvT female around Royal Flora. Still the males got in the way but she did get some food from us. Called her Daeng.

The growth of the tumour is about the size of grapefruit and is bloody and a vet has told me, very painful.

Visited shelter to collect Jack, Misha and Patchok for their 1st Heartworm jabs at the vet today and to our surprise, Kam had given birth to her pups overnight. She was proudly feeding them, laying under one of the salas and all 6 looked healthy.





Today Karin, Teresa & I took the Heartworm cases to the vet and then went to Lamphun to perform a follow up visit on an adoption.

We eventually found the address, despite the adopters attempts to put us off we felt, and to our total disbelief, found a puppy that had 1 month previously been happy go lucky and was now very scared and frightened of any one touching it. It was in a cage and when the people took it out, it was firmly held and not allowed to play naturally. Furthermore, it just stayed in one spot, not inquisitive, seeking play toys or making friends. Momo bit me when I tried to touch him and his eyes spoke volumes. We told the adopters we were not happy and removed the puppy from the home.

We then went to the Lampang Elephant Reserve and looked for a dog that a kind person in America told us about. Apparently the dog 'Bill' had been kicked in the head 2 years ago by an Elephant and today, wandered about the reserve in a sad state. After a very protracted exercise, we managed to catch Bill using a tasty sandwhich laced with Sedaline sedative. Strong doggy, walked for ages after eating it but finally gave up after being surrounded by some of the reserves vetenary team.

We took Bill to our local vet and found that she had no movement in her jaw and could only lick through one side of her mouth where there was a gap in her teeth. The other teeth were badly infected and caked with debris, much of it was Elephant poo and the vet removed twigs, stones and so much rotting material that made the air in the clinic putrid. It would appear that she found poo was nutricious and soft, whats more, readily available!

Blood tests were carried out too and apart from her obvious poor diet and therefore low blood count, she has a clean bill of health. She seemed to have been previously sterilised too.

Took Bill back to the shelter and gave her a thorough clean & spray to remove the lice, flea and tick infestation. She smelt a lot better already.

Sterilisation Run

Took Sandy from Doi Kam, a village dog called Caesar and a cat from the same house for sterilisation today.

Also returned Sonja to Doi Kam after spending a week at the shelter with her feet bandaged and getting daily treatment. She is usch a loving dog. Whenever I go to the temple, she is always the first to greet me and lift her paws up and bowing her head to play with me. She gets a nice cuddle every time too!

Dropped off a new bag of dog food for the monks at Doi Kam while I was there.

School Visit to Shelter

Today, pupils from the Prem Tinsulanonda International School came to the shelter and participated in washing, grooming, walking, medicating and weighing of dogs at the shelter.

Some of the pupils came up with good ideas for fundraising in a brainstorming session and afterwards the group followed this up by making a finacial donation to the organisation, giving the shelter a large bag of food and paying for the drinks they were given.




This was an eye opener for Karin & I, as to how to address the needs of so many people(2 groups of 20+) and optimise their learning and understanding, whilst at the same time, maintaining a comfortable level of chaos with so many dogs wanting attention.

It was clear from the conversations, that many had empathy with the struggle for dogs on the streets and the experience for the entire group was thoroughly worthwhile.