Shelter Update - Its hot but these guys are cool

Yesterday I spent an hour at the shelter. I measured the temperature in the shade at 40C/110 F and these guys are doing their best to stay cool.

Anny, Bessy & Kachou Daeng

Bow, Big & Bonnie

Waan, Misha & Samli

There are 50 more residents hanging out at the shelter, just like these. Can you help them?

Get in touch - contact@carefordogs.org

Misha is fit to sterilise and Benji the Collie too

Well there are good, happy & fun things that happen when you work with dogs and then there are extremely sad times.

Today I visited "Baan Ma kap Maew" veterinary clinic, bringing 5 doggy's along for sterilisation. Misha has now finally recovered from her Heartworm treatment and her long period of 'heat' has finished so today the vets did a final analysis of her blood & Xray of her heart and following a positive conclusion, she was sterilised.

Also on the list today were Chok, Kam, Daeng & Benji. I have not written about Benji here before but he is the Collie that was brought to the shelter entrance by his owner a few weeks ago and officially dumped, being thrust into the hands of the shelter caretaker and then riding away on his bike.

Benji, it turns out has contact dermatitis and has skin rashes all over his back. We have been trying to keep these wounds clean and dry but that is near on impossible with a guy who likes to swim in the pond, so although he is actually black & white, most days he has a touch of brown about him too! They are showing signs of improvement though.( Earlier photos of Benji)

Anyway, when I visited the clinic this evening to collect them, there was a family huddled around a large Golden Retriever on the inspection table in one of the cubicles.

It was quite obvious from the faces that the doggy was not well and I could also see the Dr crying as she attended to him. Everyone was holding him and stroking him, talking to him and I could see his head rising to take in his surroundings. I could see they were saying goodbye and when his breathing calmed and his body ceased to move, the family just looked at their boy and cried, for he had gone.

By this time I was in a position to leave, with all my 5 loaded on the truck. I stopped to express my sadness for their loss to a man who stood in the shadows of the entrance, hiding his tears and trying hard to fight off the emotion of the occasion and the families distress. We talked about Mharx and his long 13 years of life and what a wonderful companion for the family he had been. He then asked me about my dogs and I explained the background. I passed on my card and bid him farewell.

I was halfway back to the shelter when I received a call from the bereaved family to ask if I knew of a suitable place to bury Mharx. After a long discussion and a return trip, I picked him up and took him to the shelter. There is a pleasant spot across the road from the shelter, in a Lamyai (Longan fruit) & Banana orchard and tonight under the cover of darkness, with torch in hand & several litres of water to loosen the parched and solid soil, the caretaker Kh Yom buried Mharx.

Heart worm reaction

Misha had her second set of heart worm injections at the week end and today she is showing signs of lethargy & heavy breathing. The vet said this was a reaction to the medication and she should stay in the hospital for 1 night & be put on a drip asap. The vet also said that the Aspirin she was taking was making her blood too thin and we should stop that immediately.

(Good news is, 2 days later she is her old barking self again!! and no bleeding either.)




















Also along today was Mom Maem, the little terrier mix who was recovering from being beaten up on Suthep Road & badly bitten. His skin appears very inflamed and we want to know if it is mange. The test was negative. Under the bright hospital lights I noticed he also had a corneal ulcer scar, the vet said was old and no treatment was necessary. Then I showed the vet his teeth (the dogs teeth!) and his right canine has a thick layer of plaque and the gum is receding with infection. The vet prescribed a course of antibiotics and then review again in a week as to what needs to be done next.




Lastly it was Tally. Her face is showing signs of hair loss and once again we worry if this might be mange. Negative result from the scrape test but the vet advised to treat with Ivomec for 1 month just in case.

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!

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.

Sunshine gets his op

Today I took Sunshine along to the clinic for removal of the pin from his leg. Whilst he is under anaesthetic, he will be sterilised too.

Also took along Donna for sterilisation. She is cute quiet fat thing!! Only young but already very chubby.

Mutt is back for a check on his Hepatitis, his gums are still very yellow and is still needing to be quarantined away from contact with other dogs as the parasites in his blood could pass to others through fleas or ticks. Vet commended to continue with the same meds and see again next week.
Jack came along for his final, final, final check on the status of his TvT before he is started on the pre-Hearthworm treatment of Aspirin. After a week he will then receive his Heartworm treatment which will consist of 2 injections within 24 hours of each other. Vet did liver & kidney function checks of blood and said the readings were within normal range. He is 21.7Kg and his kidney reading is .79 & liver 43.8. He said there was need to x-ray as the readings were good and the sound of the heart was indicating stage 1 or 2 of the Heartworm disease..

Misha came for much the same as Jack. Final check before starting Heartworm treatment and a check as to why she is bleeding from her Vulva still after 1 month of heat already. Found that the bleeding today had stopped and the smear taken was completely devoid of any blood !! I was happy for her to have finally stopped her heat. Her Kidney & Liver blood tests showed .65 & 36.4 respectively and after an Xray she was confirmed to be at stage 3. Her heart appears to be weak and she will need to have 3 injections for the complete removal of the Heartworms.

And finally today, 2 of the remaining pups of Leonie, Leo & Larry. Both have round worms in their diarrhea and should be de-wormed asap. Both were shoing nasal discharge and very weak.

Picked up Sunshine in the evening and the vet was alarmed that he could not remove the pin as planned. Instead he just cut off the protruding length from the top. It seemed that calcification was so advanced that the pin had joined with the bone and was immovable.

11 to the Vet today

Misha is now bleeding for last 2 weeks and we assume she is on heat. Yep, sure enough, the vet tested her bleeding discharge to confirm it.

The vet also said that blood check should be done on Misha for Liver & Kidney functions and Xray to further assess the severity / stage of the Heartworm problem. Then due to her age, there might be an increased risk of adverse reaction ( death) and we would need to weight all the facts up to decide if we should proceed. Hey Dr, why not sit on the fence?!

Had Bailey & Naiomi (dumped Wat Vivek 1 week ago) with me, suffering with a cough. Lungs sounded ok and no fever.

Also had Brian, Bobby & Bianco, 3 short legged brown puppy's dumped at Wat Vivek 2 weeks ago. All 3 were suffering with thick green mucus from the nose and quite weak. Their lungs were rattling and the vet suggested they should be seperated.

Fe's lost 1 puppy now, Tonka, and the others are much the same. Tommy Boy is still ok.