TvT Program - Its catching.... Literally

Today I took 5 cases of TvT to the vet for their Chemotherapy. There were meant to be 6 cases but the last one was a village owner dog Phuky and she was not at home when I called.

Unless you are there, I am sorry to say you might not appreciate the circumstances. Can I just say the neither the guy making straw hats from strips of bamboo, the bamboo splitting process factory next door, the party of elderly ladies gathered around a front porch or the wide eyed & expressionless open mouthed singlet guy knew what on earth I was looking for, let alone had they seen Phuky! I accepted defeat once more and thought it better to take 5 rather than excite them more and keep looking for the 6th case.

I refer to the excitement of the dogs because transportation of dogs can in itself be very stressful for them. Some salivate as if they were Rabid, some vomit, especially if they have eaten anything before hand and some just wreck the cage and hurt themselves in the process.

Today, BuunKaow was on board and she hates being caged. She had her teeth at the bars from the outset and was woofing, yelping & screaming all the way. I checked in on them on the back of the truck when I stopped for Phuky and they were all fretting but never the less sat or laying quite ok, apart from BuunKaow of course. When I arrived at the vets, she was already out of the cage and standing in a small space between the 6 cages I had on the back, thankfully not running off. With a little assistance from the vet staff, we caught her and got her inside. Not a happy bunny.

Anyway, in the 6th cage I had Naiomi, along for a skin scrape & sure enough, her balding patches are early Dermodex mange and her lumpy ear is due to a Haematoma or in other words, a burst blood vessel in the ear. This was possibly caused by a bite or scratch. So on top of her visit recently regarding her anal & mouth warts, she has this on top. These are due to poor health and the vet suggested that because she had suffered with Distemper recently, her immunity was low and these issues were the small price she is paying but at least she is alive.



Most of the TvT cases were showing signs of improvement both visibly and by evidence of maintained or increased weight. The vet suggested that BuunKaow may well go home next week and hopefully Daeng as well. Its been a long haul for her but now her weight is going back on and her tumour is just a feint growth inside, there looks to be a brighter future for her.



Paulines leg and vulva are much improved and Nam Pueng is coping well too. Her tumour has not reduced as quickly as some but you can see it is definitely receding & healing.



But bad news about the village dog Lai. Her vulva had puss coming from it and the vet recommended she should have antibiotics as well as the chemo. In the back of my mind I worry about Pyometra but lets see next week how she is.




This was the first TvT Program trip to this particular veterinary practice. As you may have read recently in these pages, we had established a cost saving scheme with them and from here on will manage to treat cases a lot cheaper. This is such good news for the dogs of Chiang Mai. Next week, we will have another 2 cases to join the program, to replace the 2 that will hopefully have completed their treatment.

Sterilisation Run

Today got off to a fine start, I had 6 dogs loaded on the back of my truck and then on the road I had a call from Karin asking when I was picking up a new dog called Dam from her home. I thought that Dam was already number 6 I said. Ah!!! It seems that Dam was actually Tracy and Tracy was not for sterilisation today! Well there we go. I need to check their names again when boarding the truck.



Anyway, I had 4 cases for sterilisation today and 2 teenagers for a check on some strange growths. Naiomi has warts on her anus & gums and the vet said we should just let them run their course. She was suffering with something called Pappilloma Virus. He said we should just leave them alone and there was no treatment necessary.

Sarah had what appeared to be a wound to her outer labia and the vet suggested we should bathe the wound with Betadine and give Amoxicillin 250 twice a day for a week.












Of the sterilisations, one of them, named Urrr Lurrr ! comes from Wiang Kum Kam. She has a stiff left back leg from a previous injury and has healed in a straight fixed pose. She cannot use it. The vet suggested no treatment and just to leave it. She also has a cloudy right eye and there is some infection around the eye lid too. The vet said we should use steroid eye drops for the treatment of the corneal ulcer and conjunctivitis. Bless her, she will be in a bad was this week but after staying at the shelter for a while, I am sure her standard of health and quality of life will improve.

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.

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!

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.