Please help the dogs of Phuket - sign the petition

Phuket, a paradise on earth, the pearl of the Andaman Sea, a tropical paradise,

Not for those dogs who live here on the streets and beaches of Phuket, in a new local government sanctioned operation, dogs that are deemed to be stray are being darted and tranquilized by untrained garbage disposal employees and then dumped in the back of a garbage truck to be driven around in the heat of the sun until the end of the day when they are then taken to the Government Dog Pound at Mid Road, many do not make it and most die from tranquilizer overdose or from heat.

Read the full details here and please consider signing the petition to stop this.

Max lives to tell a tale - He will not be eaten today

Care for Dogs receives some amazing calls from people in & around Chiang Mai and today we received just one of those.

Wat Suan Dok is a famous temple which is quite a busy place because of the number of monks coming & going to studies and people attending various courses there too.

We have previously been involved with some of the dogs here, for sterilisation, treating their Mange and also finding homes for puppies born there, getting them adopted out of the temple life.

It transpires that 3 days ago, some people came to the temple to take dogs away and either sell or eat them themselves. Yes, your eyes do not deceive you, people wanted to catch dogs in order to eat them. Apparently black coated dogs are considered more appealing and if the people who catch them do not eat them, then they are able to sell the dog for consumption at a few places, therefore giving them an income.

On this occasion they targeted Max, who is an aged black Labrador look-a-like and they beat him with a stick but people in the vicinity who work in the offices at the temple, stopped the raiders taking Max away.

Since then, Max has hardly moved from the front door of the offices and when he did move, it was obvious he was in tremendous pain, keeping his left front leg raised at all times and hopping on 3 legs. After a couple of days, the staff there decided to call Care for Dogs to take him to a place of safety and hopefully deal with the injured leg.

We were greeted at the temple by Kh Supatra who is another one of those wonderful people we come across in our work, that not only has many dogs of her own but also looks after several dogs on the streets near her home. This lady has 8 of her own & looks after another 13 on the street, making sure that they get at least one meal a day.

We found Max tucked underneath a large wooden Sala, used by the monks to shade from the sun. Max gave us a knowing look and it wasn't long before he was up and away on his 3 legs to a wide open space away from any corner.

Eventually we managed to sedate him with a blow dart and take him to the veterinarian for assessment and hopefully treatment. The X-ray immediately highlighted Max's pain and predicament. His radius had been completely dislocated from the humerus. In human terms this would be the same as the forearm dislocating at the elbow from the upper arm.

After much discussion about the correct approach to Max's treatment, it was decided to operate and pin the 2 bones in place and then with some timely physiotherapy, perhaps he will be able to use the leg again.

Tomorrow we will collect him from the surgery and keep him for his aftercare at the shelter in Hang Dong and do what we can to repair this guys trust in humans at the same time.

Here are a couple of photos taken of Max a year ago, looking a little more confident and happy with his temple life.




Below is a slide show of photo's taken at the temple a year ago.

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Canine Pyoderma

Tdik went to the vet today from Wat Pha Gee.

His swollen feet and legs, which were giving him problems walking, were actually bleeding as were his gums. He has a very short coat but with the sores all over his body it looks as though he is losing his hair.

Petrified as I picked him up to put him on the back of the truck, he literally froze in my arms.

At the veterinarian practice, a short ride away, the vet took blood and skin samples and proved that he did not have Mange or Heartworm. She did however, diagnose his condition as a chronic case of Pyoderma. She showed me the evidence on his body.

When I researched this on the net, the following all matched with her diagnosis.

Visit this site www.medi-vet.com for the full story about the condition:

Canine Pyoderma(Bacterial Folliculitis)

Bacterial folliculitis is the most common type of bacterial skin infection in the dog. The Staphylococcus intermedius bacteria, which is a normal resident bacteria of canine skin, can cause infection of the skin in some dogs. Current theories indicate that most dogs who develop the infection, particularly recurrent infections, have an underlying abnormality of their metabolic or immune systems. This form of pyoderma is a frequent complication of allergies, skin parasites (mites, fleas) and endocrine diseases, like hypothyroidism. An idiopathic primary bacterial folliculitis is also seen in short-haired dogs.

Located within the hair follicle, this bacterial infection causes:

• Inflammation in and around the hair follicle

• Itching in some cases

• Hair loss in many cases

The clinical signs of bacterial folliculitis can be quite variable and may include:

• Pustules

• Papules (pink or red swelling on skin), heat and crusts

• Erythema (redness)

• Alopecia (hair loss)

• Hyperpigmentation (darkening of the skin)

• Some dogs develop large circular area of hair loss with crusting or scaling around the border

• Superficial erosion

• Draining tracts

• Pain or discomfort

• Surface pyodermas

So the veterinarian and staff, flushed out some of the abscesses and dressed the wounds and I took him back to the Care for Dogs shelter for a week or R & R along with regular food and the administering of the prescribed anti inflammatory - Prednisone and Antibiotic - Cephalexin, as well as getting his wounds re-dressed daily.

I will write an update next week, after he returns to the vet, hopefully ready for his return to the temple.

Incidentally, on the way to the shelter, I popped into the temple to tell the monk there what was happening. He was so please Tdik was receiving treatment and they exchanged caresses before I went off to the shelter.

You can read more about Tdik here ...