Update for Nola - Nudee in Rama IX park Chiang Mai Thailand

Recently I visited Rama IX park to catch up with an old friend, Nudee.

I was astonished how fine his coat is and his head is not hanging to one side. His willy is still clear of TvT and he is running round like a youngster!! Wow!

Could it be to do with his new mate? I called him Buster, cos he has that sort of look about him.

Buster has got a bad case of Cherry Eye and he has a smart set of teeth to go with it!

The food vendors are happy to feed the homeless dogs here occasionally and I thing Nudee & Buster are the favourites, from their healthy waist lines.

I will be checking back on them again soon, as I like to keep Nola in the picture about one of her extended family. Check out her writings and work with dogs here

NuDee Update - Especially for Nola

Visited Rama IX to catch up with NuDee and see how his ears, coat & willy were doing.

He has never looked better. His ears are level to the ground, no head shaking. His coat is fully returned, not a balding patch anywhere and as for his willy..... Well its not so near the ground!

Its 6 months now since he was first treated and despite not being visited by that camera woman who used to force feed him with vitamins, green chews and yummy fried chicken, he is doing fine and looking younger each time I see him.

Thursday on the road

As usual, Karin & I teamed up today being Thursday to make as many calls and clear as much from the 'To Do' list as possible within the waking hours as possible. Jill also joined us today to see some of the things we get up to.

First of all things got off to a bad start. Not far from leaving home, we found a dog laying by the side of the road, obviously hit by a car and dead for a little while. Rigor mortis had already set in. We lifted him into the truck to at least save him from being squashed and ignored. We will get him to a peaceful little orchard opposite the shelter where I am sure he would want to be.

Next we visited Baan Ma Ka Maew (House of Dog & Cat) Animal Hospital (BMM). We needed to have a serious discussion with the management regarding the possibility of them helping us with several TvT cases we currently had.

The crux of the problem is this. If we go to a vet and get 1 dog treated for a course of 7 injections, it will cost us approx 380 baht x 7 = 2660 baht. This is because the vet would have to buy-in and store the medicine in a cooler and then there is the skillful injection. However, recently, we found a vet willing to inject medicine we had purchased ourselves. This enabled us to save a lot of money by shopping around for a cheap supplier of the Vincristine Chemotherapy. However, we now find that some of the practices of this vet are unsatisfactory and sub standard and for the health of the dogs, we need to find a more professional vet.

To our utter delight and amazement, the management of BMM have agreed to charge a set fee for treating a group of TvT cases and is even cheaper than the previous vet. The relief and happiness on Karin's face was a picture to remember.

We then visited the dog across the street from Chadwick's studio. These folks are doing some amazing work and Chadwick himself is such a talented guy. I am also looking forward to meeting Laura at some future time, she has created some interesting body painting pieces.
(Note Dodo looking out of the transport cage)

Anyway, back to the doggy's. This time, Karin with her wonderful understanding of the Thai language, spoke with the woman in the house and found the background of the story. Dodo, a male of about 3 years, is being kept in the garden at the rear of the house because her female dogs (3) are on heat and he wants some of the action!!!

After a lot of talking, the woman agreed for us to help her by having Dodo sterilised for free and offered to assist her with transportation of the others to be sterilised too. Later that day, when we returned Dodo, we met the daughter who said she would consider sterilising the other dogs, after seeing the recovery of Dodo. The mystery earlier in the day was also sorted out. Why had 2 other males been allowed to remain in the house? They were under 6 months and not thinking about sex yet!!

This raises an interesting point. The daughter was sceptical of operation recovery. Is this because of horror stories of back street butchers? Anyway, a happy simple ending to what at first appeared to be a complex issue.

Next we accepted the offer of a coffee at the opulent new Sofitel hotel. (2 /10 for coffee though)

What happened next can only be described as disastrous. I collided with another car. Blame, fault, anger, frustration, shock, disbelief, surreal, numbness are all emotions passing before me as I stand waiting for a decision as to whats happening next. After a relatively short time, following Police, Insurance, friends & relatives attendance, we drove away feeling a little wary of the traffic but I felt relieved that nobody had been hurt and we were on the move again.

In the car at the time, was Dodo. Karin found a taxi to take him to the vet for sterilisation and Karin wondered why she had to pay the taxi fee, after being the one telling the driver how to get there & back.

Leaving my sorrows behind me, we drove to Mae Rim where we would find lunch and then visit a generous guy Mario, who is caring for approximately 30 dogs that he brought up to Chiang Mai from Phuket, when he moved homes recently. He has now found a piece of land and a dog loving woman to live with them. We we happy to see their contentment and wished Mario well.

This area is near to Prem Tinsulanonda International School and also The Happy Gambol Dog Training School (Phone : 085 036 5732) where 1 of our dogs is being trained to increase his chances of adoption. We saw him and could hardly believe the difference in only a month. He was sitting, staying, coming, walking and remaining inside an open gate until told to move.

Our next stop was an adoption follow up of Luca. We found him initially looking a little scared but after a bit of encouragement, he opened up and showed us he was quite happy and full of confidence. He had lost a little weight and didn't look quite so clean & fluffy but that maybe a reflection of the treatment that he was getting at his foster home prior to adoption.

By this time the sun was starting to set and when we reached Rama IX park, there were many folks out exercising and some having their dinner by the water. We caught up with NuDee and gave him a few snacks.

It was now after 6pm and we found the temple Wat Pa Phaeng. We were here to investigate if this location would suit Roots & Shoots to start working with the dogs in the area.

We gave some hungry guys some snacks and spoke to the people in the temple area. It seems lots of work has already been done here but there were a couple of cases needing immediate attention and we also saw a mum & 9 newly born pups.

The male dogs here, we will call Max. The temple folks said that a food vendor had attached the dog recently and he was suffering after a wound (hence the matted hair) to his back. When we stood him up, his willy was exposed and I wondered if he had been circumcised.

The second case, Lucy, is suffering with TvT and also mange. There are several dogs here suffering with mange and we will need to return here to see what changes we can make to their conditions.

At the vets clinic, Max was found to have a tumour on his willy that precluded it from receding into the flesh or foreskin. It was so dry from being out all the time, that when the vet touched it & exposed the root of the penis, he yelped in pain. As for his back..... No wound, no blood, just something like dried hot fat. We cut some of it away and the rest crumbled between our fingers. After a good shower, I am sure he will look & feel a whole lot better.

As for Lucy, she has a tumour developing and she will need some feeding up and health improving vitamins before we start Chemotherapy, as currently she is so weak. More of a problem is that she has heart worms. The pic shows a microscope view of a blood test. Wriggling in amongst the platelets are minute worms. (Sorry I didn't think of taking a video)

It was an interesting day. A little bit of an upset but I console myself in the thought that we did some good work too.

Arrived home at 21:15. 140km on the clock

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.

Check up for NuDee

NuDee has a check up today for his TvT. Although Winifred paid for a course of 6, he actually needs another shot today. Bless him, he had it real bad. Gave us the opportunity to give his ears another going over and get some food into him.

So no need to bring him back next week, thats it for NuDee, the vet says he is clear of the tumur.

Tuesday Morning

This NuDee guy looks positively healthy today. His coat is coming back and his willy no longer hangs low. His 'Queen Anne' feet are a real attraction as his ability to spot & avoid the vitamins tucked in between the other food stuff Nola trys to feed him! Today is jab number 6

Another jab for NuDee

5th shot today for NuDee. Still some floral tumur on his willy and far from finished yet.

Where would NuDee be without Winifred?

Tuesday mornings are NuDee mornings!! He's a character and a half. Today, Nola and I spent ages searching for him and wondered at one stage if he was ever going to come out from hiding, or wake up !

He is now looking so much better, thanks to Winifred and her kindness of paying for his treatments and for contacting us to help her with transport in the first place.

NuDee knows the drill

Today it was raining and when Nola & I went to pick up NuDee, he stayed out the way, in the dry, trying to avoid ultimate capture. However, we waved a bowl of food in the air that Nola had prepared and he came out from under the parked cars in the carpark.

Nola is now taking Tuk Tuk's to the park often to see him and he does look as if he is putting on weight. Winifred also said she was feeding him, so no wonder !

Slight improvement with the TvT but his ears are a real mess!

Nu-Dee 2nd trip

Winifred & I go to Rama IX park to collect Nu-Dee for his weely ear clean, mange treatment, TvT jab and of course, a large portion of Gai Yang (fried chicken). He likes the latter but hates the other stuff. Especially the ear cleaning and puts up a hell of a struggle.

His TvT is showing small signs of recesssion already, even after 1 jab. Today, it doesn't look quite so red & bloody.

For anyone reading about this for the first time, TvT in a male dog is the formation of a floral growth, a bit like cauliflower, on the shaft and base of the penis. If you pull the dogs forskin back, right down to the base ( don't worry it doesn't hurt them) normally you will see just the pink coloured flesh. But in NuDee's case, his has this deep red floral growth on it and when standing on 4 legs, his willy looks large and hanging low.

Rama IX Park with Nola

Met NuDee, a short legged dog with a willy that nearly touched the ground.

TvT – large cauliflower on the base of his penis. 1st Jab today and a course of 6 paid for by Winifred. Also had an ear infection and sarcoptic mange. Winifred wanted to treat the mange gently and used a spray instead of Ivomec.

Nola bought some Gai Yang from the park vendor to reward him for getting in the transport cage. Little monkey, wouldn't eat it until he got back after the treatment.

Kh Chom at Wiang Kum Kam, called to me about Arn, a dog that had been run over in the village. Vet said to keep still and give cefolexin 2xday and pain relief. The screams from him when I lifted him into the car were like a horror movie scream. I was very upset for him.

(Arn disappeared the following week (yeah right!) the owner said he just walked off and never came back.)