Dam has a brain infection & TvT

Dam ( means Black in Thai) is a cute short legged adult dog. She came to us a month ago from a kind Thai citizen who found her being beaten up and badly bitten by other dogs in the street near her shop.

She initially took Dam to a nearby clinic and after minor surgery to repair her wounds and provide her antibiotics & anti inflammatory medication, Dam came to us to recuperate further, before returning to her street life near the kind lady's shop.

The wounds healed nicely and we sterilised her 2 weeks ago.

Recently we have noticed she is curling her head backwards towards her tail and stumbles easily when walking. We thought it might be connected with the previous wounds and possible muscle & nerve damage.

Today she went along for a check up and the vet suggested the problem might be due to brain damage / infection termed Encephalitis. The link on wiki reflects a very dark picture. However, this link relates to the same condition in children. This is slightly more positive, so we will take proactive steps to help Dam with her condition.

But!!! Whilst at the vet's, I mentioned that Dam had become the admiration of many males at the shelter ( canine!) and as she had been sterilised, was there something else happening in her vagina? After an internal inspection, Dam appears to have another problem. Transmissible Venereal Disease (TvT). She has a tumour about the size of a small grape within her vagina.

We miss you so much Mira

Sadly this diary entry records the passing of a much loved dog at the shelter. Karin's email to the team is shown below and her words reflect our emotions too. She will always be with us in our hearts & minds.

Dear all

With a heavy heart I have to inform you that our dear shelter dog Mira passed away last Friday night.

We found her in the morning lying on the dog sala opposite the house, and she must have died a few hours ago. We hadn’t notice any signs of sickness the day before, she looked happy and playful as usual. She didn’t have any injuries and we assume that her death was caused by diaphragmatic hernia.

Mira was dumped at a crematory together with her siblings when she was a puppy in July last year. The children who lived nearby “played” with Mira by throwing her around like a ball, and from all those falls she suffered a diaphragmatic hernia. A kind woman found her and brought her to a vet, and after that we took her and her siblings in. We knew we couldn’t have Mira sterilized as this would have caused a collapse of her lung. All her siblings got adopted and though Miras adoption chances were low due to this problem, we thought she could spend several happy years with us. But this wasn’t meant to be.

What makes me sad and up-set is that this is most probably another case where human abuse led to the death of an innocent animal, it’s a shame what sufferings humans are able to put on animals.

Wherever you are now, Mira, hope you’ll be happy in the land behind the rainbow. Thank you for the love and joy you brought to us.

Karin

Puppy has strange walk

Tally, a gorgeous little pup is showing signs of a problems with her back legs. Today she visited the vet for assessment and the first the vet said, "she is deformed". Looking at her head & shoulders one can see she is broad and when one looks at her rear & hips, she is narrow. On physical examination, the vet found the route of some foot dragging and wobbling on those tiny legs. A deformed knee joint, which in essence has the bones too far away from each other and the ligaments cannot effectively control their movement as if they were nearer together.

In the pic, you might see the problem. The gap atthe front is so wide, one can put their finger into the crevace. This is apparently a classic condition many dogs suffer, possibly derived from genetic issues and inter species breeding.

The vet said to just allow the puppy to grow up & become comfortable with the condition, recommending that no treatment was necessary.