June 14, 2010 –

Alas, home from work, a quick change into comfortable clothes, a glass of red wine and I was heading to the back veranda to sit with my dogs and watch the approaching storm…or so I thought. For those of us in Thailand that work with dog rescue or in my case the temple dogs, we have learned from numerous experiences that it takes just a moment for thing to go from normal to emergency or chaos.

Such was last evening when a villager rushed to my house to say that a dog had been hit by a car outside the temple. I help the dogs in 4 temples with Hand to Paw and my daily and weekly presence at these temples has made me a known figure in the villages (Dog Lady, Dr. Dog, that crazy falang woman…). Needless to say, it now appears I am the person the villagers think of when a dog is in distress…and distress is what this poor boy was in. For the story’s sake, we will call him “Billy”.

Outside the temple of Wat Nam Ton in Mae Rim are surrounding rice fields and moobaans or neighborhoods running along their perimeter. Although there is little road traffic, on this unfortunate day Billy met with one a random car. Huddled under an abandoned truck bogged down in the rice field is where we found him. Although there was no visible signs of injury or bleeding, we could see something was wrong. With a black sky quickly approaching, spits of rain starting, I rushed back home for my car before a full monsoonal rain pour was upon us.

Our journey begins

Hold on Billy! With Billy’s whimpers and cries, my tears along with his, we maneuvered through the busy nighttime traffic across Chiang Mai. We started at 5:30 pm, we ended at 8:00 pm. We covered over 50 kilometers and visited 3 vets through pouring rain.

The first vet assessed and made his haphazard examination from the backseat of my car. Pulling and flexing Billy’s legs all over the place. He determined that there was nothing wrong with him except for a possible hip displacement that would mend on its own in a month’s time or so. With an injection for pain he said that was all that was needed and sent me on my way!

Opting for a second opinion, Dr. Nappawan at the N-do Animal Hospital gave me the sad news that Billy had not one, but two broken femurs in his back legs. Dr. Nappawan expressed that they did not have the proper qualifications to perform orthopedic surgeries of this seriousness. My heart nearly broke with the news, but also with the thought of the first vet that moved his broken legs all over the place and the pain he must have endured in those moments.

It was then off on a mad dash to the south side of Chiang Mai to the Ban Ma Ka Maew Animal Hospital on Mahidol Road. The owner, Dr. Chakkrit, a qualified vet and surgeon had the facility and expertise to perform this type of procedure.

Billy’s back left leg femur had a twisting break, while the right leg had a clean break with small bone chips. He came through surgery with only pins being needed in both legs being at a cost of 8,000 baht (approx. $250.USD); no small fee for a small temple dog programme such as ours.

We need your help

As this is a very expensive, but necessary procedure, we have decided to work together, Hand to Paw and Care for Dogs, to try and find outside donations to pay for Billy’s required surgery. Today Billy will go to Care for Dogs. He will need to stay 2 weeks in a cage and will then be transferred to their new holding pen for dogs with such injuries where he will remain until he is able to walk again.

If you have it in your heart to help Billy walk again and help finance his surgery and rehabilitation donations can be made on the Care for Dogs website at http://www.carefordogs.org/donate/. In the notes section please write “Billy”. Together we can make a difference!

- Joy Huss, Hand to Paw Temple Outreach