A word of caution about this vet trip report, it will make your eyes water, your toes curl and ends sadly, with a veterinarian assistant going to hospital.

Buki is a dear little girl who is currently just hanging out at the shelter waiting for a home.

Recently, she has been limping on her back legs and today we included her in the vet run for examination as to the cause.

Dr Beer manipulated the feet and legs and found that Buki has a disorder of the knee called Luxating Patella. The vet diagnosed her condition to be serious, grade 5 and in need of surgery. She recommended that one knee be operated on at a time, allowing for the first to recover before starting on the other.

(On bone matters, an update on Ngn from 2 weeks ago, she is up on all 4  legs walking about normally after her hip to spine screw surgery and was eager to come along on today’s trip but she will have to wait till next week to enjoy a day out with me in the car.)

Coming to the shelter this week from a local market in Nong Hoi, is a dog in a very sorry state.

His eyes are just about visible beneath the swollen, blistered and eye lids and the rest of his body is just as riddled with lumps & bumps bursting into open flesh wounds especially around his testicles.

Blood samples were taken and when tested, proved positive for TvT (Transmissible Venereal Tumor) but the great news is that the blood showed his liver to be relatively healthy so the treatment of chemotherapy can start right away.

Poor guy didn’t flinch at all whilst I took many photos with flash, so it is safe to assume he will end up just like Kazim, blind and quite helpless.

Purely in the interests of education and sharing information, you can see other images of this guys sad condition here ...1...2...3... but if you are squeamish or easily upset, please do not view them.

Last to be seen by the vet today was Magnum.

This guy has been suffering with a foot injury for a while now.

He lost a couple of toe nails  and possibly the loss of some pride too, he sustained a bite wound to one of his front paw pads!

Today stated out with a struggle taking ages to get him into the car, even longer to get him out and then when inside the clinic, he was adamant he wasn’t going to let anyone mess with his foot.

Well, with 4 pairs of hands, towels, tables, waste bins, stools (on wheels and excrement) urine, other dogs and all in a 4×5 metre examination room, he proved even more trouble than I can describe in these few words.

Eventually he was examined and had his wounds redressed but when it came to moving him out into the car, the whole fight started again.

Unfortunately the veterinarian assistant who had been so careful to shave his foot without nicking the flesh, was seriously injured and was taken to hospital with deep punctures and a suspected fracture of a bone in her hand.