“Store for the Paws”

We are able to offer people the facility of shopping on line - to the benefit of the dogs and cats of Chiang Mai.

‘Shopping’ means paying money for something in return. We hope you can come to appreciate that this is exactly what you are able to do when you visit our catalogue.

Why not follow this link to enter the shop now, browse through the selection of genuine and unique opportunities available for you to see how you are able to pay some money and get something in return.

There are many bargains in store… Come on in, you are very welcome!

For those of you who don’t know me personally, I come to Thailand on a tourist visa so have to renew it every month. As my heart is also involved with Burmese refugees, I opt to go into Burma every month to do this. Well, one day, on one such trip, as I was walking through one of the villages on the border of Burma, I came to a checkpoint. The military avidly controls forest areas and forbids the passage of any unauthorized persons. I talked briefly with the guards before turning around. In the meantime, a lot of the villagers had come out of the homes, interested in this exchange, and as I was walking back, a father, speaking very little English, asked me to join him and his family for some conversation. Delighted, I sat down on bamboo mats and proceeded to ask this gentleman a lot about his family’s circumstances- if his kids had enough food, were going to school, how he was surviving, how he felt the government was working, etc. As our conversation progressed, I noticed a pup laying on a table, looking lifeless. I asked if I could hold the puppy. It was so sickly and lethargic. I asked how old it was, and was told it was about 5 weeks old. Knowing that puppies that young should still be with their moms, I asked where the mom was. The family man told me they’d eaten her. I asked if they were planning on eating the puppy. And he said that they would, soon, along with some rice. I asked if they would let me pay for her so that I could take her back to Thailand. They asked for 500bahts ($15), money I did not have on me. As I knew Burma did not have a bank nearby for me to withdraw money, I tried to negotiate the price down, but they wouldn’t let me. I even offered to give up my sweater or my backpack, but to no avail. I had to walk back to the border of Thailand, pick up my passport which was being held in customs, go to my Thai bank, go back through customs (and pay their fee for the second time!), and go find this secluded home once again. I carried the puppy back with me in my backpack, through customs (the Thai custom workers didn’t even ask me any questions!), put her on my lap under blankets on the bus (a 7 hour ride- she was so lifeless she didn’t move or whine) so as not to get kicked off, and took her to my home in Chiang Mai with the hopes of adopting her out. She had such personality and an extreme resilience about her that, even though I had 4 other puppies at home I was caring for, I immediately felt differently towards her. She was physically stronger, always more vocal about me leaving, and very loyal towards those who nurtured her. She cried like a wolf whenever I would leave for the day, so I named her: “wolfie”.

Almost on cue, as I sit and type this, she comes and whines, egging me to give her a bone. As I watch how happy she is and how utterly joyful she can be at the sight of loved ones, I can’t help but shutter when I think of what her destiny could have been.

It is in these times, especially, that Care for Dogs’ motto rings so true.

“Saving one dog won’t change the world, but surely, the world will change for that one dog.”

I’ve got a wagging tail that concurs!!!

In the front with me was Morg, by his appearance it would seem he is an old boy and possibly of Ban Kaow breeding.

In the back were moaning Max, Jaum Luai and Maa Luai.

There wasn’t much said in the back but Morg and I had a good chat in the front, especially at the traffic lights when I was able to wipe the drips from his nose and caress his body, feeling every bone under the patchy covering of hair and inflamed and bloated legs and feet.

The vet diagnosed a possibility of 3 things going on with Morg, finding no mange, yeast or fungus under the microscope, that Morg was suffering from either old age and a long term infection, blood parasite or possibly a thyroid problem. We shall know which of these it is when we see the results of blood tests. (More about blood tests later!) Meanwhile he is now completely bald, having been shaved from head to toe, in order to deal with the multiple wounds erupting from his inflamed body.

Max was next to be seen by the vet and after a lot of moaning an groaning when the vet looked at his ears, it is finally time to take the drastic step of opening up the left ear and surgically removing the infected area in an attempt to stop the constant serious infection that he has suffered with since coming to the shelter a year ago. Maybe the complaints he makes about anyone touching his ears could be justified, after all his left one must be extremely painful. Poor guy.

Maa Luai visited the vet today for further blood tests and after taking blood and assessing the pink spots and yellow skin colouring it was quite apparent that she is suffering from jaundice.

This is apparently due to her red blood cells breaking down.

When we looked at her body it seemed swollen as if she were pregnant and thoughts of pyometra (closed) came to mind, maybe there being an infection going on inside due to that condition.

She was xrayed and thankfully there was no sign of pyometra but instead, indication of a condition called Ascites with a body cavity showing an increased amount of retained fluid, thus the ballooning of her abdomen.

Sadly, the vet clinic today was suffering technical failure with it’s blood diagnosis system, the crucial assessment of liver function being the failing test process.

So if you have just read the wikipedia link about Ascites, you will be coming to the same conclusion of 1+1 = 2 or in other words, disaster+disaster=disaster or words to that effect. Today of all days, no liver function tests. First Morg, now Maa Luai !

With her red blood cells on free fall, she needs to have daily steroid shots for a week, to force her system to generate more red blood cells and also receive saline on a drip.

Finally on the vets couch was Jaum Luai. This poor little girl is in a bad way. Not eating, weak and almost lifeless.

And again this case depended upon a thorough blood assessment update, to discover if her condition was improving or deteriorating.

Although inconclusive, the partial results indicate she is getting weaker.

Already on various medications, she was immediately put on a drip.

At this point I returned to the shelter with the patients.

On arrival, Sarah asked me if I would mind taking Jaum Luai back to the clinic to be admitted and sponsored by her. Sarah, as so often happens with this activity, has become attached to Jaum Luai and would like to help her the best she can.

No problem, I said, I was due to visit the clinic again in the afternoon with another dog anyway, so I returned Jaum Luai for some ‘intensive care’, courtesy of Sarah.

I wrote about my recent encounter with him and that I had found a food vendor (Kh Toy) working in the park, who had made a point of telling me he wanted to help Nudee.

The conversation had gone a little like this:

Toy: Yes hello, how are you? (Holding out his hand to invite me to shake it)
Ally: Fine thanks, you speak very good English, where did you learn that?
Toy: Yes thank you, I was in the USA for many years but now I am retired
Ally: Can you help me to feed Nudee some medicine every day to help him recover?
Toy: Yes I can, my wife brings food here for the dogs anyway
Ally: These are some tins of sardines, here is a plastic bowl and here is a bottle of Ivomectin
Toy: Yes
Ally: I need for you to give Nudee .5ml of this liquid in some sardines in this bowl every day
Toy: Yes
Ally: Don’t give him the whole can at once, just a little with the Ivomectin first and then the remainder as a reward
Toy: Yes, can I give him some chicken too?
Ally: Sure but just make sure he gets the Ivomec.

No prizes for guessing what Toy’s next word was!

So after a 2 week period and me being away from Chiang Mai, today I expected to see some improvement in Nudee and hear from Toy that he had managed to make Nudee’s life a little easier.

Wrong Assumption!

Ally: Hi Kh Toy, where is Nudee?
Toy: Yes he is probably with the soldiers, they eat at this time
Ally: Are you managing to give him the medicine every day?
Toy: No
This word threw me a little!
Toy: It’s not easy on your own, I think I need your help to hold him
Ally: Hold him? You mean he runs away when you give him sardines or chicken?
Toy: Yes he is difficult to hold and struggles and gets away
Ally: Why do you need to hold him to feed him?
Toy: Feed?

So there we have it, a classic case of assuming that because someone speaks a language, it dosn’t mean they understand it!

Well after a brief session of forced laughter from me and genuine embarrassment from Toy, I agreed I would go along tomorrow and demonstrate the details of opening a can of sardines and mixing a small quantity of liquid medicine with the juices and tempting the taste buds of one hungry dog.

The mind boggles.

Where:

‘Zoe in Yellow’ lounge bar

When:

Wednesday 26 November at 7pm till late!

Directions:

48/4-5 Rathwithi Road
(near Irish Pub, towards Rasta Bar Area)
Directions - From Moonmuang Road, turn onto Ratwithi Road - turn right onto 2nd soi after U.N. Irish Pub. Chiang Mai Northern Tour & Trekking Center will be on the corner and “Zoe in yellow” will be next to it on your right.

This event is being held to raise donations for our continuing work with rescuing, sterilising and caring for abandoned and street/temple dogs, pups, cats and kittens of Chiang Mai region.

“Paws for Cocktails” is not invite only, rather it is an open invitation to animal lovers to come and show support by attending and enjoying what will be a great evening!

There will be a raffle and an auction and door entry is free. Being there on the night is showing your support. Raffle tickets will be sold on the night by the lovely volunteer Gill with some fantastic prizes. Also you can bid on some wonderful auction items when volunteer John and the organizer of this event, Soraya, get the auction rolling.

Reenie and Yiannis, the owners of Zoe in Yellow have generously offered her venue to us for free. Reenie is preparing a special cocktail and “peace cheese” for the night. All money raised from the sale of this doggie cocktail will go to Care for Dogs. There will be cool live music and some yummy food nibbles will be passed around.

We hope to see you there and please let your animal loving friends know also…

Thank you so much and see you soon at Zoe in Yellow lounge!

Contact us for more info by email or phone 08 47 52 52 55

You can click on the hand drawn map above to see a larger size which you are welcome to print or go to the Google Map link below for something with a little more detail.

Click here to view map of “Zoe in Yellow”

It’s a bonus if you know how to approach a dog, talk to them, pick them up and understand their needs. But most of all you must have the inclination to do it.

The Monday vet run.

Today I turned up at the shelter at my desired time, 09:00, based upon 2 factors. Firstly, Dr Beer, the veterinarian at Purpoon 24 Hour Animal Hospital doesn’t start work until 09:30 and secondly, I want to be back at the shelter with the dogs back inside by 12:00, so that I can have lunch.

Now the time of my lunch isn’t really important but after you settle into a Thai style of living, you get to realise that most things grind to a halt at 12:00 until 13:00, as most working people stop for an hour. So why not just join the majority.

The pick up of 6 dogs for their outing to town was not exceptional. Oreo again, enjoyed the front seat, spent most of the time with her face close to mine and her right front paw on my thigh. Kazim also travelled in the front, he however stood the whole journey, nose on the gear knob, tail to the door, in the passenger foot well. It’s where he was placed by Sarah when we loaded the dogs in, it’s where he stayed throughout the journey. How did he know where else to go? Where could he move to? With no eyes, how could he see to reposition himself, other than stand, ‘nose on the gear knob, tail to the door’.

At the clinic, all 6 dogs were carried into one of the examination rooms and with me, the vet and 2 or 3 assistants, it was crowded as usual.

I read the ’shopping list’ to Dr Beer detailing today’s cases and we started with Smudge, a little black puppy that is showing signs of baldness around her eyes. We were concerned about Mange, the test showed only Bacteria.

Next to be seen was Hyena, who needed a new intravenous drip inserted as she had ripped out the previous one.

Third up was Kazim, who needed a liver & kidney test, as he is now to start on further Chemotherapy treatment, after he was recently diagnosed with a new outbreak of TvT. With no eyes, loads of scars already on his body from previous TvT recovery, the fact that his tests showed no weakness in his blood were encouraging.

Coke who had suffered a terrible break of the upper front leg bone had an external support pinned into his bones a week ago. Today he was to have a check, to see if all was ok. Apart from a little chaffing of the bandage with is armpit, the external fixation frame was solid, there were no signs of infection or discomfort so he just got a new bandage.

Last week, Oreo was diagnosed as suffering with a luxating patella. The vet recommended surgery but after a little internet searching and many discussions, we believed there was a possibility of a non surgical approach, at least to provide further assessment. We have given her Remidyl and also Glucosamine every day for the last week.

Today, I asked the vet, where on the scale of low to high pain levels was Oreo at. She said high and on the official grading of this condition, she was at grade 4.

I found this helpful to explain it further.

Diagnosis

Diagnosis is made through palpation of the knee. X-rays are necessary in some cases. The luxating patella often causes no or very slight symptoms. There may be intermittent limping in the rear leg. Osteoarthritis can develop secondarily.

There are four diagnostic grades of patellar luxation[4], each more severe than the previous:

* Grade I - the patella can be manually luxated but is reduced (returns to the normal position) when released;
* Grade II - the patella can be manually luxated or it can spontaneously luxate with flexion of the stifle joint. The patella remains luxated until it is manually reduced or when the animal extends the joint and derotates the tibia in the opposite direction of luxation;
* Grade III - the patella remains luxated most of the time but can be manually reduced with the stifle joint in extension. Flexion and extension of the stifle results in reluxation of the patella;
* Grade IV - the patella is permanently luxated and cannot be manually repositioned. There may be up to 90¼ of rotation of the proximal tibial plateau. The femoral trochlear groove is shallow or absent, and there is displacement of the quadriceps muscle group in the direction of luxation.

Treatment

Grades III and IV, as well as most grade II cases, require surgery to correct, if the animal has difficulty walking. The surgery involves a sulcoplasty, a deepening of the trochlear sulcus that the patella sits in.

Additional help can be given with the use of pet ramps, stairs, or steps. These can help the animal travel from one place to another, especially up and down, without adding any pain or damage to the patella.

In view of Oreo’s level of discomfort, perhaps we will need to re-evaluate our current approach.

Last on the table was Judy-White. No No, that’s not her surname, it’s her full given name, as when she first came to the shelter, there was already another Judy (Black as it happens) in residence.

Anyway, Judy-White tried to climb the fence last weekend and in so doing, made a bit of a mess of one of her nipples, well they are a bit floppy and sagging down after too many pups. When the guys at the shelter inspected her belly, to their amazement, they saw a large lump in her groin. The vet immediately had Judy-White on her back, legs a-kimbo and with one finger, popped the intestines back into the stomach cavity. Yet another case with a hernia!

Being just a small opening at present, the vet said there was no need to operate just yet but if it opened wider then perhaps we should..

So, everyone back in the car, for the 12 kilometer trip back to the shelter. The difference on the homeward trip was that Kazim was standing facing forward, actually on the front seat.

Now take a moment to close your eyes and imagine yourself standing on the front seat of a car facing forwards, not knowing what is happening around you and whether you need to lean right, left or even backwards at the next bend in the road. What road, what Tuk-Tuk pulling out in front of the car?

Kazim managed it all perfectly well and appreciated my guiding hand on his back around the corners.

If you or anyone you know has the time and the inclination to help dogs, please get in touch. Volunteering can be extremely rewarding.

Matt was one of the 5 dogs rescued from near death, after their former owner tried to treat them for ticks and fleas by injecting them with a fluid that should have been diluted and then sprayed on their coats. (Bayticol)

One of the family died but everyone else found a home. Including Matt it seemed. Read more about that rescue here …

Back then he was a cute & gangly legged dog but now he has grown into a handsome chap with distinctive markings and an air to his stance. He is proven to be exceptionally friendly, good with children, travels well and an all round pleasant dog.

Why did he return to the shelter ? (We read minds too!)

Sadly the presence of animals in the home of his new family causes their son to suffer and allergy.

They have tried to work around it and have proved it to be Matt who is causing the allergy by sending Matt to purposely stay at LuckyDogs for a while and sure enough the test worked. Their son’s allergy disappeared.

So, if you or anyone you know, would like to give this great looking guy a home, please contact us as soon as you can.

The last time I saw him, was a year ago. I took some photos of him which you can see here …

When I pulled into the car park, I was amazed at there being so many food vendors there, almost double the number from a year ago. Still the various other dogs, some looking quite attached to the stall holders and some acting distant and more at home wandering around the lakes and staying under the trees.

In front of me, was a brown fur patch on the tarmac. Something like a moth eaten rug that granny kept from her early days and you just wanted to throw out and buy her a new one. Something that I nearly ran over!

As he lay there curled up in the middle of the car park, not in the shade of the stall holders umbrella’s and not out of the way of cars and people driving or treading on him, my heart went to my throat and I squatted down and talked to him.

His puss filled eyes struggled to open and the look of recognition was similar to that of the wrongly imprisoned prince, from the Richard Chamberlain version of “The Man in the Iron Mask”. He held his head down and his ears spoke a thousand words. His tail however, said a lot about the dangers of sleeping under cars. The end was not curled, the tip had been broken and was hanging like a question mark?

Poor Nudee, who 2 years ago was spotted here by fRed, a dog loving Chiang Mai resident whilst walking her own dogs in the park. At that time, he was afflicted with TvT (Transmissible Venereal Tumor) and as well as having mange, suffered from a chronic ear infection.

Nudee was my first experience of TvT and I quickly came to terms with the treatment regime. Nudee also came to learn the regime …get in the car, go into town, lay on a couch, have a massage including penis, ears and belly, get in the car, return home, get food.

This went on for nearly 2 months and I was seeing him every week. At that time, I met another volunteer with Care for Dogs, Nola Kelsey who like me, fell madly in love with Nudee.

Nola spent a great deal of her time with Nudee during her stay in Chiang Mai, in between buying copious amounts of food and vitamin tablets which she mixed into delicious Tupperware take-outs and hassling Tuk-Tuk drivers to take her outside of the city to Rama IX park where she could feed Nudee her love.

But back to yesterday, as you may imagine, I was a little upset to see him in this disheveled condition. I spoke with one of the vendors who sold me 3 chicken drumsticks for 20 baht and my friend Paul who was witnessing this awful scene with me, bought another 20 baht’s worth.

Nudee scoffed the lot. The guy with the drumsticks (Kh Toy) said in perfect English, that he liked Nudee and was now pleased to know his name. He said that his wife often brought food from their home for him. I discussed the situation with Kh Toy and he agreed to help with Nudee’s recovery and would give him medication and vitamins if I left them with him.

As every morning he had started the engine of his car and driven backwards. Suddenly he realized that he must have hit something. He got out of the car and saw with distress that his car had hit a little puppy that had been hiding under his car.

Nothing could be done to save her life, she must have got internal injuries and passed away very quickly - poor little soul. Then he discovered a second puppy, luckily not injured, but looking very scared. Someone must have dumped these two little two-months puppies in our carport, just next to the shelter. How could he have known that they were hiding under his car? Nevertheless he felt terrible.

I comforted him, then took the other puppy in my arms and went back to our house.

In the meantime our baby Benjamin had starting crying as he was hungry. As I was on my own I took the puppy with me to look after Benjamin. It was so touching to see: The human and the canine baby gazed at each other intensely, then Benjamins little hand touched her and later her paw would touch him - I wish to know what their little hearts felt at that very moment.

If Benjamin would have been older, I’m sure this would have been his first puppy. Pearl, how we called her, is absolutely adorable, long soft white coloured hair, one ear three-coloured (black, brown and white) and a big brown spot over her right eye. In the beginning she was quite scared, not knowing where she had landed and what was going on. But then she started to relax in my arms, yawned, and pressed her tiny little body against me. How similar humans and dogs are in their need of warmth and love.

I’d be highly tempted to keep Pearl, but when we adopted Tui Nui, dog no. 23, some time ago, Klaus had agreed only under the condition that “this would be our last dog for the next 5 years…”

Well, in the meantime dog no. 24, Yasmine, has arrived already… temporary for a year as her family has to go back to USA for medical treatment.

So not sure when the day will come when we’ll introduce dog no. 25 to our family, but I assume it will be ways earlier than Benjamins 5th birthday…

Pearl is at our shelter now, playing with other puppies who had a similar fate, being dumped, forgotten, neglected.

If you are interested in giving Pearl or one of the other puppies a loving family home, please get in touch with us.

**Update one day later**
Our dog caregiver, Khun Saay, found another puppy in front of the shelter. “Diamond” looks like the sister of Pearl and both are reunited now. We checked the area and couldn’t find another one, hopefully no other puppy was dumped in the area, it would have a hard time of surviving without food.

เนื่องจากผู้ประสานงานของศูนย์คนปัจจุบัน ต้องโยกย้ายไปจากประเทศไทย เราจึงกำลังมองหาคนที่ มีความกระตือรือร้น อดทน เป็นคนที่น่าเชื่อถือและไว้วางใจได้ เพื่อมาช่วยในการทำงานของศูนย์

ผู้ประสานงานของศูนย์ แค์ ฟอร์ ด็อก

หน้าที่และความรับผิดชอบ
• การจัดการและช่วยในการให้การดูแลรักษาพยาบาล การฉีดวัคซีน และอื่น ๆ ที่ศูนย์
• การจัดตารางการพาสุนัขไปหาสัตวแพทย์และการทำหมัน
• รับผิดชอบเกี่ยวการจัดซื้ออาหารสุนัข ยา และ อุปกรณ์ ที่ใช้ในศูนย์
• การประสานงานเกี่ยวกับอาสาสมัครของศูนย์
• การให้ข้อมูลและพาชมศูนย์ เมื่อมีผู้มาเยี่ยม
• การปรับปรุงข้อมูลทางด้านการรักษาพยาบาลและจำนวนสุนัขในศูนย์
• ช่วยจัดการเกี่ยวกับการมาเยี่ยมชมของโรงเรียน
• รับผิดชอบและให้คำปรึกษาแก่เจ้าหน้าที่ของศูนย์ จำนวน 3 คน

บุคคลที่มีประสบการณ์ในสาขาวิชาชีพต่าง ๆ สามารถได้รับการคัดเลือกสำหรับตำแหน่งงานนี้ได้ โดยต้องมีคุณสมบัติดังต่อไปนี้
• มีความสามารถในการบริหารจัดการ
• มีทักษะในการเข้ากับคน การติดต่อสื่อสาร มีความกระตือรือร้น
• ใช้ภาษาอังกฤษ และ ไทย ได้คล่อง
• มีบุคลิกที่อดทนและสู้งาน
• เป็นคนที่รักสุนัข
• ถ้ามีประสบการณ์เกี่ยวกับการรักษาสัตว์ ก็จะได้พิจารณาเป็นพิเศษ

ถ้าท่านมีความสนใจ โปรดกรุณาส่งใบสมัครเป็นภาษาอังกฤษ พร้อมประวัติการทำงานและหลักฐานการศึกษา เงินเดือนที่ต้องการ สถานที่ติดต่อ และส่งมาที่

คุณคาริน ฮาร์เวลค่า, แคร์ ฟอร์ ด็อก, 12 หมู่ 11, บ้านเวียงด้ง, ตำบลน้ำแพร่, อำเภอ หางดง, เชียงใหม่ 50230

หรืออีเมล์l: [email protected] / เว็บไซด์: www.carefordogs.org / เป็นสมาชิกของ WSPA

ดาน์วโหลดข้อมูลภาษาไทยได้ที่นี่ …