I’ve decided to share some of my fostering experiences in the hope that someone else may be encouraged to take in a dog or two, or cats and kittens and give the individual love and care that some of them need for recovery or re homing.

So this is a quick introduction just so you know how I got here.

It started with me making one phone call, I said I had a few days in Chiang Mai and asked if I could come to the shelter, just for a day.  My tuk tuk driver cursed as we drove  away from the city and into the beautiful country side. I thought it was fantastic, he thought it was much to far from home and refused to come back for me.  But the trip was worth it, I knew instantly that this was going to be a very worthwhile way to spend the day.  There was a school visit in progress so there were children and dogs everywhere, and they were all having a great time. The atmosphere was so relaxed and it was just so much fun.

Then over a quick lunch at a local roadside cafe, Karin and Ally told me all about the shelter and what their aims were.  I could see that there was a very real need for volunteers. I was supposed to be spending 3 months traveling around Thailand but decided to stay in Chiang Mai and have a few months at the shelter instead.

That was March 2007, and the need today for volunteers is even greater, back then we had 35 dogs (it’s hard to imagine now!), today we have around 130 and it’s a battle every day to keep the numbers down.

So now I’m back for my fourth visit. In June 2008 I moved into a small house so that I could take in foster dogs. (On previous trips I used to smuggle very small dogs or kittens into my guest house.. not ideal!)  My plan was to take in one or two dogs at a time, the ones who needed special medical care or just a quieter place for recovery.

Well I peaked in June this year with 6 dogs, 10 kittens and 2 mother cats! Way too many, even for me, so with all the kittens now homed and the dogs recovered it’s back to a very manageable number.  When I started writing this I had just one little dog, 3 adult cats and 4 kittens, but then I got an evening call to a Temple where some tiny kittens had been dumped and were in danger of being eaten by the Temple dogs, an all too common fate for many kittens here.  So now I have another 4 kittens who thankfully are just about able to eat by themselves. That’s a relief.

Dogs and Cats with me Today

Lulu is my only dog right now, she is part of a street project run by Teresa, another volunteer.

Lulu is a small black poodle type who has been rejected by her owner.  She had just raised two beautiful pups but was obviously sick so Teresa took her to the vets where she was found to be suffering with pyometra and was given an emergency hysterectomy.

She also has E.canis, a disease caused by tick bites and was aneamic, also because of the ticks.

Her little body was covered in them and her matted fur had to be shaved so that they could be fully removed. She also has a luxating patella so she limps some of the time.

She’s making steady progress and will be looking for a new home very soon.

You can read more about Lulu here …

Then there’s George  and Snowy, two beautiful Persian cats who were dumped, along with two others in a Temple.  It was thought at first that they were suffering with both FIV and FeLV, but after having full blood tests done, I have now discovered that they both test negative for both diseases. So they are now looking for a new home.  See our Category Cats for Adoption …  for more information.

Momma cat has been with me since the 1^st of March.

She was taken from her Temple for sterilisation but when the vet opened her up she found that the cat was half way through a pregnancy and quickly stitched her back up.

Care for Dogs were about to put her back at the Temple and get her again after her pregnancy, when the lady who feeds her said that it wouldn’t be that long because the kittens would be eaten by the dogs as this was what always happened.. this is sadly the fate of many kittens who are born or dumped in Temples. Knowing this made it impossible for me to leave her there, so she came to my house and one month later gave birth to 5 kittens, and all, I’m happy to say grew up safely and have now found new homes, so a very happy outcome for them.

Unfortunately, when we tried returning Momma to her home  she was rejected by the lady at the Temple. You can read more about that story here …

But this turned out to be really lucky for me because 7 days after the last two kittens left, I got a call from some American tourists who noticed that 4 tiny kittens had suddenly turned up near where they were staying.  They kept watch in case a mother cat came along but after two days they realised that the kittens must have been dumped there.

As they are only  about 3 to 4 weeks old I started bottle feeding straight away but the desperate crying alerted Momma and she came running to see what was going on.

For a while her confusion was obvious and she spent about an hour crying too, it was a very noisy time. Then she picked one kitten up out of the box and moved it into a dark corner and started to wash him.  It was so lovely to see I could have cried.

The kitten was instantly comforted and Momma did what mother cats do, stimulated him to go to the toilet and cleaned him up after wards.

I passed the others to her one by one and she did the same with them all. Soon they were all snuggled up with her and we all went peacefully to asleep.  So now we are a great team, I do all the feeding and Momma does everything else.

Perfect.

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