Well, for those that work with dogs, you will know that already. But the vet run today seemed to take on a theme.

First up on the vets table was Henry, who a couple of weeks ago was suffering badly with ulcers at his anus and this had been caused by impacted anal glands.

Today he was back for a check and he is looking much better … well his bum is. Excuse the residue from an untimely poop in the waiting room !

Next was a plump short legged dog that had been limping on her right back leg just lately.

Dr Beer said that both knees were luxating and the right was worse than the left. But instead of recommending an operation as she usually does, she looked me straight in the face and said “this dog is very fat, she need to lose weight and the problem might go away”.

A diet.

It must seem to readers of vet trip posts that dogs are looking a little scared lately. It’s all co-incidence. This doggy – Tdik always looks like this, whether he is at the vet or back home at Wat Pha Gee in Mae Hia. Check out the following link and see almost an identical pose a year ago, when he was in the same clinic for the same problem, Canine Pyoderma – Bacterial Folliculitis.

Poor guy has got it bad again, maybe it’s a seasonal thing, he came here last time on the 1st August 2008. At that time, it had been a year since I had met him for the first time as a tiny pup, covered in ticks.

Today, Dr Beer recommended the same course of treatment for him & he will stay (hide) at the shelter for a week whilst we give him the meds he needs to combat his condition.

Sheena last week seemed to have a bloody discharge and the vets said it should be monitored.

This week we have seen her trying to urinate with some difficulty. Wanting to but could not.

She was examined next and after an Xray, it transpired that she is constipated so much that she is having problems passing urine because the colon is constricting the size / passage of the urethra.

This Xray shows all the poo held in her intestine, and just bulging and pressing on her other body parts.

So back at the shelter, in the comfort of her home, we will administer a diuretic and help her ease that mass of poo out and give her some welcome relief.

Last week Kai Dao was at the vet for a splint / cast check on his pinned leg. This week, whilst getting him to the truck for transportation, we saw him have a poo and that had a lot of blood in it. We ran a test at the shelter, especially as we are currently getting paranoid about bloody poo and parvo-virus and the test was negative.

Dr Beer immediately asked if the blood was fresh or old (bright or dark) and when I said fresh, she stuck her lubricated,latex finger up Kai Dao’s bum. He grimaced a little and with a smile she informed me that he had an enlarged Prostate Gland.

After explaining to me about hormones and the effect of testosterone on this gland, she recommended castration as a means to reducing the size of the gland.

It seems that Kai Dao had the reverse of Sheena’s condition. This guy’s prostate gland was pressing on his colon and therefore restricting the passage of faeces and thus tending to make him strain when he pooed and burst a blood vessel in the process.

It’s all so simple when you have a vet to explain it.

Dusty was next to be examined and as we held her it seemed such a shame to know she had lost her last puppy just 3 days ago.

This fluffy bundle of joy was living rough with her pups and rescued to the shelter about a month ago with with just one surviving pup and looking as if she had been in a road accident, from the injuries / wound to her head & ear.

She was assessed at that time as suffering from Autoimmune Disease and today the diagnosis was reconfirmed.

But the real reason she was seeing the vet today was for a bloody discharge from her vagina. An Xray proved there was nothing untoward going on inside (dead foetus etc) and the vet suggested that this dark blood was merely residue from the birth still flowing from her.

The final doggy to be seen today was Judy White.

Judy is very old, possibly 16 – 18 years old and is suffering with arthritic joints and her legs are severely swollen, as well as having a serious heart murmur.

This week with all the rain, she has been craving to get into the dry & comfortable spots in the shelter, namely under Kh Gribs desk!

The vet said that Judy is on the meds she needs and only if she stops eating, should we really worry about her condition.

Yet again, another dog that we shall need to watch her habits and get her to tell us that the time has come for her to pass away. We think she is nearly there.

Back at the shelter it was great to meet up with a couple of new volunteers that Frances was showing the ropes of walking dogs and Soraya was about to introduce to Tdik and the art of medicated shampoo showers.