A month ago, whilst trawling around the back streets of Chiang Mai looking for Sonja, the wonderful girl who everyone at Care for Dogs just adored, was ‘on the run’ after slipping her collar and feared confinement after being adopted in the Nimmanhaemin Road area.

Out on the Super Highway (the name given to what must have seemed quite a grand dual carriageway a few years ago when it first opened) we came across a rather sad looking dog who seemed to spend his entire life sleeping on the front steps of a hotel near the Ched Yot area.

The car park and forecourt staff referred to him as ‘Hewl’ which in Thai means ‘Hungry’ but we preferred Jet, a far stronger and respectable and far more dignified name.

His body was thin, a bit like a skeleton coat hanger and his skin looked inflamed in parts but also very dry and void of hair.

Brought to the shelter for some TLC*, we set him on a course of regular meals and appropriate medications for his skin problems, which the vet said were not mange as believed previously but due to pressure sores, from being so under nourished and sleeping on hard surfaces.

Jet had quite a few old, scabby and thick wrinkly skinned areas on various parts of his body and one of them was currently an serious open wound.

However, it soon became apparent that his suffers with Entropion, which is a condition that many dogs suffer, with their outer eye lid, rolling back into their eye and the eye lashes etc, scratching and inflaming their eyes.

Hence, dogs seen with their eyes almost shut and often all gooed up with excessive tears, are suffering the effects of this congenital characteristic.

Interestingly, after reading a bit about this on the internet it is apparent that the other similar term ‘Ectropion‘, which is where the eye lids are sagging or droopy, Aka Bloodhound & Basset, are not one of the same thing.

We have been helping Jet cope with his itchy eyes using drops to reduce the irritation and also for a while kept a collar on him to reduce his nibbling at the open wound on his hip. Regular cleaning has helped but the underlying issue still remains, his eyelids just keep rolling in.

Tomorrow (Wednesday) Jet will undergo minor surgery and will have his eye lids adjusted.

Good luck Jet, you already look charming, with ‘cosmetic surgery’ you will look even more handsome!

*Tender Loving Care