Today the vet run was a simple affair. Well it wasn’t really but you don’t need to know about the complications.

Joining me today on the vet run was a professional dedicated volunteer who is currently staying in Chiang Mai on her 3 month visit to Thailand where she has volunteered with more wildlife organisations than you and I have had hot dinners. (English terminology)

Margo was a tremendous spirit to have along with me and it was a great pleasure to meet her & share some experiences with her.

From the shelter we were taking Kai Mook to the vet for a blood test, Chrissy for a check on her recent knee operation and also a scruffy little Shi Tzu that was brought along for the trip from the local village on the back of the family motorbike.

Margo & I then stopped off in the village to pick up a cute little puppy that had been hit by a car a week ago and was reportedly limping and suffering with her mouth.

Gill’s foster house today had 4 patients for the trip so that made a total of 8 dogs on the truck. As you can see, Gill came along too and she sat in the back of the truck with the big guys who were enjoying the outing in the fresh air.

First up for assessment were the 2 big boys Hope & Freedom and their blood was taken for testing, as was Charlie & Cara’s blood, who are also being nursed at Gill’s home.  Pity the vet’s machine broke down today with us needing 4 tests. Sending off to the laboratory means we have to wait longer for the result but also costs more

The big guys overall condition has improved tremendously since rescue and they are putting on weight and are both brighter in character. Gill is really bringing these guys out of their nightmare.

Next up it was the little road accident pup and she was immediately taken away by Dr Manachart to be xrayed.

The conclusion from the xray was that the jaw and skull around the eye, as well as various other bones were damaged but nothing should be done except to provide her with extra vitamins and pain relief medication, allowing her very young body to heal itself.

So here is the recipe; grind 1 Rimadyl 75mg tablet up to a powder and add that to some vitamin liquid such as Seven Seas and then feed the solution to the pup twice a day at 1cc per kg weight.

Pang, the little Shi Tzu was next to be seen and from the smell we could already tell there were maggots nibbling rotting flesh somewhere but with all the matted and dirty hair we could not see all the wounds.

After a bit of a struggle (note the number of hands holding this monster down) we were able to shave the hair away from around the wound she had on her back. Apparently she had been bitten by another dog a few weeks ago according to the lady that brought her to the shelter today.

But what she hadn’t told us and we doubt she even knew, was that poor little Pang’s rear right leg dew claw was growing in on itself and had become so infected that flies had laid eggs in the wound and now maggots were cleaning up the rotten flesh.

Once cleaned up the wounds were dressed and she will receive daily cleaning this week at the shelter before returning to her home.

Well that was 7 dogs. Kai Mook unfortunately came along for the ride it seems. We wanted the vet to test her blood for Hepatozoonosis, alos known as H-Canis,a parasite found in the blood of another dog that we know was living near her at her old home before coming to the shelter. This disease is spread by ticks but one dog can get it from another, not from the tick biting the dog but from the dog eating the tick that has the parasite within it, from having bitten an infected dog!

But sadly this clinic, although possibly one of the most advanced in Chiang Mai, cannot run that test themselves and they suggest we visit the University Training Facility.