Sterilisations at the Shelter – amazing achievement
Those among you who have followed Care for Dogs progress in recent times will know how much we have wanted to establish our own veterinarian facilities at the shelter.
In July through to September 2009 part of the shelter was transformed into 3 purpose built rooms, offering storage, an office & most importantly a surgery room, along with a shop window for Care for Dogs merchandise.
In August 2009 Luke Gamble from Worldwide Veterinary Service (WVS) , who filmed various small operations at our shelter for Sky Television, pledged to assist Care for Dogs further by dispatching volunteer vet teams to our shelter.
Now in November 2009 we are privileged to be joined by 2 vets from the WVS volunteer scheme.
Liz & Caroline, both competent and practising vets from the UK, willingly packed their bags with very little in the way of holiday gear as they were committing themselves to working the entire duration of their stay and itching to ‘get stuck in’ !!
Their first day was consumed by the crucial task of getting us up & running with advice and assistance to equip the surgery with items that only a trained vet would know. Amazingly, there wasn’t that much to source, as thankfully Luke had already provided quite a bit of the surgical items and basically we just needed to buy a couple of items along with a coat stand & a vacuum cleaner !! – At a shelter !!
Imagine the delight & relief at last for all concerned when the girls started their operations. Reduced costs, less stress on the dogs and transportation issues just dissolved into thin air.
But immediately it was obvious how hard the vets here in Thailand work when they process 6 – 7 dogs every week for us, routinely dealing with the impact of blood parasites, physical deformities and issues such as early pregnancies too.
We lined them up, the girls processed them and in between ops, managed to diagnose & advise us on a whole manner of different cases we were able to show them.
Cats came along too (No pigs or chickens Luke) and Gill was very pleased to get some assistance with a cat who had suffered a terrible attack to it’s back & tail.
It’s early days yet but this facility will now be making an even bigger difference to the dogs and cats in Chiang Mai, only made possible by donations from our supporters. Thank you everyone for trusting us & helping us reach our aims.
However, we would like to take this opportunity to say a very big “THANK YOU” to Susy Utzinger Foundation, Animal Spirit & Ed Lee, each of whom have made massive financial contributions, helping us to make our vision come true.
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Tagged as: animal spirit, caroline, ed lee, liz, luke gamble, sterilise, surgery, susy utzinger, volunteer, Worldwide Veterinary Service, wvs
Wow! This is just amazing. It feels like it happened so fast, but for CFD it must have felt like an eternity. Congratulations! I can’t wait for my tour.
well done all at care for dogs, although my time helping out 3 years ago was brief i have tried to look in and follow the progress and can only say that I am amazed and proud of you all with what you’ve acheived in such a short time. i have been constantly humbled by the commitment shown by shelter workers having to deal with so many dogs, one or two of the local dogs barking can annoy me, how you all cope with so many when they start and you all trying to get important jobs done amongst the din. Chiang Mai should be, and i am sure is, enternally grateful for all you’ve done and continue to do, the sterilisations, vaccinations, education, support your remit is so wide and you do all you can to cover it all.
special personal congrats to Ally for all your work there at Carefordogs and still finding the time to wave your magic wand over other peoples websites and sharing your time energy and moral support with others, well over and above the call of duty. sorry if you’re reaching for the sick bag Ally but I stand by every word:)
It has been an immensely rewarding experience to help kick-start the veterinary operation at Care for Dogs, and a privilege to work with such a dedicated and professional team. It has opened our eyes to a new world of diseases never experienced in the UK climate.
Thanks to Karin and Ally for your warm welcome, your tireless enthusiasm and commitment to this important work, and to Ally for your boundless inventiveness – I’m sure you could patent the multi-functional i/v drip stand (aka hat stand) , as an improvement on the hospital stainless steel version!
The vets who follow on from us will find a purpose-built facility that allows for examination, treatment, surgery and aftercare that works well and to the benefit of the patients. Well done!