Heroes At Work

On Friday I visited the dogs with medical conditions, most suffering also with mange, a skin disease caused by parasitic mites. Next to this run are the older dogs. Both runs broke my heart, some of the cases look shocking as we hardly see this back home - but it is worth remembering that Soi Dog do put down animals that have no chance of a healthy future to avoid a miserable and painful life. Knowing this helped me to understand that these dogs are not in extreme pain or discomfort, in fact, most are up for adoption. Too many people are concerned with buying an animal for their look. I knew before and realise more after my experience here, that a dogs personality will shine over any unsightliness. They actually prove how strong they are by their ability to deal with trauma and the conditions they unfortunately have. I hope to stress to anyone thinking of buying a certain breed, to visit a re-homing shelter before you do, you might fall in love!

Recent amputation

This dogs nails may look uncared for but unfortunately the blood flow reaches into them so cutting them causes it to bleed out too much.

I have noticed a lot of progress regarding the building of the new hospital recently. Comparing it to the size of the clinic they have at the moment, its unbelievable. C Runs (below) which house newly treated dogs, are getting over crowded and are not suitable. They are dark, either too hot or too damp depending on the weather, and cramped which causes a lot of tension between the dogs. This is a matter of space as there isn't anywhere else for them to go at the moment, but its great knowing that the hospital will provide higher quality in-house kennels for these animals.

Other plans for the hospital include space for x-ray facilities which are not possible in the current space, separate wards segregated by condition, extra special care e.g. physiotherapy and the workspace and equipment desperately needed for the vets to work effectively. Once this trip is over, I am definitely planning another as it would be great to see the new hospital at work. Progress picture of the hospital below.. the small building in the background is the current clinic! 

One of the vets here at Soi Dog, Dr Jennifer, spoke to a group of us volunteers this week and discussed how varied working here is. She mentioned that the severity of the cases that come in outnumber where she has worked before by far and that if a vet can work here, they can work anywhere. Obviously, new cases are brought in everyday and there are around 120 -150 medical cases in the shelter at any one time, only here for treatment, so it is a very demanding and busy job. 

For the past 3 years Soi Dog have ran mobile clinics around Thailand. They base themselves in one area for 2-4 weeks, and can perform up to 50 surgeries a day. In one location, they can spay neuter up to 250 animals a week. Dogs Trust in the UK support Soi Dog in their mobile clinics. Sterilization is very important to Soi Dog. This helps keeps the number of stray animals down - to save more from a potentially awful life involving starvation, injury, disease and inhumane culling . Euthanasia (as a form of control) is against the Buddhist religion, so instead there are a lot of cases of poison being put down (the dog chooses to eat), animals being put in bags and left on the roads (the car kills them) and other inhumane methods. Soi Dog believe that they have sterilized around 80% of Phukets dog population and there are plans for the future to continue this work across Thailand.

The foundation are also highly involved with temple outreach programmes. We were told of one temple north of Bangkok, where the animal abuse was severe before Soi Dog became involved. They had about 1500 animals, all cramped in cages piled up so they excreted on top of each other. They also hung animals in cages, 2 dogs or 2 cats etc. around the temple. Soi Dog have spent a lot of money there to try and make improvements, build dog runs and educate.

Donating to Soi Dog via my link will help these programmes grow. I am extremely thankful for all donations so far - but would love to reach closer to my target. Sharing this information is also highly effective, educating people on how much this organisation actually do will provide more assistance, more volunteers and more funding! http://www.gofundme.com/jessiessoidogs