This week we volunteered at the dog and cat shelter at Elephant Nature Park. ENP is not only a sanctuary for rescued elephants, it also has many other animals including water buffalo, cows, ponies, goats, birds, monkeys, cats and over 400 dogs. During our time at the centre we were able to be involved with the veterinary care of all of these animals, including vaccinating 70 water buffalo against foot and mouth disease.

In 2011, there was massive flooding in Bangkok. Many people were evacuated, but they were unable to take their pets with them. As a result, thousands of dogs were left stranded. Lek, a lover of all animals, had to do something to save these poor dogs. Her and her team rescued over 2000 dogs. They did their best to find the dogs’ original owners or adopt them to new homes. Lek and her team at ENP brought 155 dogs home and over the past 4 years the number of rescued dogs has reached 450 dogs as people have brought strays or abandoned dogs to be cared for. Lek’s husband, Darrick, started the shelter and it is has been gaining popularity ever since.

The dog shelter also has a cat and dog clinic where we spent most of our week working. The clinic provides free veterinary care for animals in the nearby village including spays/neuters and vaccinations.
Our days volunteering were spent helping the vet do daily treatments for all 40 dogs and cats in the clinic. Many of the animals had bite wounds which we cleaned and gave an antibiotic injection to prevent infection.

We also helped with the incoming cases such as a seizuring dog, a dog with respiratory problems and even a duck with a luxated patella! When we weren’t helping the vets, we spent a lot of time de-ticking dogs. Tick borne diseases are a huge problem at the shelter, especially during the summer. Many of the dogs are subclinically infected with ehrlichia and anaplasma and the clinically ill ones are treated with doxycycline for 28 days.

We saw a lot of interesting cases during our week at the dog shelter, but our most memorable case was a 6 week old puppy named Scully. Scully came in on our first day with hind end paralysis. Her owner said a book was accidentally dropped on her. She had complete hind end paralysis with no reflexes, no deep pain and dribbling urine. We did an X-ray and found a fracture on her L4 vertebrae but no signs of compression to the spinal cord. We kept Scully overnight and when she wasn’t improving, one of the staff members Adam, took her home. He would express her bladder and bathe her constantly. She was put on prednisone to decrease inflammation and further damage to the spinal cord as well as tramadol for pain management. The staff at ENP have been in contact with a vet from the US and they would like to fly her to have surgery. Since she does not have all her vaccinations yet, they don’t know if it’s possible. At this point, Scully will be kept comfortable and if she does have permanent hind end paralysis, she will live her life in the Steele run. The Steele run is home to a few paralyzed dogs who are very well taken care of. They have constant supervision, physiotherapy every day and they get taken on walks in their little wheel chairs. We hope for the best for our little friend Scully and we know that the staff at ENP will do everything they can for her.

-Daniella, Rose, Julie