GENEROSITY ENABLES THE SOI DOG VETERINARIANS T0 BETTER TREAT THE ISLAND’S DOGS AND CATS.

At the Soi Dog Foundation (SDF) clinic in Phuket every day presents new challenges. Life for the veterinarians is not simply a matter of vaccinating and sterilising the street dogs and cats. Street dogs have a poor and sparse diet. Poor nutrition means the animals are subject to numerous diseases. Traffic accidents and harsh treatment account for all kinds of, often life threatening, injuries.

Until now, diagnosing and treating the dogs and cats has been extremely difficult as the veterinarians have been forced to treat and diagnose them using only their clinical experience and guesswork. As animals can’t tell us what is wrong, or describe their symptoms, modern medical testing equipment has been desperately needed. Fortunately thanks to a few caring people, the tide is turning for SDF and the island’s dogs and cats.

 Recently six generous expats have seen firsthand the wonderful work the foundation does here, and have pitched in to help fill the need for modern medical equipment.

Wayne and Sonya Klapko have donated a heart monitor. The veterinarians have already been trained to use this machine. One of the Klapko’s dogs suffers from Cushings disease and it used to have to travel to Bangkok every month for monitoring. However SDF’s vets were able to treat the disease and their pet now has a new lease of life. The machine was given in gratitude for the treatment given.

Recent arrivals Clive and Alison Manners, have donated a portable autoclave which has only recently arrived from the UK. This means that at last, instruments can be sterilised quickly and safely between neutering and spaying operations at the foundations mobile clinics, without having to send them back each night to the SDF center, an impossibility when working in locations like Koh Lanta. This allows many more animals to be sterilised in a day. Clive who formerly owned a medical equipment company in Australia is also looking to source other equipment for the foundation.

Now John and Satomi Higgs have purchased two brand new blood analysis machines. These are a Vet Autoread Hematology Analyser, including a Vet Line Urine tester. The other machine is a Vet Test Chemistry Analyser. These two machines alone have cost approximately 800,000 tbt. The SDF clinic will be one of only 5 clinics in the whole of Thailand to have them.

Blood parasites and the associated conditions they cause are the biggest killer of dogs and cats on Phuket and these machines will allow speedy and accurate diagnosis of a wide range of conditions.

John and Satomi have purchased these two machines in honour of their two deceased but still deeply missed Labrador Retrievers. Alpha and Jupiter were two dogs the couple shared their lives with in Singapore. The Labs were brothers and were bred in Perth, Australia. After Alpha led an active six years, enjoying running and swimming the couple were devastated when someone poisoned him. The source and type of poisoning was never identified due to the lack of adequate equipment and the pet dog died a horrible death within a couple of days, while undergoing what tests and treatment the treating vets had access to.

John says, “I only wish those vets had access to the types of machines that we are donating to Soi Dog.”

Their other Lab, Jupiter lived on and moved to Phuket with them when they came here to live four years later. Jupiter loved the long walks and the beaches. Unfortunately due an inoperable growth on the spinal cord he became paralysed from the mid spine down at the age of 10. Not deterred Satomi sourced a dog cart from the USA. The cart supported his back legs and replaced them with wheels, allowing him to walk and run again. Jupiter enjoyed a further 4 years of active life until passing away of old age at 14.

John and Satomi are also giving SDF Jupiter’s cart and John Higgs says, “We do hope that his wheels will be useful to a Soi Dog in the future in the unfortunate case that there might be a need.”

The two new machines will arrive in January, and meanwhile the company supplying them will deliver demonstration models to the clinic December 2010. Sterilisations have been cancelled for that day so that all the staff can be trained in the use of both machines.

The machines will be named Jupiter and Alpha in honour of the 2 dogs whose love loyalty and sense of fun meant so much to the Higgs.

John and Gill Dalley, directors of the Soi Dog Foundation would like to thank these 6 expatriates for their outstanding generosity and support for the Foundation’s work. John added that; “these machines will help immensely in the treatment of animals here. Next year will see us push ahead with plans to create Thailand’s largest and most modern animal hospital outside of the universities. Work on a dedicated cat facility will start in the new year as the first phase of this, thanks to a grant from a Swiss Foundation.”

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