Ally's Caring for Dogs Diary

Care for Dogs invitation - to subscribe

2008-09-13T14:23:00.003+07:00

Hello to all readers of this blog, which until recently was my main "dblog" story / information outlet.

As you may have read by now, I have been involved with Care for Dogs new website design and development. This new venture is indeed now my main "dblogging" outlet and if you visit the new site, you will realise I have also grown up a little bit in writing terms, proving that I can not only tell the world about what I feel and do but also write about volunteer work with Care for Dogs from a group perspective.

Typically, like this blog(Ally's Caring for Dogs Diary) I try to publish at least 1 post a day or at least every other day, depending upon the material available.

So, rather than leave this blog and the subscribed readers in limbo, wondering if there will be (yet another) hiatus in writing, I am openly inviting you to click off over to the Care for Dogs site and catch up with my writing there.

If you are receiving this in your email because you are one of the 150+ subscribers to this blog - google group, then please note that I am going to be cheeky and presumptuous by inviting you directly from Care for Dogs, to join their mailing list which I administer too.

Your email address will remain confidential between you and me and you are welcome to unsubscribe at any time without causing any offense.

**Please be on the lookout for an email arriving shortly in your in-box from Feedblitz mailing on behalf of Care for Dogs**

Care for Dogs - Google where we help

2008-08-18T23:14:00.002+07:00

Google kindly provides a wonderful service to internet users in the form of a mapping tool.

Care for Dogs help dogs on the streets and in temples at various locations around Chiang Mai. To give you an idea of how diverse the coverage is, some of the locations are listed and pin pointed on the map below.

You are able to navigate inside the embedded map below or enlarge the map by clicking the link at the bottom and seeing all the locations listed there too.

View Larger Map

If you live in Chiang Mai, why not use this map to find Carrefour on the Super Highway and join us on 31 August at the Care for Dogs Adoption Fair

Can you help to sponsor Tim's tumor treatment ?

2008-08-14T21:37:00.000+07:00

This is Tim upon arriving at the Care for Dogs shelter. Tim is not a Bull Terrier with a bit a deformed nose. He’s a lovely normal Thai dog, who had a perfectly normal nose, until he developed a TvT tumor (Transmissible Venereal Tumor) about 2 years ago.

His original Thai name is “Tingk” which means “Dumped”. He lives in an area behind the shopping centre Big C and the people there called him “Tingk” because his owner had left him behind – and like so many dogs he ended up living on the street. We thought no living being should have the name “Dumped” and therefore changed his name to “Tim”.

Neighbors fed Tim, but nobody took him to the vet to have his growing nose tumor checked. Blood dripped out of his nose and Tim had more and more difficulties to breathe. Finally the neighbors called us and so we picked up Tim and brought him to the shelter.

Luckily, TvT is the only tumor that has a 100% cure rate, if treated. As the tumor is transferred by mating (and licking, dripping, sniffing etc), it spreads easily, and we regularly pick up dogs with this condition.

On average we have approx. 4-5 dogs for TvT-treatment at our shelter, at the moment we are on a new high of 8 dogs. Once a week all these dogs get their chemotherapy injection from our vet, during a period of 4 – 8 weeks. It is amazing to see how the tumors shrink every week. Next time we’ll show you how much Tims tumor has already started to shrink. His breathing has become easier and we are confident in a few weeks the treatment will be finished.

Diagnosis	Treatment	Duration	Weekly Cost	Total Costs
-	Full time boarding (Feeding, rent, maintenance of shelter, vacc. etc.)	Until Adoption	200 Baht per week	800 Baht per month
TvT-tumor	Weekly chemotherapy injections with Vincristine	6 - 8 weeks	-	1,500 Baht

Would you like to sponsor Tims stay and treatment? You could either visit the donations page on this site or contact us directly for more information. If you are interested in adopting Tim after his recovery, please also get in touch with us and in any case, follow his progress on the website - www.carefordogs.org

These photos were taken 11 July 2008.

Please help the dogs of Phuket - sign the petition

2008-08-06T16:45:00.000+07:00

Phuket, a paradise on earth, the pearl of the Andaman Sea, a tropical paradise,

Not for those dogs who live here on the streets and beaches of Phuket, in a new local government sanctioned operation, dogs that are deemed to be stray are being darted and tranquilized by untrained garbage disposal employees and then dumped in the back of a garbage truck to be driven around in the heat of the sun until the end of the day when they are then taken to the Government Dog Pound at Mid Road, many do not make it and most die from tranquilizer overdose or from heat.

Read the full details here and please consider signing the petition to stop this.

Max lives to tell a tale - He will not be eaten today

2008-08-02T21:54:00.005+07:00

Care for Dogs receives some amazing calls from people in & around Chiang Mai and today we received just one of those.

Wat Suan Dok is a famous temple which is quite a busy place because of the number of monks coming & going to studies and people attending various courses there too.

We have previously been involved with some of the dogs here, for sterilisation, treating their Mange and also finding homes for puppies born there, getting them adopted out of the temple life.

It transpires that 3 days ago, some people came to the temple to take dogs away and either sell or eat them themselves. Yes, your eyes do not deceive you, people wanted to catch dogs in order to eat them. Apparently black coated dogs are considered more appealing and if the people who catch them do not eat them, then they are able to sell the dog for consumption at a few places, therefore giving them an income.

On this occasion they targeted Max, who is an aged black Labrador look-a-like and they beat him with a stick but people in the vicinity who work in the offices at the temple, stopped the raiders taking Max away.

Since then, Max has hardly moved from the front door of the offices and when he did move, it was obvious he was in tremendous pain, keeping his left front leg raised at all times and hopping on 3 legs. After a couple of days, the staff there decided to call Care for Dogs to take him to a place of safety and hopefully deal with the injured leg.

We were greeted at the temple by Kh Supatra who is another one of those wonderful people we come across in our work, that not only has many dogs of her own but also looks after several dogs on the streets near her home. This lady has 8 of her own & looks after another 13 on the street, making sure that they get at least one meal a day.

We found Max tucked underneath a large wooden Sala, used by the monks to shade from the sun. Max gave us a knowing look and it wasn't long before he was up and away on his 3 legs to a wide open space away from any corner.

Eventually we managed to sedate him with a blow dart and take him to the veterinarian for assessment and hopefully treatment. The X-ray immediately highlighted Max's pain and predicament. His radius had been completely dislocated from the humerus. In human terms this would be the same as the forearm dislocating at the elbow from the upper arm.

After much discussion about the correct approach to Max's treatment, it was decided to operate and pin the 2 bones in place and then with some timely physiotherapy, perhaps he will be able to use the leg again.

Tomorrow we will collect him from the surgery and keep him for his aftercare at the shelter in Hang Dong and do what we can to repair this guys trust in humans at the same time.

Here are a couple of photos taken of Max a year ago, looking a little more confident and happy with his temple life.

Below is a slide show of photo's taken at the temple a year ago.

View Larger Map

Canine Pyoderma

2008-08-01T12:55:00.006+07:00

Tdik went to the vet today from Wat Pha Gee.

His swollen feet and legs, which were giving him problems walking, were actually bleeding as were his gums. He has a very short coat but with the sores all over his body it looks as though he is losing his hair.

Petrified as I picked him up to put him on the back of the truck, he literally froze in my arms.

At the veterinarian practice, a short ride away, the vet took blood and skin samples and proved that he did not have Mange or Heartworm. She did however, diagnose his condition as a chronic case of Pyoderma. She showed me the evidence on his body.

When I researched this on the net, the following all matched with her diagnosis.

Visit this site www.medi-vet.com for the full story about the condition:

Canine Pyoderma(Bacterial Folliculitis)

Bacterial folliculitis is the most common type of bacterial skin infection in the dog. The Staphylococcus intermedius bacteria, which is a normal resident bacteria of canine skin, can cause infection of the skin in some dogs. Current theories indicate that most dogs who develop the infection, particularly recurrent infections, have an underlying abnormality of their metabolic or immune systems. This form of pyoderma is a frequent complication of allergies, skin parasites (mites, fleas) and endocrine diseases, like hypothyroidism. An idiopathic primary bacterial folliculitis is also seen in short-haired dogs.

Located within the hair follicle, this bacterial infection causes:

Inflammation in and around the hair follicle

Itching in some cases

Hair loss in many cases

The clinical signs of bacterial folliculitis can be quite variable and may include:
Pustules

Papules (pink or red swelling on skin), heat and crusts

Erythema (redness)

Alopecia (hair loss)

Hyperpigmentation (darkening of the skin)

Some dogs develop large circular area of hair loss with crusting or scaling around the border

Superficial erosion

Draining tracts

Pain or discomfort

Surface pyodermas

So the veterinarian and staff, flushed out some of the abscesses and dressed the wounds and I took him back to the Care for Dogs shelter for a week or R & R along with regular food and the administering of the prescribed anti inflammatory - Prednisone and Antibiotic - Cephalexin, as well as getting his wounds re-dressed daily.

I will write an update next week, after he returns to the vet, hopefully ready for his return to the temple.

Incidentally, on the way to the shelter, I popped into the temple to tell the monk there what was happening. He was so please Tdik was receiving treatment and they exchanged caresses before I went off to the shelter.

You can read more about Tdik here ...

RSPCA - UK - Cruelty on the rise

2008-07-30T09:20:00.001+07:00

Rise in dog cruelty convictions

A London couple cut the ears off this dog to make it look more macho

Convictions for cruelty against dogs rose by more than a third last year, the RSPCA has said.

A Staffordshire bull terrier whose owners cut its ears off to make it look more macho is included in the charity's annual cruelty report.

It highlights a 12% increase in all RSPCA cruelty investigations leading to 1,149 convictions.

But new powers introduced in 2007 mean the increase may not represent higher levels of actual cruelty.

Tim Wass, chief officer of the RSPCA Inspectorate, said dogs had always borne the brunt of animal cruelty.

"That's what makes this year's horrendous 34% increase even more shocking: it's a massive increase on an already high figure," he said.

One case highlighted in the report was the 2007 conviction of Abishai Hayes, 22, of Holloway, north London, who admitted torturing his 10-month-old dog.

Full story here ...

More evidence of human failing

2008-07-29T22:50:00.003+07:00

This story from Santa Cruz - USA. Appalling!

38 emaciated dogs taken from house with severed head hanging from tree
By Linda Goldston
Mercury News
Article Launched: 07/28/2008 02:01:50 PM PDT

After a neighbor reported he could hear "animals crying in pain," Santa Cruz County authorities searched the property of a Boulder Creek man Saturday, finding a dog's head hanging from a tree, five dog skulls sitting on a table and 38 severely emaciated live animals.

Inside the house, animal control and sheriff's department investigators found one dog locked in a crate with no food or water and a dog that weighed only half what it should have.

The house "was covered in excrement, urine and debris," said Todd Stosuy, animal control manager. "It was a very disturbing and shocking situation."

Investigators first met with the man on Friday, and he "was under the assumption his animals were being well cared for," Stosuy said. He said the owner of the dogs fled out the back of the house when officers arrived with search warrants Saturday.

Read the full story here ...

Dogs in the UK, struggling to find homes

2008-07-16T09:04:00.004+07:00

A disturbing indication of human intolerance. This story from BBCNEWS. Read the full story here

Struggling to find a dog's house

The Dogs Trust suggests getting a dog reference from previous landlords

Landlords are in the dog-house with a charity which claims that three in four do not allow pets into properties.

Growing demand for rented homes has led to a rise in the numbers of pets being abandoned or handed over to charities to re-home, said the Dogs Trust.

The charity wants landlords to be more open to allowing tenants to keep dogs.

The Association of Residential Letting Agents (Arla) said it was "broadly supportive" of the Trust but it would struggle to change attitudes.

"Pet owners who need to rent privately are being forced to live in unsuitable properties, or rent with their pets without consent from their landlord," said Dogs Trust chief executive Clarissa Baldwin.

Care for Dogs new web site launch

2008-07-08T10:06:00.006+07:00

Hi everyone, this new site that Care for Dogs have developed is going to be a joy to read.

The current content of the site makes great reading but in due time, volunteers will be posting their own blog posts to that site and enable the day to day stories to come out and let people know what it's like to help dogs.

The site is currently under wraps but will be launched on 1 August 2008.

That's better - I needed a break

2008-07-08T10:02:00.001+07:00

It's been 7 months since I have posted to this blog but I can assure you that I am far from finished in my en devours to make a difference to dogs and help Care for Dogs become more widely known, for the tremendous work they have done for 2 years now & will continue to do so into the brighter future.

I say brighter, as after a few visits recently to the shelter in Hang Dong, the atmosphere is one of hope, direction and positive improvement. The residents (in the region of 80) are well cared for in the newly developed and refurbished areas, with an amazingly practical entrance area in place too.

Most of the faces I saw at the shelter last year have now moved on but there were just a couple of familiar grinning muzzles to be found. ET was there, along with Emma & Kachou Daeng, Sonja, Nak, Paul, to name but a few.

Sadly, Sonja & Nak are back in the shelter only quite recently, due to evidence of ill treatment at Wat Doi Kam, with Nak being slashed with a machete and her brother Nik disappearing.

There are a lot of sad stories arising in the intervening months that may never be told but many, many more happy tales, that create that balance of caring for animals living on the edge of society, who are often at risk of harm but somehow manage to survive. The reward from the stories of those who are rescued by Care for Dogs and find new life and new homes with love and friendship make it all worthwhile.

Having blogged here for the year I was previously active with Care for Dogs, I seem to have found a medium in which I can help the Cfd team announce to the world their achievements, share their grief with like hearted souls and bring the world to the shelter through regular personal updates. Unbeknown to me, as I was not active with Cfd at the time, the team recently decided to pursue the idea of revamping the website ( www.carefordogs.org ) and secondly, consider the regular publication across the internet of a "Newsletter". All brilliant stuff but who would have the time to do it? Enter Ally! Well... how could I resist the opportunity.

So, the reason for this post to the allycfd.blog is to say that "I AM BACK!", feels like I never really left. I will be working with Karin & the growing team of volunteers to bring you a new view of CareforDogs.org and try if I can to put a newsletter together and maybe if you are reading this then you may wish to join that mailing list (available soon) through the new site.

The new site - It will have blog inputs from the whole team, along with the usual pages of information, so the view the world can see of Cfd will be lively & dynamic. When it is up & running I will let you know through this circulation listing.

Regarding the listing you are subscribed to here, if you are content with receiving occasional email about my diary then you need to do nothing. If you wish to unsubscribe, then please respond accordingly.

Great to be writing again and I hope readers of this post are keeping happy and healthy.

Ally
x

Accepting defeat gracefully

2007-10-24T13:50:00.000+07:00

After a year of posting to this blog and becoming linked with so many interesting dogs, cats, birds, cows & people, and living an array of emotional experiences, I have to admit that revealing ones feelings to occasional readers is quite a responsibility that I cannot continue with the same enthusiasm I once had.

If you have found inspiration from these experiences or indeed been moved by them, I thank you for reading these pages and taking time to participate in the love that so many share for dogs, homeless and in need, here in Chiang Mai.

Although not on a regular basis and in no way as detailed, I have another blog in the making called Temple Dogs and this will include some of my attempts to help needy creatures.

Sadly this will be the last post to this blog.

Warm regards

Ally

Paul - Update

2007-09-25T20:21:00.001+07:00

Gill & I visited volunteer Sarah's home where we met up with Paul who has been given reprieve from the pressure at the shelter.

I say "pressure" as he would get picked on by other mobile dogs and boys being boys, he would get into everything and that didn't bode well for his dragging limbs, wound sores being scrapped on stone and exacerbated. He would be kept separately & quietly as much as possible but sometimes he would just be in the middle of a fight and could not escape.

We found him in the bushes, keeping cool and a little hesitant at first. Sarahs home will provide him with a quiet refuge and somewhere to rest up, without fear of attack or deprivation of food.

After a few cuddles from Gill, he soon relaxed and settled with the attention from a couple of other guests we had along, a couple of NZ vets on their holidays here. One of them an orthopedic specialist, gave Paul a work over and suggested that all is not lost and that with care and proper physio, he might just be able to use 1 if not both of his back legs.

Gill immediately pledged to attend Paul as much as possible, giving his limbs necessary exercise and massage, to encourage muscle development. Worryingly, Sarah suggested that she would observe his development over the next 2 weeks and if there was no improvement, Cfd would need to reconsider his future. - Did I say no pressure here?

September 2007 at the Shelter - Chiang Mai Thailand

2007-09-24T19:45:00.000+07:00

Stopped by the shelter today to pick up Sarah and took a few pics of the inmates!

And folks think the UK is an advanced civilisation...

2007-09-21T08:06:00.000+07:00

Ten men have been found guilty and a further 16 have admitted involvement in what the RSPCA says is one of the largest dog fights it has uncovered.

In a video shown to the jury squeals of pain could be heard and phrases such as "shake him" and "come on boy" as the dogs bit each other. Read more...

Wat Kao Kwai - Chiang Rai

2007-09-19T20:16:00.000+07:00

Visited a Wat in Chiang Rai and happened across some lucky guys being cared for by the nuns at the temple. Lunch had just finished & the nuns were giving the left overs to the quiet healthy looking residents at the temple. Some of the dogs looked old, which to me indicates they have possibly been there a long time and doing ok by the nuns. It was also refreshing not to see any young pups.

If only all temples were like this, where the monks and nuns actually gave food to the dogs & cats, rather than just letting them scavenge the waste bins and remain afraid of human contact.

Update for Nola - Nudee in Rama IX park Chiang Mai Thailand

2007-09-09T00:22:00.000+07:00

Recently I visited Rama IX park to catch up with an old friend, Nudee.

I was astonished how fine his coat is and his head is not hanging to one side. His willy is still clear of TvT and he is running round like a youngster!! Wow!

Could it be to do with his new mate? I called him Buster, cos he has that sort of look about him.

Buster has got a bad case of Cherry Eye and he has a smart set of teeth to go with it!

The food vendors are happy to feed the homeless dogs here occasionally and I thing Nudee & Buster are the favourites, from their healthy waist lines.

I will be checking back on them again soon, as I like to keep Nola in the picture about one of her extended family. Check out her writings and work with dogs here

Care for Dogs shelter

2007-09-07T21:24:00.000+07:00

Today I visited the shelter for the first time in a couple of weeks.

I was welcomed by the residents and pleased to see so many happy & playful characters. Some I recognised and I talked with them and cuddled those I was close to and introduced myself to many new additions, in for treatment or just hanging out becuase they have no where else to go.

The slide show below shows some of the familiar faces but there are many more pups & adults living there, waiting to find an adoptive home.

Teddy go home - Lost dog in Southampton UK

2007-09-06T19:03:00.000+07:00

Just been reading about a lost dog in Southampton, England on a linked blog to this diary.

Teddy it seems was spooked by another dog whilst out walking and has been on the lam for a few days and my heart reaches out to the family & to Teddy, who are all very anxious.

The wonderful thing is, at this website where lost dogs can be reported, there is a forum that people can report sightings and keep up to date with the progress of the search.

Now isn't that a great idea!

Injured dog at Maesai Border

2007-09-05T15:11:00.000+07:00

Amandine recently visited the border crossing area between Thailand & Burma. In amongst the people dashing to & fro between border controls, the throng of chestnut sellers and the typical sales chaos at these places, she saw an extremely sad dog.

The wound in his side is clearly made from a sharp weapon ( unless he ran through a plate glass window - I don't think so !) and the flesh remains exposed.

Amandine tried hard to tempt him towards capture, in order that she might at least get him to a vet but no one else she asked to help her was interested in the situation and the dog finally got nervous & wandered away from her sight.

As I write this, I have no idea as to whether the dog is still alive.

Typical Care for Dogs Temple Visit Pics

2007-09-03T16:11:00.000+07:00

This slide show is fairly representative of visits to Temples by the volunteers of Care for Dogs.

Once again, Amandine's 'eye' for the shot make the photo's that much more special.

Most of these pics are from Wat Than Tham which is situated in a small village at the southern end of the Airport runway and others are from Wat Don Chan.

The elderly lady seen here, is a caring soul. Every day, she feeds more than a dozen dogs in her home and then makes sure approximately 20 dogs living within the temple complex across the street from her, get their feed too.

Care for Dogs Adoption Fair III - Payap University Chiang Mai

2007-08-31T22:05:00.000+07:00

Care for Dogs jumped at the invitation, to be part of the Payap University Chiang Mai National Science and Technology Exhibition, held within the halls of the Faculty of Science.

Students demonstrated many of the current project activities and companies such as Apple and local computer sales merchandisers were laying out their wears to attract the purses of the students parents.

A highlight of the afternoon, the period I was there, was a stage show performed by some young girls from a visiting school, cajoling elder students to take part in a bottle of liquid recognition quiz. It was all very loud, animated and plenty of fun, the audience enjoyed it immensely.

Sales at the Cfd stand raised money along with donations and many people showed great interest in the work of Care for Dogs.

Karin held adoption interviews with prospective adopters and despite not being quite the same type of venue Cfd had held before at Airport Plaza, there were many adoptions of young puppies, some that had recently been dumped & rescued from a temple in Maejo.

The event also marked the launch of the new Care for Dogs colours and Karin kindly gave all volunteers a free black Polo shirt, with pink stripes & details of Cfd embroidered on the pocket & the back.

The photo quality took a down turn, lighting was not too good for photo's and besides, Amandine has now returned to the USA (miss you so much x) and we were without her photographic skills.

All problems can be overcome

2007-08-25T19:58:00.000+07:00

Today I read several articles about blocks being put on visibility and accessibility of some blogs and sites. This knee jerked me into backing up the data, that's the pages / posts published, rather than just the way it looks & feels.

After a little searching I found an excellent utility to download all the posts & comments from your blog to your local PC and its so easy to use. Shame it doesn't save down the pics within the diary entries but I have those already, after all, I uploaded them in the first place! I will sleep easier tonight.

Hope Amandine doesn't mind me publishing a pic she sent me today.

The moral of this pic is that all problems can be overcome, you just need to sit & think about how to sort it out.

Gremlins or something more sinister

2007-08-25T09:57:00.000+07:00

Today I have read about other blogs being surpressed and it is with some relief that mine is still up.

However.... The comments feed that my side bar uses has lost its content, despite the original comment being available to read within each post.

I have checked my recent design changes and can demonstrate on a ghost test version of my blog (something I maintain is essential before making any design changes) that the feed has been corrupt or lost to my blog. Other feeds to test blogs work fine.

Beware!

Good-bye Benny

2007-08-22T22:14:00.000+07:00

I enclose an email I received from Karin today, asking me to include it here. Indeed I think Karin's words bear testament to the reality of the short lives some of these poor creatures live and also the heart ache from the attachment that caring for homeless dogs can bring.

The first time I met Benny and his four siblings was in July last month. I had almost finished my temple tour at Wat Vivek, when the temple boys told me that another litter of puppies had been dumped – as it happens regularly at this and many other temples here. He showed me 5 lively brownish bundles –they were completely starving and went after three bowls of food as if they hadn’t eaten for days.

I took them into my car and drove back home. They were riddled with fleas and I tried to stop them from wandering around in the whole car, and I remember especially one popped up again and again and I fell for his cuteness right away – I called him Benny. Benny and his siblings first stayed at the shelter, were sprayed to get rid of their fleas, got a health check at the vet, food and love, their set of vaccinations, and the hairless spots from flea allergy slowly disappeared. Lady, our rescued senior Labrador, was very keen on getting into their enclosure and looked after them as a caring foster mom. Then the little ones developed a cough and I took them to our home. Partly because I didn’t want the cough to spread to other dogs, but partly also because I love to have foster puppies around between our own bunch of adult dogs – just can’t resist their charm and playfulness.

Two of them got adopted soon, and so Benny, Britta, and Tanya remained with us. The girls recovered quickly from their cough, but not Benny, though we changed the antibiotics every two weeks and gave him vitamins as well. But otherwise he didn’t have any other symptoms, looked healthy and playful, loved eating (as his growing little belly was evidence of), and of course playing with his sisters. He was a special friend of our 9-month old male Momo, at times just jumped on him, and the two were rolling around together. It was heartwarming to see how carefully big Momo played with his little friend. I have to confess, Benny was my special darling, and I always felt a bit guilty towards his sisters when I took him into my arms first to give him a long cuddle. I was very concerned that he would be given only to a real loving and caring home. Well, when you see the photo which Amandine took of him, you might understand.

As Bennys cough didn’t get better, I brought him for another vet check last week, and we changed the antibiotics one more time. We have currently family visiting and left for Bangkok last week. I knew Benny would be in good care with dog-loving Amandine and our valuable house-keeper Khun Kulab. Yesterday Kh. Kulab called me and told me that Benny had lost appetite and had diarrhea for the first time and that his body felt hot. I asked her to arrange a vet visit and Dr. Thanakrit recommended to separate him from our other dogs and prescribed new medicine. Benny stayed at our bathroom where bedding has been prepared for him, and when Kulab saw him yesterday evening he still looked o.k. and even tried to get out of the room to see his sisters.

This morning I got a phone call from Amandine. She told me that Kulab had found Benny this morning dead in the bathroom, he must have died several hours before.

Benny will be buried today in our garden next to the grave of my eldest dog Dao and I asked Amandine to say fare-well from me with a frangipani flower.

Rest in peace, little friend, I dearly miss you.
Karin