Update on "Daeng" the temple cancer-dog
Dogs get cancer. Not as frequently as humans as it would appear and they also recover from it a lot better than humans do. Left untreated, sometimes dogs will recover from cancer without any intervention as well although this phenomenon is very rare. When a dog gets cancer it needs to be treated and if it was a dog with a home that is likely what would happen. In human terms the word "cancer" normally means a ton of money will have to be spent to deal with the issue but thankfully, it is dramatically cheaper to treat in dogs because their systems can handle a very aggressive chemo treatment that would probably kill a human. It isn't free or anything, but it's affordable.
It goes untreated in a lot of street dogs not because of the expense but because it isn't noticed until it is too late.
Thankfully Daeng had some monks that knew her behavior quite well and noticed that she was all of a sudden acting very strangely and called us to help.
Just a little Thai lesson for you: "Daeng" means "red" in Thai and by looking at her you can tell why they named her that. During Daeng's treatment - and there was two operations that had to happen as well as chemo - she was kept in foster care because even though the monks at the temple do the best they can, this is not a good environment for a dog that is recovering from such things. This was a rather long period of time and thankfully we are given wonderful prices on such a thing, but it still was quite expensive for an organization that exists entirely off of donations.
I'm sure the Daeng quite enjoyed the time that she spent in the safety and comfort of the foster care but here comes another set of unfortunate, but true news: Dogs that are strays are better left in such an environment if the caretaker or temporary caretaker has no intention of keeping them like that forever. It is not a good idea to give a dog a bit of a vacation and this is why I encourage people to not temporarily allow a dog into their house only to kick them out later. We vet our potential adopters to make certain they are serious because one of the worst things you can do for a stray is to get them accustomed to the "good life" only to return them to what they had before a few months later. It might seem cruel but you are not actually helping a dog by giving it shelter and food one month, only to return them to having nothing the next.
In Daeng's situation we didn't really have a choice because a dog that was in as fragile a state as she was after getting her cancer treatments cannot survive in the outdoors even if she is being occasionally monitored by the monks. Well, I suppose she would survive but the opportunity for other dangers that exist in the outdoors have a much greater chance of creating other problems that a dog's system would normally fight off if their immune system was in good working order which it isn't going to be when a dog is on chemo and has stitches.
Daeng's stitches are still in, but they are the dissolving type and the cut has completely healed. According to the vet we are simply waiting for them to fall out at this point. We also tested her extensively and she is finally cancer-free. Therefore it was time to return her to where we picked her up.
The temple Daeng is from is a smaller one with a lower dog population so that is good. Another good thing is that her tail started wagging as soon as we pulled up and she remembered, she knows this is her home..
This is not the look of a dog that is disappointed to be back and she was very excited when we opened the cage and she went around to greet her human companions as well as the other dogs that live there. I do appreciate the social aspects of a dog's existence and it is nice to see when it happens.
Special thanks to the monks who alerted us to her situation. Their suspicions were correct and had they waited to contact us after the situation had gotten much worse the operation would have been either significantly more expensive or worse, perhaps impossible. Now Daeng is going back to her old life, the only one she has ever really known and the fact that she is excited about this makes me and the other that have handled her over the past weeks, very happy.
if you would like to see how you can help out or simply spread the word, please visit our website at
http://krabianimalwelfare.org
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