The end of the first week of work at TOLFA and we are all getting in to the routine. It's hot and tiring but I told myself before I left that it would probably be a bit like lambing and it is, but without the night shift thank heavens! Brenda and I are responsible for the Rescue dogs, as opposed to the ABC (Animal Birth Control) programme dogs that are in for sterilisation and Rabies vaccination and out on the streets again in 3 days providing they have no other injuries. There is anything up to 60 or more dogs in the block and a similar number in ABC as the pens often have up to 4 dogs in it. We each have our own section of the kennel block to look after so there is continuity both for the dogs and for us and we are both finding that we are building good relationships with all of the dogs by now.
The rescues are all longer-term residents, as they will be in for either mange treatment, operations to amputate limbs or, most commonly, maggot infested head wounds as a result of fighting. We are just at the end of the breeding season so most of the injuries are to male dogs as a result of fighting. The standard treatment is to knock out the dog with Ketamine and then pour Turpentine into the wound to draw out the maggots that are then removed with artery forceps. The wound is then packed with cotton wool soaked in Betadine and a little more Turps poured in to kill the remaining maggots. Some wounds are so heavily infested that there are still maggots in there the following day but once they are all dead and any dead tissue has been removed, they heal well. There are two in at the moment who have no ear, possibly as a result of fighting and the maggots have got into the wound. It must be really distressing but at least those who come into the shelter can be sorted and you have to focus on that. If you think about the ones that are still out there you simply couldn't carry on. Having said that, street dogs are very territorial and often have a very small home patch so the team is likely to come across a dog in trouble and be able to find it if a concerned person calls it in as the dogs don't usually move from their patch.

My de-gloving injury (named Kermit by me because, when viewed from above, he looks like a skeletal little frog) is doing really well, as is the other black whippet type with the thigh to foot gash. Rachel is pretty confident that we have saved both their legs and the tissue has granulated well and is a healthy pink colour. Kermit’s foot is a bit more swollen than yesterday but after giving him a bit of physio, Mary found the oedema went down a bit so hopefully its just as a result of the huge mess it must make to the body’s fluid balance to lose so much skin. Mary gave him some antibiotic and anti-inflammatory this afternoon as a precaution as it would be tragic for things to go wrong at this stage so an integrated approach is the right one.

Kermit

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Potential amputee puppy…note healthy pink colour of granulation tissue.

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My other two project dogs are those with slow healing wounds due to immune suppression from the stress of long term kennelling. E14 isn't responding as well as I had hoped, although there is improvement when I look at the photos I took a few days ago as you can see an increase in the pink margin of new, healed skin …

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but E1, who has a wound on the neck, has reduced by about 40% in size which is really satisfying.

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A slight surprise this morning...I went to see one of my dogs and she was suckling a puppy. She was a bit quiet yesterday but very cuddly and cheerful and that probably explains it. She had cleaned up the pup, eaten the afterbirth and the puppy was dry by the time I got there and was drinking well so had obviously had a good dose of colostrum. She's had a go at 2 teats and I stripped a bit of out a couple more to make sure she had milk. I've never milked a bitch before but hey; the routine is the same as lambing with this too!

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I've got another bitch with 6 puppies on my block and they are now going out into the exercise yard by day so they can get some sun and air and the Mum can have some exercise and space. She is such a lovely person and it is hard not to feel that she would make a wonderful family dog but it is precisely because these dogs don’t have the hang ups, expectations and confused messages that our pet dogs often inherit from us that they are so uncomplicated and generous.

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 And finally, it's Diwali today. This is a big festival that is a cross between Christmas (because everyone buggers off home at lunchtime and puts up fairy lights and lights candles and puts them in their windows and down their steps) and Bonfire night (because everyone lets of fireworks. The only difference here is that it starts at dusk, which is around 6pm, and it goes on all night).

We have got a wonderful view from the roof top restaurant of our hotel and sat eating dinner and watching the fireworks all over Pushkar. The downside is that the Indians love their bangers and honest to goodness, some of them are so loud that I feel like I'm on the Western Front! Mary is convinced that the potholes in the road are from Diwali last year and nothing to do with lack of maintenance. Some of them are SO loud and SO close and by that I mean literally 10 feet away! You will be walking down the street and an almighty crash sounds behind you and some joker has let a row of the darn things right in the middle of the road. No one takes any notice, the dogs carry on sleeping in their pot holes and the cows just carry on chewing the cud or bit of newspaper or whatever they happen to have to hand at the time. Add that to the usual traffic noise and the fact that people never seem to sleep here anyway and l doubt if I would have a chance of sleep tonight if it wasn't for my trusty earplugs. 
This place is mad, and crazy and I like it!