MANGE AND TVT !

Having settled Yashoda into Rani Park in Kathmandu, I would visit her every other day or so. She was in good hands now in the care of DREAMS, as were the other cows and calves who had come to settle there. Walking the streets in these cities, overcrowded with people, dogs and cows, one is going to come across problems. And I did not have to go very far to find the next set of “problems…”.

Just outside the newly formed cow sanctuary, were a group of the saddest looking dogs I had ever seen. Hairless, depressed, itchy, run down, and full of TVT’s. What’s a TVT? You may ask. It is a transmittable venereal tumor. In other words, a sexually transmitted disease, that leaves a giant tumor looking growth on the dogs’ organs. The females look as though the uterus has fallen out, and the dogs just look like they have a horribly enlarged, mangled, gnarly penis. It can do all sorts of horrible things inside the body as well as outside, but, the good news is, it is highly treatable.

So, by now, my remaining time was running short in Nepal and I was anxious to return to Mother India …I can only stay away so long. What to do? I had met a lovely woman on previous visits who was doing local work in her village. It was worth a call to get information from her as to which vets might I be close to, and get at least started on this. Well, the rain of miracles continued. Kate came out to meet me at the site, and, shocked as I was to see all these dogs, quietly commented … “Wait a minute, I took a dog from this area some weeks ago with the same problem.”

We now had an actual case of “Before” and “After.”

She turned out to be so lovely Kate did not have the heart to bring her back, and was not aware of the extent of the problem in the area. We did a quick survey, took photos, and quickly got one male I had been searching for into the vet’s office. Kate agreed to keep him for follow up care.

I knew this wasn’t enough, and knew it was not fair to burden one person with such an enormous project, and who would pay for all this…?  So, I contacted some lovely people I had met in Pokhara on a previous visit who had an organization called HART; Himalayan Animal Rescue Trust. They do amazing work in Pokhara and the outlying villages, and I thought it was worth a shot to bring this to their attention.

One email got a quick reply, of sure, we can help with the funding. Kate Clendon, of Kopan Community Animal Care, then agreed to continue the treatments of these dogs.

“My” work had never been so easy!

There were local people who had shown great interest in seeing these dogs improve. They were incredulous when we showed them “before and after” photos, and wanted to see success in the condition of their community dogs. And there was, and so it is!

To see the transformations in these dogs health, lives, and spirit is a joy to behold.   

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