Tuesday 21 February 2017

A lot of work in January and February

Jack with his broken leg
Jack, the stray dog that was hit by a car in Limenas and who's broken leg was operated by vet Stathis in Kavala, is doing a lot better but he doesn't use his leg yet. The fracture was complicated. Stathis had to straighten the bone ends and probably a nerve was damaged. But with physiotherapy, time and a lot of love it will heal.



Five dogs were sterilised
In January 5 dogs were still waiting to be sterilised. Because the winter on Thassos was very cold this year, we needed warm places where the dogs could recover for a couple of days. We were lucky that Henk & Petra, Ludwig and Angie offered to foster them and they could finally be sterilised, and after they could go to the HalfWayHouse.
To our big surprise and joy Henk and Petra, who fostered Daisy after the surgery, totally fell in love with her and decided to keep her. So Daisy found her forever home on Thassos.

Cry for help on Facebook
The sterilisations and the surgery of Jack were very expensive (almost 1,000 euros) and we put on Facebook a call for help, as we no longer had financial room. Our account of ACT had dropped to 0. It still takes a little time until April, when we can again collect money for ACT with the flea market and our handmade products. Dear people have been able to help us over this hurdle, so we have a little more air. We thank you very much for your donations, you are great!



Unlucky Lara
Lara is the stray dog from Limenaria that was supposed to be adopted by a tourist. Unfortunately the lovestory ended sadly: the man got health problems and died in Kavala hospital.
That's how Lara came in our care in October 2016 and was tested positive on Ehrlichia. Because of this and low blood plates we couldn't sterilise her. We gave her antibiotics and had to wait till she was healthy again. On February 6th her sterilisation was planned and the vet discovered a malignant tumor in her uterus. Poor Lara, so much bad luck… We didn't want to put her through more tests, chemo etc. What quality of life would she have? So that left us with 2 options: put her to sleep or wait and see how she would get on. That is the worst of choices we have to make, decide about life and death. Lara was always a happy playful dog and we decided not to put her to sleep. This means that she has to be monitored all the time so that we can quickly see if Lara has pain and her quality of life is no longer there. She couldn't go back to the HalfWayHouse and Joop and Tanja decided that she could stay with them for the time she has left. We sincerely hope that this time will be in the distant future.
Lara is doing well and we are very happy about that.