Horrible skin problems being addressed in Krabi temples
I say on a regular basis that our primary objective as an organization is to provide sterilization services for the stray animal population of Krabi and as far beyond as we can afford to reach but our secondary objective is to improve the lives of the dogs and cats as much as possible.
There is a rather vicious cycle with stray animals in Thailand: When they are young and "cute" they get looked after by everyone but only in a food and petting them sort of way. It seems that almost no one will look after other things such as ticks and mange and because this is not done, the dogs and cats look "sick" and nobody wants to be around them anymore. Sadly this leads to many of them starving to death. These skin and parasite problems are quite easily solved, but someone has to actually do something about it.
While feeding a dog in this condition is better than doing nothing, the skin problem that this, and many other animals have is not something that is just going to go away unless treated. More often than not this is caused by tiny parasites that attack the hair follicles and are very itchy. Eventually the skin will break and this leads to even more parasites.
This doesn't necessarily kill the dogs and if it does, it will be because of infected self-inflicted wounds from scratching. However, they live their lives in a constant state of rather intense itch and there is nothing they can do to relieve it. Baths are not always an option because most animals do not want to take baths, even if it is something that is going to benefit them by killing the parasites.
Earning the trust of these animals can sometimes prove very complicated and in my experience it is even more difficult with cats. We do try to help as many of them as possible but a level of understanding must be met between the animals and us before it is safe for either one of us to go through the treatment. Dogs, even injured and sick ones will bite or scratch when they feel threatened and this is why we normally will go through a medicated treat that attacks the parasites from the inside rather than via medical baths. The latter would be safer for the animal in question but seeing as how it isn't really an option if we don't have a great bond with the animal already, it is rarely actually done.
However, if you see a dog in your part of the world that already trusts you but is in this state, perhaps you could try to give it a medicated bath one day. If the animal is already familiar with you and your smells, it is much more likely to allow you to do that than it is to allow me, or even one of our experienced veterinarians.
Do whatever you can to help the helpless in this world.
If you would like to see how you can help out or simply spread the word, please visit our website at
http://krabianimalwelfare.org
เป็นผู้สนับสนุนรายเดือนหรือบริจาคครั้งเดียวได้ที่:
Hmm... I don't know how to put it, but in my country, usually stray cats doing pretty darn well. As if they're unstrayed 😂 nice fur, have a small food tray every few yards away. Kids walked by would give them a pat. None of the street cars looks like the one from your picture. Compare to dogs, yes they usually living the poorest condition and with skin diseases... Wait a minute... I can't recall when was the last time I saw a sick stray dog running around anymore 😅 extinct I believe
Perhaps Malaysia has either a greater love for cats or better animal control. Thailand has almost zero animal control and that which they do have is not humane at all that I have seen.
That's true, people don't like to take care of them when they get sick, I've known of people who abandon them to their fate when they get ticks and mange, that's cruel. In those moments you have to take care of them more than ever.
Yeah that is pretty terrible to walk away from an animal when it needs you the most. I can't relate to the mind of someone that would do something like that.
These cases look terrible as I have seen it but never this bad. The give away is when the hair starts falling out and as you say is treatable and so unnecessary to see animals suffering like this.
It's actually very cheap to treat in most cases as well. The trick, like with most illnesses, is to catch and treat it early. Wait too long and sometimes it can't even be reversed.