Not an ounce of flesh on him
If dogs could talk Tony's story would be heartbreaking. Scouring the streets of Thailand looking for morsels of food, most of it rotten, to fill his empty stomach. It's not surprising we found him collapsed on the road.
The sight of him was shocking. In my 18 years of helping Thai street dogs, I've never seen one in Tony's condition, just skin and bones without an ounce of flesh on him. We immediately took him to the vet to test for blood parasites. He tested positive which didn't surprise us and the vet told us to start treatment immediately.
The only medication to treat blood parasites is Doxycycline which is very damaging to the stomach. How were we going to treat Tony who can't keep any food down?
Only tiny amounts of food
Once at our Healing Centre Tony just lay in his bed and sniffed at the first bowl of food we gave him. It was almost as if he'd forgotten what food looked like but when we added fish soup he started to eat a tiny amount. He could only take 2 or 3 spoonful's at a time. Tony was also very dehydrated. We took a difficult decision to delay his treatment until he started to eat more regularly.
Tony often wretched and coughed whilst eating his pureed food. We thought he must have an infected trachea or his stomach had shrunk so much it could only take tiny morsels every few hours.
After 12 days we were growing more concerned. He was not looking good, his gums were very pale and his appetite hadn't increased. We needed to start him on Doxy sooner rather than later. He needed a full blood work test and possible x-ray and ultrasound examination.
100ks to our special cases vet The vet was shocked at Tony's condition and instantly took a blood sample. The diagnosis was as expected, Tony had Stage 3 Kidney failure as well as blood parasites which we already knew and he needed immediate treatment.
The vet was sure Tony had been suffering from these killer parasites for many months. It's a miracle they hadn’t killed him. We started Tony's treatment in earnest.
Tony has a chance
After 2 weeks on his life-saving treatments for blood parasites and kidney failure Tony is showing signs of improvement. It's a lot for his tiny body to cope with but without it Tony wouldn't have come this far.
A very slow placid video of Tony. The puppy Thistle livens it up a bit.
Tony is very weak still.
It's early days in Tony's long road to recovery and although he remains very thin he's showing more interest in life. He now stays with 4 new friends and has started to play a bit and wag his tail. Such progress indicates that our treatment has a chance to save him.
Still weak and painfully thin
Life had been very cruel to this sweet-natured young dog who has been walking the streets in a terrible state for months. He could easily have died alone in great agony. His luck changed the moment we saw him and rushed him to the vet. We're still unsure of his survival chances and ask you please join us in our work to save Tony's life and make him a healthy happy dog again.
You can make an impact too
I'm sure you appreciate the positive impact a small donation could make on Tony's recovery. He will need ongoing medication and care for many months to come and you can be proud of helping him.
If any of you would like to sponsor Tony over the next 6 months to help him through this critical period, your generosity would be greatly appreciated. He's on our sponsorship page. https://www.headrockdogs.org/HeadRock-Dogs/sponsor-TONY
Our sponsorship choices are on the link below;
Perhaps you might like to choose something from our Wish List for Tony. Here’s the link and please put your choice on your donation; https://www.headrockdogs.org/wish-list
Thank you for caring about Tony who deserves your support
Your Compassion and Generosity Helps Save Lives Thank You for Caring!!
We are registered with the Thai Government but receive no government funding. We rely on your generosity to help us continue the work we've been doing since 2004 Saving Thailand's Forgotten Dogs Thank you