In case you've forgotten how handsome I am

Today, I am one sorry Moy-Moy for causing some dogs and kitties- and possibly some humans?- to miss me last week. I got tired from doing all the work here in our clinic so when the Secretary came back, I decided to take a break. Perfect, because Jappy, the Secretary's friend came over to spend summer with us! Jappy and I spent every minute of the day playing.

Oopps...

He started it!


Then we had a game called "bitey face",


But after a few rounds, the Animal Doctor had to whisk Jappy away.

Jappy is like four or five years old and I am not even six months? Maybe I should prescribe a double dose of Moy-Moy energy to this dude.

While Jappy catches his breath, I will tell you his story. He lives- or used to be tied to a post- a few blocks from the Secretary's old apartment. Jappy was a cranky canine way back in 2005. He would bark angrily at the Secretary who greets him on her way to work every morning. But the Secretary did not give up and thought food would mellow him a bit. For months, she would leave a plate of steaming boiled rice and ground beef for Jappy but all these yummy stuff did not make him less of a crab.

Then one day, the Secretary bought some bacon flavored treats and offered them to Jappy by hand- and guess what?- the dude gingerly took it in his mouth! He was actually careful not to bite the Secretary! So that's how their friendship started- over a piece of pretend bacon. The Secretary got bolder and asked Jappy's owner if she could take him for walks ( this is the part where I get jealous because she does not even bother to take me out for walks!).

Jappy must have finally admitted to himself how he enjoyed the treats and walkies because he started acting like a lovestruck adolescent whenever the Secretary would pass by or pick him up for walks. Just the sound of the Secretary's voice would detonate his tail into a wag bomb and his joyous yapping was just too much for the neighbors. That's how Jappy loves the Secretary who by then developed anxiety attacks whenever it rained because she would think of Jappy tied to a post, shivering in the cold and possibly catching pneumonia. Thankfully, after losing innumerable umbrellas and towels, the Secretary was able to convince Jappy's owners to let him stay indoors.

The Secretary now lives with the Animal Doctor, but did not forget about Jappy. She sends him presents and picks him up from time to time to spend vacations with us. Cool. I like playing with Jappy, which I say because other than my tail and my pipsqueak sister Pussy, there's not much to choose from.

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The Secretary woke me from my late afternoon siesta yesterday to introduce me to our client who happens to be some kind of celebrity in the field of dog training. He has a group who advocates clicker training, wherein "a dog is trained by marking (click) a desired behavior and reinforcing it with food, toy, threats, petting or anything that the dog likes". The group believes that there is no better trainor than the owner himself; the training sessions actually involve teaching humans the principles and methodology of positive reinforcement which they will use in training their dog for anything, be it basic obedience or fancy skills.

Wordless Wednesday

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Moy-Moy subs for the Secretary

Hiya guys! Can you see that I am a busy Moy-Moy? The Secretary went to some place that is at the tip of my tongue- but never mind- so the Animal Doctor asked me to sit behind the counter today. I was told to bark once when someone needs to buy anything from our shop, and twice when some dog or kitty comes in looking for the Animal Doctor.

For a biscuit an hour, I think I am doing my job very well and should be voted model employee of the month! But have you heard about that proverb, "All work and no play makes Moy-Moy a dull dog"? Plus I'm really way behind my training as patrol dog. The Secretary better come back soon and do her job!

Wordless Wednesday

Moy-Moy Plays Soldier

Ever since the Secretary told me about that English prince who is in Arfghanistan serving the army, I have become a very serious Moy-Moy wanting to quit my silly-puppy days and be a real dog, like one of those kick ass, bomb sniffing K-9 I see in the news, you know what I mean?

Someone took me out for a walk early this morning so I decided to start my self-training.

I am surveying the parameter, sniffing the air to determine if an enemy may have infiltrated our immediate surrounding last night.

Hmm, someone is cooking a very nice breakfast.

Okay, I've cleared the perimeter. You can open the clinic now.

Time for me to eat breakfast, with my other eye on the look out of course, just like a real soldier.

Butt Shots

Since the Secretary already mentioned that the Assistant was bitten by our patient and that we had to spend around P20,000 for his post exposure prophylaxis, I might as well post about that incident.

I plead guilty. Had I listened to the Secretary to have the Assistant vaccinated early on, we need not have spent that much and the experience would not have been traumatic for the Assistant ( Either I've acquired the skill of letting constant nagging escape through my other ear, or I was just too preoccupied with work at that particular time, sorry guys! )

We brought the Assistant to the Research Institute for Tropical Medicine (RITM) on the same night he was bitten. It was getting close to midnight, but the queue at the emergency room kept on building up. Every every now and then, children and adult alike are ushered in, each nursing wounds in different parts of their bodies from the bite of either a dog or a cat. Every now and then, we would hear children ( and sometimes adult too) crying their lungs out from the pain of the injections and see their families or the owners of the animals wincing at the cost of the shots.

One patient, a girl, was bitten at the back of her head by a neighbor's dog. Due to the proximity of the bite to her brain, she had to be given a shot costing P20,000 for the first shot alone. Anyone who's been there would probably think twice before getting a warm blooded animal for a pet. An animal bite would cost you an arm and leg, literally and figuratively.

Once Rabies enters the brain of a bite victim, the results are always fatal. The only thing that can save a patient from a certain death is timely treatment consisting of a dose of immunoglobulin injected at the site of the bite, and intramuscularly at another part of the body far from the wound( usually at the upper part of the buttocks). The immunoglobulin is an antibody that will immediately neutralize and kill the virus before it can cause any damage. The patient will then be given five doses of active rabies vaccine at day 0, 3, 7, 14, and 30, which will stimulate his body to produce antibodies against Rabies and afford protection for a year, subject to succeeding annual booster shots.

The World Health Organization has classified exposures to an animal in three categories, with each category having a specific treatment regimen. The above regimen prescribed to the Assistant is for Category 3 exposure which include the presence of bite wounds in different parts of the body.

Persons frequently handling animals are at a high risk of being bitten, hence it is recommended that they be given pre exposure prophylaxis which consist of an intradermal shot ( just under the skin) of active rabies vaccine at day 0, 7 and 21.

There are animal bite centers all over the country, but it can be very expensive to have your rabies vaccine there ( each shot costs about P1700) owing to the fact that once opened, a 1 ml vial has to be discarded after eight hours. A patient ends up paying for the entire vial even if he only needs .01 ml of it. At the RITM, rabies vaccines are a lot cheaper ( P240 per shot) because of the volume of patients who can actually share in the cost of every vial.

We signed up for PPP!

Sometimes we get clients from the low income bracket-- ordinary wage earners who, despite their hand to mouth existence, desire animal companionship. I can sense their genuine love for their pet because they even manage to bring the animal to our clinic and visit every day ( unlike some rich people who can't even be bothered). Its just that they come to us with no money, hoping to be billed only for consultation fees. Unfortunately and especially with Parvo cases, the animal patient needs to be confined for as long as a week and the whole thing ( confinement, medicines,post exposure vaccination, etc) cost between P5,000 to P8,000.

But how do you say no to a very sick animal who stares at you with his puppy eyes? How do you send him home to die?

My pleas for the Animal Doctor to take the animal as an indigent patient had been working fine until recently, with the rising cost of commodities and electricity, I saw him wince. I am afraid that I might put the Animal Doctor out of business soon.

Good thing I stumbled into this website that told me I could earn from being a V.O.P ( very opinionated person). Like what its name says, Payperpost will get bloggers paid by posting an opinion in their blog about an advertiser's website, products and services.

Seems cool huh? I wasted no time and signed up in order to get paid to blog . This is my first post opportunity which is offered at $20 or about Philippine Peso 800.00. Hehe. What am I going to do with that extra cash?

( Clover was left here two weeks ago with symptoms of kennel cough. She recovered after treatment but bit the Assistant which cost Greenwoods Pet Clinic nearly P20,000 for post exposure rabies vaccination. We are still hoping his owner would pick him up because sad to say, our clinic has limited space and resources to take in homeless or abandoned animals)

1. Pay for Clover's vaccination - P350.00

2. Pay for Clover's medicines - P300.00
3. Save for Indigent Animal Patients Fund - P150.00

Total - P800.00

I'm crossing my fingers that my first post is approved.

We are back!

This is Pussy sneaking in to apologize to our readers because we have not been blogging for weeks. My Mum was very busy taking care of the H.S who was pooping watery stuff and throwing up his milk non stop. I did not think it was Parvo because he was not brought to that room where sick doggies stay in our clinic. Instead, I saw my Mum leaving the clinic with the H.S one early morning, along with the other humans, and did not come back for several days ( leaving me with the Assistant who provided me food and water but no entertainment, phooey!)

When they returned, my Mum showed me this photo of the H.S with his Nana. I got very jealous that Mambo ( the one in a penguin costume) was brought along, and I wasnt. My Mum told me that I wouldn't not have liked it anyway because where they went were humans in white costumes who would poke and prick the H.S' paws every so often- that the sight of the H.S bawling in pain would have terrified me. Duh???

The H.S is back home now and seems to be okay so you can expect regular blogging to resume soon, even that of Moy-Moy's (the poor guy still could not figure out what happened to his willy!)

P.S. I am still mad at my Mum for letting the pretend penguin be H.S' best friend,

when I, Pussy O'Wossy is just as good, especially that I am real!