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Hi there,
Carmena's
long awaited trip to Finland is finally happening! Carmena
arrives in Finland late on Tuesday the 5th
of August and will be staying here for a week. We try to keep Carmena's trip as
peaceful and flexible as possible since we all know how much rest she needs and
we don't mean to tire her to the point that after her vacation she would be
more exhausted than ever.
On the actual
first day of Carmena's trip I'm going to take her to Helsinki to see a dermatologist. We want to
get a reliable diagnosis e.g. of the worrying and occasionally even bleeding
spots on Carmena's face that have been troubling her already since the beginning
of the year. The diagnoses the Romanian doctors have given have been the vaguest
and sometimes also very frightening.
So, Carmena
will be able to rest and take some time for herself on her first few days here
though, of course, we have planned some moments of pampering for those days,
too. We have also planned a bigger "fan meeting" for Sunday the 10th
of August. It seems that the gathering will be soon confirmed to take place in
Luukki's dog park in Nuuksio. Everyone is welcome to join to meet Carmena without
any kind of pre-registration starting at 1 pm.
We are also
trying to set up a smallish meeting with Carmena and Mauri Ojala since Mauri is
also currently in Finland. I believe it's good to gather up
and take our time in perhaps going through some plans for our future
cooperation together. Mauri is fluent in Romanian so he can act as an
interpreter if necessary.
Of course
we want to send some things with Carmena to the shelter when she heads home. Knowing
that single-dose-dewormers, tick and flea treatments and antibiotics are needed
at the shelter all the time they will definitely be the most important things
to send.
We have booked
Finnair's direct flights for our next shelter visit from the 6th
to 10th of September. Everyone wishing to join us can contact me. When it comes
to our next trip to the shelter the things to be taken with us to the shelter
play a big role once again. Especially the treatments mentioned above will be
the most important things to pack along. We are also trying to find room for an
ecotoilet (just the toilet seat) or two depending on how many of us are going.
Mauri took already in early-May two traditional outhouse structures but for
some reason the town didn't give a permission to use them. What makes it all
the more bizarre is that they clean up majestic piles of dog poo everyday to
the ditch behind the shelter and they surely haven't renewed the sewerage since
the shelter was built. Sure many things far more dangerous than just plain
"natural poo" can be found from a piece of land behind the shelter. The local
Romani people have mercilessly dumped all kinds of things there for years and
also burnt things in a so-called landfill. Anyway, the outhouses Mauri brought
to the shelter could easily be used as the "frames" of the toilet.
For many
times I have talked with Carmena and Patricia of how sad it is that the local
vet of Tg-Jiu doesn't want cooperate more intensely to help the dogs of Tg-Jiu
shelter. Sure his competency has been questionable but despite of that he still
happens to be the best vet of the Gorj County and as long as we have no "shelter
vet of our own" we must rely on his help. The local vet does take care of the
shelter dogs, too, if they are brought specifically at his clinic, but he has
no desire to come to the shelter even to treat acute cases. Another tricky
thing about the vet is that he doesn't give any kinds of discounts when
treating the shelter dogs even when they are brought to his clinic every week.
The most severe cases Patricia takes to a more competent vet hundreds of
kilometres away. In Romania the general price level as well as
the vets' fees have raised considerably since joining the European Union. The
prices of necessary and efficient treatments like antibiotics, tick and flea
treatments (Stronghold, Frontline, Exspot) and dewormers that are often needed
at the shelter are really high!
Because of
these reasons mentioned above we have had some serious pressure for the past
couple of months of how we could cover all the necessary and preferable
treatments of the shelter dogs. The dogs need vaccinations, deworming
treatments and flea treatments on a yearly basis. With a goddog fee of 10
euros/month we can secure that the dogs get food adequately but unfortunately
no money is left for any basic treatments. The donations directed to the Animal
Protection Bank go quite efficiently to ensure care for the dogs that are
brought to the shelter in a bad shape and for the dogs that need care and
medication for a long time. Of course we have to also remember that Dona the
horse that Carmena and Patricia have been taken care of for some time already
and still are, has grabbed quite of a sum of the donations Animal Protection
Bank has had.
I have
racked my brains out on how we could manage to secure all the necessary and
preferable basic care to all the dogs of the shelter. So far I haven't come up
any other solution than to raise the goddog fee. It's obvious that considering
all the facts mentioned above we've been pressured to make this decision and I
hope that you would all look into this matter positively and in a constructive
manner. I was thinking that we'd raise these goddog fees to 15 euros per month
starting on January 1st 2009 and before this change takes place
every godparent can give some extra for their goddogs in terms of one's
resources and willingness to ensure that the dogs will get all the necessary
treatments for the rest of the year, too. No one, however, has to feel
themselves troubled if my suggestion is impossible or difficult, we do have
several kinds of other ways too help, too, than just the goddog programme.
When
Patricia visited in June, we sent to the shelter with her e.g. wholesale-priced
dewormers (single-dose) and tick and flea treatments (Stronghold) for 25
middle-sized dogs. These treatments cost 340 euros which means 13,60 euros per
dog. When thinking how many treatments in a year are needed at the shelter in
addition to yearly vaccinations, these all basic treatments cost over 50 euros on
a yearly basis. In Romania the prices of the treatments are
higher than the wholesale price mentioned above. Stronghold is not only a good
flea and tick treatment but also beneficial in preventing and curing skin
diseases the shelter dogs also may have from time to time and which Carmena has
to treat sometimes for long periods. The antibiotic Synulox is said to be really
necessary at the shelter since it has been proved to be the most effective in
treating different kinds of sicknesses and of course, all the time some dogs of
the shelter are on antibiotics.
When it
comes to the new shelter-project we start to pull some strings to put some
pieces together as soon as different kinds of instances come from their summer
holidays. A small group of us have done some serious research on a grass root
level and mapped out different kinds of networks and to be honest with you, it
hasn't been easy at all. But we strongly believe that our dream will come true.
Patricia has been relentlessly looking for a property suitable for the needs of
the shelter. During the past few years the city of Tg-Jiu has spread out all the way to the
countryside, building new houses for the people, and of course, also everyone
selling one's land in Tg-Jiu knows exactly how important it is to ask for a
nice price. Sure sometimes there are reasonably priced pieces of land, too, but
they are usually far from sturdy roads, electricity and sewerage and are not
meeting our needs very well. Patricia also told that they are trying to ask the
city for a land for the new shelter but the chances are about 0,1 %. But sure,
miracles do sometimes happen and now if never would be a good time for one of those!
Wishing you
all sunny and relaxing summer,
Kiia
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