But last night the half grown dogs from her previous litter found here there, and since two of them are also small, she left her hiding place and disappeared.
This morning we looked everywhere for her for about an hour (our compound is one house, two apartments, two offices a meeting room and various storage areas, quite large and plenty of places to hide.
No luck, but then suddenly she came home and is now hiding under my bed. She had her previous litter there, and will stay as long as I keep Lolo's ancient female dog out of the room. Sigh.
we need to get her fixed, but our vet was too busy and we don't know where to get it done: we have had two of our dogs fixed who continued to have litters, probably because the surgery was faked. Sigh.
We now have 7 dogs here on our side, where the house is (three very old and not much good for watch dogs anymore and three half grown puppies, two of whom are too small to be frightening but are very noisy if strangers come around), and there are four dogs on the office/storage room/help apartment side (two are puppies). And that doesn't include all the feral cats having litters in our ceiling and bodegas.
Dogs tend not to live that long here: many die as young puppies and we have lost adult dogs from distemper, heat stroke, and pneumonia.
as for cats: loads of feral cats in our bodegas and the ceiling of our house. They keep the mice away and we feed them scraps and they eat the dog food when the dogs are looking the other way. Alas, they have kittens all the time, and we only find out when a new kitten shows up to eat, or more commonly, when we find a dead kitten that the dogs killed.
If you are an animal lover, don't come to the Philippines: here dogs are not petted but kept in yards etc and fed but not given attention. This is now changing, however, because we now see small dogs (they even sell doggie diapers in the mall). Our vet will shave and groom these small dogs, usually shitsu but also poodles and terriers.
Rabies is an ongoing problem here with feral dogs, and the city now has free rabies shots for you if you are bitten by one.
But the city clinic runs out periodically so we still have one or two people coming for help to pay for the shots, which coast 7 dollars a shot and three are needed. (more if it is high risk and you get the antibody shot). This is cheap, but not when the minimum wage is 7 dollars a day and farmers make less in cash income (i.e. they eat their own food but have little extra cash).
Rabies is a big worry here: the Dept of Health estimates 200 people die every year of rabies.
ironically, I have never treated a case, although I have ordered quite a few shots to prevent rabies in my patients, including one girl who was bitten by a bat. In Africa, the government sent people out to rural areas and gave all the dogs their injections and painted their backs. A week later they sent in snipers who set out food and shot any dog that wasn't painted.
I am not sure how it is done here: There was a major outcry by animal lovers about killing stray dogs in the Philippines a couple years ago, so presumably they either stopped doing it or they are keeping quiet about it. But it's not their kids dying of rabies, so although I love animals, in this I believe the kids should have priority, not the strays.
We see stray dogs here quite a bit, because the Palenke and food kiosks at the town Plaza mean lots of places for them to find food/garbage.
I was bit by one of our young dogs who had run away a few times and hadn't had her shot and died showing neurological symptoms (probably from distemper, but who wanted to take a chance).
the city sponsors free rabies clinics, including out in the farm area to give rabies vaccine to the dogs, but not everyone bothers to get their dogs a shot.
It's not just dogs of course: Right now there is a measles epidemic in the poorer areas of Luzon,
At the San Lazaro Hospital, one of the DOH’s referral centers for infectious diseases, an average of 48 measles cases are registered every day. As of Feb. 5, San Lazaro has seen 1,355 cases. Of these, 1,240 patients were admitted in January, including 1,114 pediatric patients. Forty-seven of the children died. This month, San Lazaro has admitted at least 264 cases, including 241 children, eight of whom have died. Read more at https://www.philstar.com/headlines/2019/02/07/1891623/measles-outbreak-declared-metro-manila-central-luzon#soPso1lXcQveBsZU.99
and the government is holding clinics to have the children get the vaccine. Most of the parents are just too busy to get their kids a shot (measles is given at 18 months), but there is a worry that the Dengvaxia scandal might be scaring parents away from getting their kids all their shots.
I usually fight the crazy anti vax types, and the anti big pharm types, but the problem with the Dengue vaccine was suspected before it was given, and there was a big push to give it even though it was a very expensive vaccine, making some wonder if small gifts had changed hands.
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