I thought it would be nice to touch on some of the domestic animals experiences that I had while in Thailand.

Let me preface by saying that, as a predominantly Buddhist country, Thailand’s view of animal care is much different from ours, as a whole.

As expected, Thai people have a strong respect for animals. Most of the animals that we saw were in fairly good condition for outside animals, and we’d noted many times how impressed we were by the lack of hit-by-car animals that we saw, particularly the dogs. Somehow, over many generations, they’d seemed to have learned to look both ways before crossing. I saw several dogs guarding the entrances of their properties by sitting literally two feet from the highway, but not once did I ever see a dead dog. Could be evidence of animal learning, or it could be evidence of the deep remorse that Thai people feel when they accidentally kill an animal. It was truly surreal.

Because WFFT is located on Buddhist temple grounds, it isn’t exactly legal for animals to be euthanized, even during their worst suffering. This surely poses complications for the WFFT veterinary team. I spoke briefly with the WFFT’s founder, a well-educated former fashion designer from Holland, on this subject. I am not at liberty to indulge in specifics, so I won’t. However, I’ll assure you that our beliefs are in-line with one another.

The sanctuary is home to about 20-30 residential cats and dogs, but many of the neighboring farmers’ dogs tend to wander over to steal the fruits from the unattended elephant feeding buckets and vie for territorial rights. All of these animals are free-roaming outside animals. While sterilization isn’t typically a popular option in Thailand, specifically amongst farmers that consider their dogs to be livestock and protection for their farms, the sanctuary offers extremely affordable medical care and sterilization options for the village. Spaying is the more popular option and the sanctuary’s veterinary team offers ovariohysterectomy surgery for about 200 baht (approximately $6 USD).

Though neuters are considered the easier sterilization surgery, the founder of WFFT believes that spaying does more good than neutering because no puppies can come from spayed females, regardless of the number of neutered males around.

Because there were so many dogs on the sanctuary – many of which had Thai names – we took to calling all of the dogs “Kevin,” which was the American name given to our favorite dog by the sanctuary staff. To further distinguish these dogs from one another, we prefaced their name with their notable personality or physical attributes. Among the more memorable were Diabetic Kevin (RIP), Cookie Kevin, Brindle Kevin, Ancient Kevin, Angry Kevin, Rusty Kevin, and Lazy Kevin. Original Kevin was lovingly referred to as OG Kevin. This was the source of much amusement for our group, and quickly became our inside joke. Some of the long-term sanctuary volunteers were not so amused, but for the most part, the joke was passed to others with good humor.

The cats on the sanctuary are all extremely laid back. They were also excessively fit, unlike our typical housecats in America, and I attribute this to a mixture of having to hunting for food, more opportunity for regular exercise, and lack of neutering.

The cats were allowed in our rooms, so Gina and I insisted on stealing the cats and bringing them to our room at night. We assumed that they’d be great pest control, but mostly they just ended up being great companions. Some of them pretty much refused to leave after a taste of inside life!

I also noticed that many of the cats (and dogs) had shortened tails. It is still up in the air whether this is a genetic mutation or the result of docking. I saw no other evidence of docking, and the midpoint of the tail would certainly be an odd place to dock. I also don’t believe that the sanctuary would participate in docking, but many of the cats there were either from the neighboring farms or were rescued from the village.

As a veterinary technician in this country, I regularly encourage my clients to keep their pets inside where it’s safest; however, I feel that my trip to Thailand gave me a different perspective on keeping pets outside. I’m not sure that I can quite comprehend the logistics of this, especially since it seems that it would possibly take many generation to hone the instincts that it takes to be outside-smart. It’s certainly something worth noting, though!