The Story of Nam Tan

 

 

My name is Nam-Tan and I joined the Khlongdogs team in April 2009. I have to admit that I again was very lucky and in a matter of speaking it was a last minute rescue from an uncertain future. Actually I was rescued before but let me tell you the whole story. I used to be a rather beautiful lady and I lived my life near Minburi which is a suburb of Bangkok. It was there when my life turned to a nightmare when I was hit by a car and left for good. My injuries where many and a broken spine is just one of the troubles I now have to live with. However, a nice lady took pity on me and brought me to a nearby animal hospital where I was treated. It actually turned out that my spine injury was not the only bad news and so I had to undergo another major surgery since the impact of the car hitting me moved all my intestines to the front and subsequently needed to be fixed and rearranged. But this is all behind me and today I am working to overcome the remaining effects of my damaged spine.

 

Since the young lady who rescued me had no chance to adopt me she made quite an effort to find a new home for me. So my name and my story were a hot topic in a local website and many people made donations since my treatment was rather expensive. However, there was no one to be found who was able to give me a home. Remember, it is already hard to find a home when you are a street dog but a street dog with a broken spine – right, you got the idea. On the other side time was running out since I was already in the hospital for over two months and these places are not designed to be a home for retired and handicapped street dogs. So my future looked bleak - just to say the least. But many of my new friends here at Khlongdogs remember the day when suddenly new faces turn up and look at you, give you a belly rub and talk to the vets for more than a moment. We street dogs are not so easily impressed but this time they came back and I knew: this is the day! Just to make a long story short, I was adopted by Paporn and Thomas and this is when I became a member of Khlongdogs.

 

At first I was of course a bit insecure when I met my new friends. But after some days I began to appreciate the bungalow where I now live together with Fighter, Mona and Lisa. And what a nice team they are. They accepted me as a member although I am quite handicapped and they immediately recognized that I am not a normal dog. But they like me and nowadays I roll on the floor with Fighter in my hands and we kiss and hug each other and lead an easy life here. These guys share their bowls when eating and I have to say that this was rather strange for me but today I can see that it really works well. So my team is great and I feel just good here. I also have the chance to walk in the garden but all this still makes me very tired and I have to work on my muscles before I can really enjoy all the things around here.

 

Two times a week I have to go back to the hospital for physiotherapy and as exhausting this might be – it really helps. There I get massages, have to do exercises with real fitness equipment, go for a swim with my own life jacket and then they stimulate my muscles and nerves with this strange machine giving me that creeping sensation in my back legs. Things got better but what really makes me go are my new friends and the joy to be out of the cage, taking a sun bath and walk around as I please. Let’s see if I ever regain the strength I need and maybe I can also convince my nerves to cooperate with what I actually have in mind. But the outlook is promising.

 

When I joined my team I learned that Joey and Paula lived here until recently and it made me think a lot. Both of them were founding members of Khlongdogs and I only wished I had the chance to meet them. But they are gone now and I can still feel how much they still live on in the hearts of everybody. Yes, there are of course the occasional dog fights here and even the cats have their fighting days. But there is also a deep sense of friendship, a shared fate and a lot of love around here. This makes me feel good and it gives me the confidence that I still have a good life in front of me. Never mind my walking skills – I have a home now!

 

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Khlongdogs - Helping Dogs and Cats living in the Streets of Bangkok