Hi all,

I have been following the work of the Soi dog foundation for a while and I am fortunate in that I could spare the time to volunteer to help at their sanctuary. These dogs are often in very bad condition with no trust in humans.

My only concern is the possibility of bringing something back to my own beloved dogs (who by the way would be very well cared for by Hubby in my absence). Would this worry you and do you think a completely new set of clothes and shoes on returning would be safe enough? I know they had a recent Distemper outbreak. I don't booster my every year and as for Parvo I would guess it would probably be a different strain than we have here? Thoughts anyone?

I think if it was me going I'd either do as you said and get some new cheap cloths for out there or use some good disinfectant that is proven to kill the dog diseases on my stuff and myself.
When mine had parvo i would spray my cloths, shoes and myself when I left my home to go to work. If I rember right it was Formula H I used for that and inside my home, (I used different stuff for my garden but you don't want to get that stuff on you if you like your skin)

I don't think distemper lives very long outside of body so would be gone by the time you get back.
I think getting clothes to wear whilst there is a good idea reg other diseases you could bring back.

I had cats at home the first time I went to Thailand, and the second.

Both times I was living in Thai communities, for a month.... as opposed to guesthouses and hotels -and as part of my remit I was looking at and sometimes handling cats, plus there were always semi/feral dogs around where I stayed.

The main issues with dogs I feel, are fungal skin infections from the climate, ringworm or something similar, and also demodex mites, due to their poor immune systems. There might be other parasites which we don't know here.

Ask Soi Dogs.... I truly wish I was able to go and assist them myself... .Personally if I ever did go out there again I'd take spot-ons, plus something like Acclaim or Indorex, and anything else that could help with parasite control. Even more so if i went back to India, which has less access to that kind of thing.

Thankyou all,

I did not know Distemper was a fragile virus outside of the body so that is reassuring, it's the Parvo that still worries me. It seems such a tough virus.

I feel torn......breaks my heart to see these dogs suffering and would so like to feel I could help make a difference to their lives however small but don't want to risk my own dogs....