the author and Toby meditating before yoga
A month ago, I talked myself out of writing this. I was too upset, too angry. I didn’t want my grief to get the better of me and have me blaming someone else for my pain. But now, as you’ll see, the situation has changed and others have been affected and I want to do what I can to help prevent more animals and their people from going through the same thing.
We had lived in Doha, Qatar for almost a year when my husband Cj got an offer that was too good to pass on, so we started packing our belongings and planning to move to Dubai, UAE. Having gone through an international move the year before, we knew that there was a lot to do; especially to move our two boxers, Timber and Toby.
As soon as Cj accepted the job offer, I contacted a pet relocation agency in Doha that we had used the year before to bring the dogs into Qatar. We had had a fairly easy time getting the arrangements made for their import, having the dogs picked up at the airport and delivered to their new home. We felt confident that the same agency could do the export with ease.
With more than a month to make the necessary arrangements, we didn’t expect any problems. We hired another relocation company in Dubai to handle the import process, we made reservations at the only hotel in Dubai we could find that would accept the dogs. We had worked everything out so that the dogs would go into the boarding kennel in Doha for three days after we departed, then they would join us in Dubai. Per the instructions we were given by the relocation agent, the dogs were treated with Advantix and had Preventic collars put on in preparation of their boarding.
Things started to go wrong when the relocation agent came to pick up the dogs. She informed us that the airline she had planned on booking would not accept the shipment, the travel crates were too big. She would try the dogs in the next size down crate and see if that would work. If not she would make other arrangements or have the dogs driven to Dubai. It turned out that Timber, the smaller female, would fit in the smaller crate, but Toby, the 45 kilo male, would not. The agent would check around different airlines, she was sure she could make other arrangements.
We left for Dubai a little concerned about the dogs arrangements, but we had been assured that they’d be well cared for at the boarding facility and they’d be on their way to Dubai soon.
For the next three weeks, we waited impatiently while the agent kept trying to find a flight for the dogs. As it happened, the majority of airlines had just put in place a ban on flying short-nosed dogs and boxers are on the list. We requested special permission from several airlines, but none could help. Meanwhile, we kept requesting that the agent make the arrangements to have the dogs driven to Dubai. As the route includes a brief stretch through KSA, a special visa is necessary for the driver and additional documents would be needed for the dogs. Each time we spoke with her, she put off the drive option saying that she was exploring a promising lead with another airline.
During the time that the dogs were stranded in Doha, our dear friend and former housekeeper, Mali, was visiting the dogs at the boarding kennel, which is operated by the woman running the relocation agency. Each time Mali visited she would call us in tears. She didn’t like the people at the kennel, she was upset that the dogs hadn’t had a bath, Toby was losing weight. Mali always treated the dogs like her children - she fed them, walked them and gave them baths twice a week. We should have listened closer to what she was saying. Unfortunately, Mali has a tendency towards melodrama, and we assumed that she was over-reacting. Plus, our vet had wanted Toby to lose five kilos and we had instructed the kennel to feed him the food we provided at the rate for a 40 kilo dog.
We did speak with the woman who runs the kennel, and we were reassured that Timber and Toby were doing well. They’d get a bath. Everything was fine, but sure, they were sad missing us.
Our frustration level was growing daily. I spent a portion of each day in tears, hating that the dogs must’ve felt abandoned by that point. About three weeks had passed.
A friend of Cj’s had been following our frustration on Facebook and he offered to drive the dogs from Doha to Dubai. He’s not a dog person, but he just wanted to help. Again, there are a lot of requirements to drive through KSA with dogs, but he was willing to go through the visa process and everything else if we’d just get the necessary paperwork for the dogs.
I contacted the agent to find out what she had learned about the KSA travel requirements. Not much. Just enough to figure out that it was more complicated than she wanted to deal with, I guess. I contacted the agent in Dubai to see if they knew anything or could give me a lead as to where to start getting the information. Luckily, they knew of a vet in Doha who might know more about it.
I immediately sent an email to the doctor. He didn’t give me any information, but said he was certain that he could get the dogs to Dubai. Having heard that before, I sent him a terse reply that we had pretty well exhausted every avenue except the driving option. He again responded that he thought he could help.
Meanwhile, Mali went to see the dogs again. Again, we got a phone call with her in tears. She had had to tighten Toby’s collar, because he was losing more weight and in her words he wouldn’t “make a happy face.” At this point I told Cj that maybe we should call this vet who was so sure he could get the dogs to us and find out what he could do.
Cj called right away and spoke with the vet’s assistant. He was quite sure that the vet could help. He also mentioned to Cj something to the effect that they didn’t like the woman who had the dogs. That caught our attention.
We started communicating with the vet, who was out of Qatar at the time. He would get the dogs to us, but we would have to move the dogs to his facility without telling the relocation agent where they were going. He had had issues with her in the past and didn’t want “more drama with that woman.” He specifically told me that the dogs would have to be tick-free to stay at his kennel. The facility they were at was known to have a tick problem and he didn’t want to move that problem to his place. The dogs would board at the veterinary facility until the doctor came back to Doha in a few days, then he would either get them on a flight or personally drive them to Dubai. He promised to have them to us by the end of September.
We enlisted the help of the friend who had offered to drive the dogs to Dubai, and another volunteer, asking them to move the dogs from the kennel to the vet. I notified the relocation agent that our friends would be picking up the dogs. I told her to make sure they were treated for ticks. I also lied. I told her that the friends were bringing the dogs to Dubai. I didn’t even feel bad about lying. I had been having bad feelings about her for a while by then.
Our friends took the dogs directly from the kennel to the vet on a Thursday evening. The vet’s assistant was in contact with us regularly and let me know that Toby had a couple of ticks on arrival, but they removed them and treated the dogs with Advantix.
The assistant, I’ll call him M., made me feel very confident about the care the dogs were getting. He checked with me about the food they were to eat, how often they should be walked, asked about any peculiarities they might have. He was very understanding when I told him that because Toby was old (he was a rescue so we weren’t sure how old) and a bit lame in the rear legs that we tried to keep him fairly active without over-doing things.
Friday night, I got a call from the vet on duty at the clinic. Toby was quite ill. He wasn’t eating, wouldn’t get up on his own, had a fever and was quite depressed. At that time they weren’t sure of the cause, but wanted my permission to give him supportive therapy and run tests.
I got off the phone and burst into tears. My boy was sick and I was far away. As I mentioned, Toby was old. We had rescued him 2 1/2 years ago after he had been on death row at a shelter in the States. He had no lower front teeth to speak of. He had old bones that troubled him sometimes. But he had been in excellent health just a month before when he had been seen by no fewer than three veterinarians in preparation for the move.
The first test results indicated a severe kidney infection, and they began treatment. The next day there hadn’t been much change, and they kept treating him. He was receiving IV fluids and antibiotics. On Sunday morning, I spoke with a doctor and learned that Toby was able to lift his head, but was still extremely ill. They suspected pancreatitis in addition to the kidney infection. They began treatment for that as well.
Late Sunday afternoon, I got a text message (I had been in the yard when I missed a call) to call the vet immediately. When I called the doctor told me Toby had died. He was just too ill to respond to treatment.
I sobbed and wailed and cried like I never have before. My poor boy had died all alone. We knew when we adopted him that he was old and we wouldn’t have him forever. We had even begun working on his bucket list over the last year, trying to let him have as much doggie fun as he could. When we got Toby he didn’t really know how to be a dog. Throw a ball and he’d look at you quizzically. Stuffed toys were more interesting, especially if they made realistic noises - cows that mooed, ducks that quacked - but still he didn’t know what to do with them. The first time he got into the garbage bin, I was proud of him for acting like a dog. I knew he didn’t have many years left, but I had always planned to be with him in the end. I was devastated and felt terribly guilty that I wasn’t.
Still, we were worried about Timber. They had also noticed that Timber seemed to have some symptoms of illness and wanted permission to treat her as well. They gave her a large dose of antibiotics, but later test results were inconclusive for pancreatitis and she began improving. She was being watched closely and given extra attention by M. since she too had lost a good friend. Actually, Timber and Toby had a love/hate relationship. Many times there were battles for territory and food, and sometimes the battles were vicious and bloody. But over the last year they had settled into a companionable relationship and seemed to enjoy each others company.
When I received an invoice from the clinic, I noticed that the dogs weights were listed. In 3 weeks, Toby had lost 6 kilos and Timber had lost 3 kilos. While we had wanted Toby to lose some weight, we were trying for about a kilo a month. Not 6 kilos in a few weeks.
A few days after Toby’s death, the doctor made good on his promises to me. He got Timber on a Qatar Airways flight, made arrangements for someone to get her through customs and deliver her to her new home.
Last week I started noticing that Timber was off her food and very lethargic. She also seemed to be feverish. She obviously did not feel well. I took her to the clinic in our neighborhood where she’d already been treated for her grass allergy since her arrival in Dubai. This time the vet added a medication for stomach upset, an anti-inflammatory for fever and an electrolyte balancing drink.
Over the next couple of days there were times when she seemed to improve, but then she’d get worse. On Sunday morning I took her back to the vet. Her temperature had risen and she was getting dehydrated. They admitted her for IV fluids and some tests. They suspected pancreatitis. A terrible coincidence, as that was the one month anniversary of Toby’s death from the same illness.
Her test results did indicate pancreatitis, and she also had an extremely low white blood cell count. While they couldn’t account for the low WBC count, they began treatment with steroids for the pancreatitis, fluids for the dehydration and antibiotics for infection indicated by the low WBC count.
When I visited her on Monday, she had definitely improved. She was perkier. She was playing with her stuffed Eeyore toy and looked happier.
Today, Tuesday, I got a call from her doctor. She’s definitely responding to the pancreatitis treatment, but still has a low WBC count. They tested for a tick-borne illness (I can not for the life of me recall the name of it) and she tested positive. They are now treating her with a specific antibiotic that is indicated to treat the disease. The doctor is optimistic that she will respond well and hopefully be home in another day or so.
The day that Toby died, Timber was treated (through serendipity, perhaps) with the very antibiotic that is used for this disease. That may have saved her life. When she received treatment for her skin problems with an antibiotic and a steroid (steroids are the current preferred treatment for pancreatitis) that may also have saved her life. The vet said that this tick-borne illness may be the underlying cause for the pancreatitis. Not definitively, but there is some reason to think so.
I have had Timber since she was 8 weeks old. She is now 8 years old. In her entire life, I don’t think she had ever had more than 2 ticks. Until she spent 3 weeks in that boarding kennel in Doha. In spite of the prophylactic Advantix and Preventic collar, and a tick treatment before he left the kennel Toby had ticks on him in Doha. Timber has tested positive for tick-borne illness. She must’ve also been bitten by ticks in Doha, as she hasn’t had one here. Believe me, I’ve checked. I’ve always had a pathological fear of ticks.
If Timber developed pancreatitis as a result of this tick-borne disease, there’s a good chance that the same thing happened to Toby. Sadly, he was much older and in a very stressful situation when he became ill. It may be that the antibiotics and steroids Timber received in the interim slowed the progress of the illness in time for her to be diagnosed and treated. I believe she will recover and come home.
Now for the part where I blame some one else for a part of this tragedy. I won’t be naming that person or the companies involved in this public forum because of the slander/libel laws in the UAE. I want to educate others about the problems I encountered, but I don’t want to go to jail.
I have figured out that in the planning stages of moving the dogs from Doha to Dubai that the agent did not in fact attempt to make the actual travel arrangements for the dogs in advance. I’m guessing that she does these things fairly often and just hadn’t run into the problems she encountered in this situation before. However, when I contacted her more than a month in advance, I sort of expected that she’d start planning then, too. Apparently she didn’t start her inquiries into flight arrangements until the day she picked up the dogs at my house. Had we known earlier, we may have been able to come up with a solution sooner.
When she told us the day she picked them up that she would get a flight in the next few days or have them driven by the end of the next week, I don’t know that she ever intended to have them driven. As things progressed, and we kept asking about that option, she never seemed to make any headway. Later in the process, I learned from her that obviously, she as a woman could not drive through KSA, and that the male family member she wanted to do the driving couldn’t drive her vehicle without changing the registration. She now claims that she will be starting a service to provide ground transportation from Doha to KSA and the UAE.
The conditions at the boarding facility seem to be a bit dodgy. Mali said that the indoor areas were hot (although they are supposedly air conditioned), there is clearly a major issue with disease-carrying ticks, but perhaps of the most concern to me is that it seems that no one there is paying attention to the condition of the dogs being boarded.
Toby lost 6 kilos in three weeks. A loss of a kilo a week is considered to be at the high-end of what is safe for a full-grown human to lose. Did no one (other than Mali) notice that he was losing so much weight so quickly? I wish I had paid more attention to her concerns; I just didn’t realize how much he had lost.
When Toby went to the veterinary facility he was clearly a sick dog. After seeing the progression of the illness in Timber myself, I don’t understand how the kennel attendants could not have noticed the weight loss, the lack of appetite, that he wasn’t getting enough water, that he had a fever and no energy. I do realize that a dog being boarded away from home is likely to be a bit depressed and not act as they normally would. I just think that in 3 weeks someone would have been able to see some of the symptoms of his sickness. Had I known that he was suffering like that, I would have had him taken to the vet right away.
Just thinking of the suffering and misery Toby went through, all alone, probably feeling abandoned, breaks my heart. I feel that I failed him profoundly.
I’m thankful that Timber is doing better and hopeful that she’ll recover. So many things have worked in her favor so far that I believe she’ll be home soon.
Again, I won’t be naming the others in Doha publicly, however, if you need to board your pet and would like my OPINION on where not to go, contact me via email and I will tell you what I think. I’m also happy to recommend the facility where M. will take excellent care of (as he calls them) your babies.
We had lived in Doha, Qatar for almost a year when my husband Cj got an offer that was too good to pass on, so we started packing our belongings and planning to move to Dubai, UAE. Having gone through an international move the year before, we knew that there was a lot to do; especially to move our two boxers, Timber and Toby.
As soon as Cj accepted the job offer, I contacted a pet relocation agency in Doha that we had used the year before to bring the dogs into Qatar. We had had a fairly easy time getting the arrangements made for their import, having the dogs picked up at the airport and delivered to their new home. We felt confident that the same agency could do the export with ease.
With more than a month to make the necessary arrangements, we didn’t expect any problems. We hired another relocation company in Dubai to handle the import process, we made reservations at the only hotel in Dubai we could find that would accept the dogs. We had worked everything out so that the dogs would go into the boarding kennel in Doha for three days after we departed, then they would join us in Dubai. Per the instructions we were given by the relocation agent, the dogs were treated with Advantix and had Preventic collars put on in preparation of their boarding.
Things started to go wrong when the relocation agent came to pick up the dogs. She informed us that the airline she had planned on booking would not accept the shipment, the travel crates were too big. She would try the dogs in the next size down crate and see if that would work. If not she would make other arrangements or have the dogs driven to Dubai. It turned out that Timber, the smaller female, would fit in the smaller crate, but Toby, the 45 kilo male, would not. The agent would check around different airlines, she was sure she could make other arrangements.
We left for Dubai a little concerned about the dogs arrangements, but we had been assured that they’d be well cared for at the boarding facility and they’d be on their way to Dubai soon.
For the next three weeks, we waited impatiently while the agent kept trying to find a flight for the dogs. As it happened, the majority of airlines had just put in place a ban on flying short-nosed dogs and boxers are on the list. We requested special permission from several airlines, but none could help. Meanwhile, we kept requesting that the agent make the arrangements to have the dogs driven to Dubai. As the route includes a brief stretch through KSA, a special visa is necessary for the driver and additional documents would be needed for the dogs. Each time we spoke with her, she put off the drive option saying that she was exploring a promising lead with another airline.
During the time that the dogs were stranded in Doha, our dear friend and former housekeeper, Mali, was visiting the dogs at the boarding kennel, which is operated by the woman running the relocation agency. Each time Mali visited she would call us in tears. She didn’t like the people at the kennel, she was upset that the dogs hadn’t had a bath, Toby was losing weight. Mali always treated the dogs like her children - she fed them, walked them and gave them baths twice a week. We should have listened closer to what she was saying. Unfortunately, Mali has a tendency towards melodrama, and we assumed that she was over-reacting. Plus, our vet had wanted Toby to lose five kilos and we had instructed the kennel to feed him the food we provided at the rate for a 40 kilo dog.
We did speak with the woman who runs the kennel, and we were reassured that Timber and Toby were doing well. They’d get a bath. Everything was fine, but sure, they were sad missing us.
Our frustration level was growing daily. I spent a portion of each day in tears, hating that the dogs must’ve felt abandoned by that point. About three weeks had passed.
A friend of Cj’s had been following our frustration on Facebook and he offered to drive the dogs from Doha to Dubai. He’s not a dog person, but he just wanted to help. Again, there are a lot of requirements to drive through KSA with dogs, but he was willing to go through the visa process and everything else if we’d just get the necessary paperwork for the dogs.
I contacted the agent to find out what she had learned about the KSA travel requirements. Not much. Just enough to figure out that it was more complicated than she wanted to deal with, I guess. I contacted the agent in Dubai to see if they knew anything or could give me a lead as to where to start getting the information. Luckily, they knew of a vet in Doha who might know more about it.
I immediately sent an email to the doctor. He didn’t give me any information, but said he was certain that he could get the dogs to Dubai. Having heard that before, I sent him a terse reply that we had pretty well exhausted every avenue except the driving option. He again responded that he thought he could help.
Meanwhile, Mali went to see the dogs again. Again, we got a phone call with her in tears. She had had to tighten Toby’s collar, because he was losing more weight and in her words he wouldn’t “make a happy face.” At this point I told Cj that maybe we should call this vet who was so sure he could get the dogs to us and find out what he could do.
Cj called right away and spoke with the vet’s assistant. He was quite sure that the vet could help. He also mentioned to Cj something to the effect that they didn’t like the woman who had the dogs. That caught our attention.
We started communicating with the vet, who was out of Qatar at the time. He would get the dogs to us, but we would have to move the dogs to his facility without telling the relocation agent where they were going. He had had issues with her in the past and didn’t want “more drama with that woman.” He specifically told me that the dogs would have to be tick-free to stay at his kennel. The facility they were at was known to have a tick problem and he didn’t want to move that problem to his place. The dogs would board at the veterinary facility until the doctor came back to Doha in a few days, then he would either get them on a flight or personally drive them to Dubai. He promised to have them to us by the end of September.
We enlisted the help of the friend who had offered to drive the dogs to Dubai, and another volunteer, asking them to move the dogs from the kennel to the vet. I notified the relocation agent that our friends would be picking up the dogs. I told her to make sure they were treated for ticks. I also lied. I told her that the friends were bringing the dogs to Dubai. I didn’t even feel bad about lying. I had been having bad feelings about her for a while by then.
Our friends took the dogs directly from the kennel to the vet on a Thursday evening. The vet’s assistant was in contact with us regularly and let me know that Toby had a couple of ticks on arrival, but they removed them and treated the dogs with Advantix.
The assistant, I’ll call him M., made me feel very confident about the care the dogs were getting. He checked with me about the food they were to eat, how often they should be walked, asked about any peculiarities they might have. He was very understanding when I told him that because Toby was old (he was a rescue so we weren’t sure how old) and a bit lame in the rear legs that we tried to keep him fairly active without over-doing things.
Friday night, I got a call from the vet on duty at the clinic. Toby was quite ill. He wasn’t eating, wouldn’t get up on his own, had a fever and was quite depressed. At that time they weren’t sure of the cause, but wanted my permission to give him supportive therapy and run tests.
I got off the phone and burst into tears. My boy was sick and I was far away. As I mentioned, Toby was old. We had rescued him 2 1/2 years ago after he had been on death row at a shelter in the States. He had no lower front teeth to speak of. He had old bones that troubled him sometimes. But he had been in excellent health just a month before when he had been seen by no fewer than three veterinarians in preparation for the move.
The first test results indicated a severe kidney infection, and they began treatment. The next day there hadn’t been much change, and they kept treating him. He was receiving IV fluids and antibiotics. On Sunday morning, I spoke with a doctor and learned that Toby was able to lift his head, but was still extremely ill. They suspected pancreatitis in addition to the kidney infection. They began treatment for that as well.
Late Sunday afternoon, I got a text message (I had been in the yard when I missed a call) to call the vet immediately. When I called the doctor told me Toby had died. He was just too ill to respond to treatment.
I sobbed and wailed and cried like I never have before. My poor boy had died all alone. We knew when we adopted him that he was old and we wouldn’t have him forever. We had even begun working on his bucket list over the last year, trying to let him have as much doggie fun as he could. When we got Toby he didn’t really know how to be a dog. Throw a ball and he’d look at you quizzically. Stuffed toys were more interesting, especially if they made realistic noises - cows that mooed, ducks that quacked - but still he didn’t know what to do with them. The first time he got into the garbage bin, I was proud of him for acting like a dog. I knew he didn’t have many years left, but I had always planned to be with him in the end. I was devastated and felt terribly guilty that I wasn’t.
Still, we were worried about Timber. They had also noticed that Timber seemed to have some symptoms of illness and wanted permission to treat her as well. They gave her a large dose of antibiotics, but later test results were inconclusive for pancreatitis and she began improving. She was being watched closely and given extra attention by M. since she too had lost a good friend. Actually, Timber and Toby had a love/hate relationship. Many times there were battles for territory and food, and sometimes the battles were vicious and bloody. But over the last year they had settled into a companionable relationship and seemed to enjoy each others company.
When I received an invoice from the clinic, I noticed that the dogs weights were listed. In 3 weeks, Toby had lost 6 kilos and Timber had lost 3 kilos. While we had wanted Toby to lose some weight, we were trying for about a kilo a month. Not 6 kilos in a few weeks.
A few days after Toby’s death, the doctor made good on his promises to me. He got Timber on a Qatar Airways flight, made arrangements for someone to get her through customs and deliver her to her new home.
Last week I started noticing that Timber was off her food and very lethargic. She also seemed to be feverish. She obviously did not feel well. I took her to the clinic in our neighborhood where she’d already been treated for her grass allergy since her arrival in Dubai. This time the vet added a medication for stomach upset, an anti-inflammatory for fever and an electrolyte balancing drink.
Over the next couple of days there were times when she seemed to improve, but then she’d get worse. On Sunday morning I took her back to the vet. Her temperature had risen and she was getting dehydrated. They admitted her for IV fluids and some tests. They suspected pancreatitis. A terrible coincidence, as that was the one month anniversary of Toby’s death from the same illness.
Her test results did indicate pancreatitis, and she also had an extremely low white blood cell count. While they couldn’t account for the low WBC count, they began treatment with steroids for the pancreatitis, fluids for the dehydration and antibiotics for infection indicated by the low WBC count.
When I visited her on Monday, she had definitely improved. She was perkier. She was playing with her stuffed Eeyore toy and looked happier.
Today, Tuesday, I got a call from her doctor. She’s definitely responding to the pancreatitis treatment, but still has a low WBC count. They tested for a tick-borne illness (I can not for the life of me recall the name of it) and she tested positive. They are now treating her with a specific antibiotic that is indicated to treat the disease. The doctor is optimistic that she will respond well and hopefully be home in another day or so.
The day that Toby died, Timber was treated (through serendipity, perhaps) with the very antibiotic that is used for this disease. That may have saved her life. When she received treatment for her skin problems with an antibiotic and a steroid (steroids are the current preferred treatment for pancreatitis) that may also have saved her life. The vet said that this tick-borne illness may be the underlying cause for the pancreatitis. Not definitively, but there is some reason to think so.
I have had Timber since she was 8 weeks old. She is now 8 years old. In her entire life, I don’t think she had ever had more than 2 ticks. Until she spent 3 weeks in that boarding kennel in Doha. In spite of the prophylactic Advantix and Preventic collar, and a tick treatment before he left the kennel Toby had ticks on him in Doha. Timber has tested positive for tick-borne illness. She must’ve also been bitten by ticks in Doha, as she hasn’t had one here. Believe me, I’ve checked. I’ve always had a pathological fear of ticks.
If Timber developed pancreatitis as a result of this tick-borne disease, there’s a good chance that the same thing happened to Toby. Sadly, he was much older and in a very stressful situation when he became ill. It may be that the antibiotics and steroids Timber received in the interim slowed the progress of the illness in time for her to be diagnosed and treated. I believe she will recover and come home.
Now for the part where I blame some one else for a part of this tragedy. I won’t be naming that person or the companies involved in this public forum because of the slander/libel laws in the UAE. I want to educate others about the problems I encountered, but I don’t want to go to jail.
I have figured out that in the planning stages of moving the dogs from Doha to Dubai that the agent did not in fact attempt to make the actual travel arrangements for the dogs in advance. I’m guessing that she does these things fairly often and just hadn’t run into the problems she encountered in this situation before. However, when I contacted her more than a month in advance, I sort of expected that she’d start planning then, too. Apparently she didn’t start her inquiries into flight arrangements until the day she picked up the dogs at my house. Had we known earlier, we may have been able to come up with a solution sooner.
When she told us the day she picked them up that she would get a flight in the next few days or have them driven by the end of the next week, I don’t know that she ever intended to have them driven. As things progressed, and we kept asking about that option, she never seemed to make any headway. Later in the process, I learned from her that obviously, she as a woman could not drive through KSA, and that the male family member she wanted to do the driving couldn’t drive her vehicle without changing the registration. She now claims that she will be starting a service to provide ground transportation from Doha to KSA and the UAE.
The conditions at the boarding facility seem to be a bit dodgy. Mali said that the indoor areas were hot (although they are supposedly air conditioned), there is clearly a major issue with disease-carrying ticks, but perhaps of the most concern to me is that it seems that no one there is paying attention to the condition of the dogs being boarded.
Toby lost 6 kilos in three weeks. A loss of a kilo a week is considered to be at the high-end of what is safe for a full-grown human to lose. Did no one (other than Mali) notice that he was losing so much weight so quickly? I wish I had paid more attention to her concerns; I just didn’t realize how much he had lost.
When Toby went to the veterinary facility he was clearly a sick dog. After seeing the progression of the illness in Timber myself, I don’t understand how the kennel attendants could not have noticed the weight loss, the lack of appetite, that he wasn’t getting enough water, that he had a fever and no energy. I do realize that a dog being boarded away from home is likely to be a bit depressed and not act as they normally would. I just think that in 3 weeks someone would have been able to see some of the symptoms of his sickness. Had I known that he was suffering like that, I would have had him taken to the vet right away.
Just thinking of the suffering and misery Toby went through, all alone, probably feeling abandoned, breaks my heart. I feel that I failed him profoundly.
I’m thankful that Timber is doing better and hopeful that she’ll recover. So many things have worked in her favor so far that I believe she’ll be home soon.
Again, I won’t be naming the others in Doha publicly, however, if you need to board your pet and would like my OPINION on where not to go, contact me via email and I will tell you what I think. I’m also happy to recommend the facility where M. will take excellent care of (as he calls them) your babies.