Vets, infections & injections…

Posted on August 2, 2014 by livingtheturkishdream

We spent the afternoon at the vet with Boncuk yesterday.

I noticed a few days ago that she was shaking her head a lot and she had started to cry when we were stroking her left ear, I tried to get a look inside to see if I could see something stuck in it but couldn’t see anything. It was Bayram so our vet was closed and we decided to wait a few days to see if it would get better itself or if she was still in discomfort – obviously if she was in pain we would have taken her right away, but she was her usual crazy self, jumping all over us and wagging her tail!

It didn’t get better over the holiday period – and I could tell it was infected as it was red and crusty… ewww. So this afternoon we took her. It was really hot and humid today so I was dreading the 2.8km walk to the vet, and the 2.8km walk back again… luckily Berkay spoke to his friend and managed to persuade him to take all 3 of us in his car, with Boncuk in the boot on a bedsheet. She hates being indoors so I thought she’d be scared in the car but she seemed to quite like it, no fussing, she just laid down, bless her.

She’s a clever doggy, she knows exactly what it means when she sees the outside of the Vet’s surgery, we attempted to walk inside and she sat her bum firmly down and wouldn’t move, she definitely is not a fan! We eventually had to pick her up to get her inside, she always gets so much attention in there, the vet and his mum are so friendly, you can tell they really love animals!

He had a look in her ears which made her yelp in pain, I felt so sorry for her. She was so good just laying on the table, a lot of dogs would growl or bite them if they felt threatened but she just laid down, she’s so sweet-natured! The vet was so gentle with her and his assistant stood and stroked her head and was talking to her. He decided he needed to give her an injection to make her sleep so he could look inside and clean them properly, he told us to go outside and sit with her for 15 minutes and that she should fall asleep – she was really fighting it bless her, she refused to sit or lay down and just stood up next to us with her nose resting on Berkay’s leg. Look how sad she looks in the photo, her ears were all floppy, eyes all droopy… but she was still fighting it and even managing to wag her tail at us!

Eventually she did go to sleep, the vet managed to clean her ears and confirmed that she had an infection probably caused by ear mites. We were worried about how much it would cost, but it wasn’t too much. It was 65tl (£18) altogether for the injection, cleaning and ear drops… we ended up paying another 20tl (£6) and getting her booster vaccination and flea prevention done too.

The best thing about the whole experience was when we walked out of the surgery, and the vet said ‘geçmiş olsun’ (get well soon) to Boncuk. Is that not the cutest thing?

By this point Boncuk was feeling very sorry for herself. Again we were really lucky that the vet had to drive past our house in order to drop another dog home, so he let us take a free ride in the back of the car. The whole car journey home Boncuk wouldn’t look at me, she had her head down and was definitely being a sulky pants. Her face just said “I’m not talking to you anymore – you made me go to that nasty man who poked my ears.”

Boncuk’s sulky ‘I’m not talking to you anymore’ face.

I think she’s gotten over it now though, Berkay’s been at work all night so he’s been at the hotel with her, he says she’s happy again now with her little waggy tail and no more sulky faces! Hopefully the ear drops will work and we won’t have to make another vet trip anytime soon.

It’s really hard to find a decent vet around here… some I feel are very over-rated, while others rightfully have a bad reputation. I think we’ve found a good one though – Suckun at Ankavet. He obviously really loves animals and is so gentle with them. Boncuk went there last month to have her hair cut and they ended up giving her a pom pom fluffy tail, she looked so cute! They are so friendly and really helpful too. Today they let us take home a 80tl (£22) 15 kilogram bag of dog food on a ‘pay later’ promise… we’ve done that before so they trust us to pay it back. We also purchased Boncuk’s kennel from them previously and they have boarding kennels for dogs to stay in short-term. If anyone is in the Fethiye area and needs a vet, I definitely recommend them. A link to their website with contact details – http://www.e-fethiye.net/ankavet.html
Here’s hoping Boncuk is back to her normal, crazy, rolling in grass, hyperactive self soon!

Vets…

Posted on May 4, 2014 by livingtheturkishdream

Although I’m not in Turkey, and not with Berkay, he still updates me with photos everyday. Photos of the changing face of Calis, photos of the hotel, photos of him at work, photos of Boncuk.

Yesterday he told me there was a small earthquake in the morning, I’m not sure many people felt it as it was only 4.1 on the scale but Berkay was working in the hotel all night and heard the rumbling and saw the door swinging open then people dashing outside – scary. 4.1 is nothing though, when I was there 2 years ago they had a 6.1 one – worst experience of my life that was, resulting in sleeping in the boot of my neighbour’s car for a few days. Eugh.

The tremor worried Berkay enough not to sleep all day, despite working all night. Instead of sleeping, he took Boncuk to the vet for her booster injections. The vet is a 45 minute walk away, or 10 minutes on the dolmus, but since dogs aren’t allowed on the buses, they had to walk. He said poor Boncuk is scared of everything, cars, bikes, rubbish bins – she’s crazy! They got to the vet and although they loved her, Boncuk did not love them. She’s so good though, didn’t growl or bite, she’s such a lovely thing really. They gave her her injection, some flea-treatment (she doesn’t have fleas, just a preventative!) and some vitamin powder to add to her food as she’s skinny , apparently that’s normal for the kind of dog she is! After the injection the vet told Berkay to sit with her outside with a bowl of water and wait for a little while before they started their walk home. How cute? It’s hard to find a decent vet in Turkey but it sounds like this is one of them! They really trust Berkay too – he always buys food off them on a ‘buy now- pay later’ promise, and let us pay for Boncuk’s kennel in installments.

See, lots of people say Turks don’t care about animals, I think Berkay proves otherwise! He has hardly any money himself and it would be oh so easy to not bother with her injections, yet there he was, walking an hour and a half and spending 80tl to take her to the vet.

In other news – my blog reached 120,000 views! I’m truely amazed. Thank you all!

Sorry for not updating this more regularly. I remember the days when I’d update it everyday! It’s been a shit week, and although I normally share everything on here, I can’t really talk about this on here where anyone and everyone can see.

I’ll be back later tonight with another post – hopefully.

A relaxing Sunday afternoon..

Posted on February 24, 2014 by livingtheturkishdream

Since Berkay changed his job, he now gets one day off a week. He does a week of nights, has Sunday off then does a week of days, then Sunday off, and back to a week of nights. Oh how I wish that was the case when I was living there!

His day’s off mean he can see his friends and go fishing for his dinner. He still has no money as he won’t be paid until March, so he is relying on his catch of the day to eat. He goes with our good friends, Serkan & Sibel, and their not-so-little anymore baby Cinar, who is adorable.

They often go to the little bays around Fethiye, this time it was buyuk samanlik koyu, which another friend of his actually owns. It’s a nice place, a bit basic, but nice in the winter and popular in the Summer with Turkish families who go there for BBQ picnic’s on Sunday’s. The view’s are lovely, you can see over to Calis and Fethiye and see all the boats going back to the harbour. The drive down to the bay is beautiful, although a little frightening as you have to drive along the cliff edge, which, if you know what Turkish driving is like, can be a little scary.

Normally I edit photos before uploading them, but these need no editing at all, as they are already perfect. Look how beautiful it is, just before sundown.

Berkay is normally quite successful at catching fish, last week he caught an Octopus. Today however, he wasn’t so lucky and didn’t catch anything, so he’s gone to bed without having any dinner. He’s at work at 7am tomorrow so he’ll sneak some breakfast from the buffet.

It was another friend’s birthday last weekend, he’s only known Berkay 2 years but is really like a dad to him. From what I’ve seen, Turkish people don’t really celebrate birthdays, but his sons bought him a cake..wish I was there to get a piece hehe (:

Despite not having money at the moment, Berkay has recently had the vet out to give Boncuk her booster injections, there are far too many ill, untreated dogs in the area that it is just not worth the risk. She’s all up to date with worming and flea treatment and injections now, so she’s a happy doggy. I can’t believe how ‘old’ she looks now, she’s lost her puppy features and that makes me sad 😦 By the time I go back in July (hopefully) I won’t have seen her for 10 months, I hope she remembers me! For now I can relax knowing she’s safe, looked after and happy 🙂