Mon 15th Aug: Three cheers for Ka Yan!

I sent three older Lamma puppies to Acorn for desexing in the morning, blissfully unaware of the impending rain that would be pouring down when I was trying to get home in the afternoon and no sampan would take me.  After waiting for some time and being refused by even the regular drivers, there was no choice but to take the doglets to Ap Lei Chau and leave them there for the night.  (Fortunately for myself I was able to hitch a lift later on with my friend with a speedboat).

6 year-old Willis has diabetes as well as cataracts

Things weren't made easier by the fact that we had no staff on duty at the Homing Centre today, and even in the office across the road trainer Cactus was out doing a home visit and it was Kathy's regular day off.  The only staff member around was Ka Yan, and she not only had to take care of the last-minute arrival of three very scared dogs, but she was also the only person on hand to receive instructions on how to administer the twice-daily insulin injections that poodle Willis would need after he was found to be diabetic.

Ka Yan's real job is to handle all of the administration work, but like everyone in HKDR the ability and willingness to multitask is essential.  I bet Ka Yan never thought she'd be learning how to give a dog insulin injections or be single-handedly running the office and Homing Centre at the same time though.

It's one of the very sad aspects of this work that you come across the worst side of people as well as the best, and you find that not everyone is honest.  Poodle Willis was surrendered to us on some pretext or other, which certainly didn't include the fact that he was suffering from diabetes, something which was only discovered after he was taken home for fostering.  Thankfully it was noticed that Willis was drinking excessive amounts of water which led to his diagnosis and his return to us so we could get his problem treated.  You may also remember that he was found to have cataracts, and was already booked in for his assessment with the eye specialist who would be performing the surgery. That has now had to be postponed while we wait for Willis's condition to stabilise.  I'm quite sure that his previous owners couldn't fail to have been aware of at least the diabetes, if not the cataracts too, although he was surrendered to us as a healthy dog.

Now that we are already into mid-August and getting close to the autumn/winter events season, planning for the "Game of Thrones" gala dinner on Saturday 1st October is well underway.  We are now recruiting volunteers to help out for the evening, so if you would like to know more please email jamie@hongkongdogrescue.com (over 18's only please).   Duties will include greeting and seating, auction spotters and generally helping out as and where needed.

Please also contact Jamie for ticket enquiries as they are selling fast.