Thurs 2nd Mar: Gearing up for a busy weekend

Peke Buggy is blind, but a very sweet boy

There seem to be an awful lot of stray dogs needing to be rescued and they're not all old and with health problems, although some are of course.  One of them I wrote about yesterday, and I took Buggy to  AFCD today to get a temporary license issued while the registered owner is or isn't traced, and then on to Acorn for a health check and particularly his eyes. Dr Tony said he didn't think Buggy had glaucoma, rather a condition where the eyes are so bulgy that the eyelids can't fully close over them, resulting in a section of the front of the eye that is never covered.  Of course that eventually leads to dryness and damage, and it's this that is the problem.  Buggy is to all intents and purposes blind as well as having a heart murmur, but he's a sweet boy and not very old at nine years, so I'm sure there must be someone who can offer this little man a home.

This was Tuffy as a stray

While I was at Acorn I got a message from Ap Lei Chau telling me that the terrier we were expecting had arrived, so I sent the van back to pick him up.  This gorgeous little dog is young, a year old at a guess, and is very sweet.  He didn't have a microchip so that was done, as well as the rabies vaccination and health check, and it was found that although otherwise in good condition Tuffy has heartworm.  It's disappointing but not that much of a surprise given that he was found as a stray in the Yuen Long area, and heartworm is endemic in the New Territories.  Unless a dog is given regular prevention it's almost guaranteed to be infected, yet so many people seem to be either totally unaware or just don't care.   It's seems very strange that anyone would pay a lot of money to buy a puppy and then not pay a small monthly amount to keep it safe.

We're also expecting one, two or even three shiba inu this weekend, two from homes and one from what looks like a breeder, along with a bichon frise and a young husky.  I really hope these three dogs don't have heartworm too, but it's possible that they will.

Heartworm treatment is effective but expensive, and along with the large number of tick fever cases we have to deal with every month the bills quickly add up.  I nearly fell over when I saw our latest vet bill, and although we do require an adoption fee for all dogs and puppies it nowhere near covers what we have to pay out.

Apart from the large number of dogs that will be arriving this weekend, I'll be heading over to the Pet Carnival on Saturday and (of course) Whiskers N Paws on Sunday.   I hope that we can home a lot of puppies and that they will stay in their respective homes, something that we don't seem to be able to take for granted these days sadly.