It hasn't been an easy time for me recently, and today it was time to let go of Icy the husky who had been staying at my house since I took him from AFCD with a large wound in his paw from screw worm infection. He was already an old boy for a large dog, and I'm assuming that's why he had been surrendered to AFCD in the first place, and his legs weren't too strong so walking on three of them was a struggle. As a result he spent most of his time lying down, and even though I made sure he had a thick soft bed for comfort, the very fact of not exercising enough resulted in a rapid deterioration of muscle strength and walking became impossible without help. Also while the paw itself seemed to heal, another pressure sore developed which was very painful, and finally with no quality of life left I knew it was kinder to say goodbye.
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| This photo of "wobbly dog" Cody makes him look almost normal |
I don't have any photos of Icy as it didn't seem right to do so somehow, but I need to get more into the habit of taking photos of the Lamma dogs. I was asked by Shaline, our Life Saver Club volunteer, to send some recent shots of sponsored dogs for the due updates, so for the past couple of days I've been trying to do just that. So far I have managed to catch one dog (Cody) sitting still long enough, and he isn't even one of those on the list of course. On top of the fact that as soon as I move, all of the dogs move with me and in a crowd, the light has been so bad with the dark skies and heavy rain, that the two black dogs I need to take photos of (Michelle and Kim) just disappear into the darkness of the background. Others are so suspicious when I hold the phone up in front of them that they run off, while Babs is the classic photobomber who appears every time I think I have a dog lined up for a decent shot. More than ever I appreciate the Sunday puppy photographers, and know how hard it is. If you would like to sponsor any of our long-stay dogs, whether on Lamma or either of the Homing Centres, please contact Shaline at lifesaver@hongkongdogrescue.com, or refer to our website www.hongkongdogrescue.com for details of sponsorship options.
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| Mandy went home after desexing |
Two lucky dogs left the Ap Lei Chau Homing Centre today, though overall we haven't had many visitors braving the on-off rain this month. Even so the adoption numbers for June at least weren't too bad at 44 (see list below) , and I really hope that I'll be pleasantly surprised when the July count is completed.
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