Thurs 7th Dec: Twin Pekes

Laura is happy in her foster home while waiting to be adopted

In contrast to the past few days which were relatively quiet, today things were back to the normal craziness of surprise arrivals and having to dash around to meet appointment deadlines.  The first arranged meeting of the day was at AFCD in Pokfulam where puppies Laura and Dilys were having their rabies vaccinations and licenses issued, making them formally mine until adopted.  They are both lovely girls, happy to see each other and have a little play.

I was told there were some new puppies in the kennel block, but wasn't expecting to find fifteen of them, in a litter of eight young babies (apparently there were ten but two had already died), four incredibly beautiful fluffy-whiskery ones picked up in the Chai Wan Cemetery and three that I was able to take out immediately.  I will need foster homes for the young ones as they aren't ready for Whiskers N Paws or adoption yet, unless taken in pairs or with an already resident dog.

Skinny and weak but surprisingly healthy

There has a been a delay in taking new dogs out because of a change in the vet at the AFCD Animal Management Centre, the new VO (Veterinary Officer) being new to this sort of work and HKDR. I had wanted to take out two old pekes sooner but the situation had meant I had to wait, or rather the dogs did.  Finally I was allowed to take them on medical grounds, meaning to get them to Acorn for a proper check-up and treatment.  The ten year-old female is quite a large lady in all ways, while the fifteen year-old male looked as though he was ready to make the journey to the Rainbow Bridge, but surprisingly both sets of blood tests showed no real problems and the emaciated male was happy to eat.  I suspect that during their incarceration either the female ate all of the food given or the male was unable to chew the kibble because of rotten teeth.  Either way when tested with some soft food the little guy tucked in with enthusiasm, so we'll see if his weak condition is just due to being very hungry.

This is an internet photo of a King Charles Cavalier but similar to the two new boys

I had arranged to pick up a couple of tables from Wanchai (I'm always on the lookout for unwanted tables) at five thirty, so my plan was to drop the small dogs at Ap Lei Chau and then go to Wanchai. However before I left Acorn I got a message from Iris to let me know that the first two from the batch of ex-breeder dogs coming to us were waiting to be collected from a vet clinic in Kennedy Town.  I knew they were King Charles spaniels but nothing else, and I didn't find out until I got to the clinic and was handed the dogs, both males and without licenses to show an age.  They are very sweet boys, quite large for the breed, but we will have to wait for a vet to assess their ages.

Iris and I had joked about what to expect from the breeder and how many eyes and legs the dogs would have between them, as so many are missing body parts by the time they finally escape from the breeders.  Iris said the photos of the King Charles she had seen appeared to show four legs and two eyes each, but when I looked at them in the van I saw that one had an eye missing.

Hooter was adopted for the day only

We'd been very happy earlier in the day to say goodbye to one of the beagle boys as he left with his new family, but by late afternoon Hooter was back after one of the daughters had suffered a serious allergic reaction.  It was obviously very disappointing for both sides, but as always it's the dogs that are the real losers.  So now we can only hope that the weekend brings suitable families and fresh good news for Hooter.