Fri 6th April: Now it's the rugby

The hydrotherapy pool at Heal is almost ready for use

Just when I thought things might be getting back to normal after the endless holidays, I was reminded that this is Rugby Sevens weekend so pretty much a write-off for many fans. However we will be going ahead with the puppy afternoon at Heal, 10 Second Street, Sai Ying Pun, even if there will be fewer puppies than usual, and again on Sunday at Whiskers N Paws.  We do have some new four-legged recruits, and there is a litter of five babies at AFCD in Pokfulam that will be ready for next Sunday afternoon, as well as another singleton arriving on Monday from AFCD Sheung Shui.

Cello is the last of her litter of 8 still waiting

I think Cello will be the only older puppy at Heal this Saturday, and she is recovering from her desexing surgery which had to be done earlier than we would normally choose to do.  Cello is just five months old but the male pups at last Sunday's Whiskers N Paws afternoon were showing far too much of an interest in her, and it seemed that she was coming into season.  This usually happens at six or seven months which is why we always recommend spaying at six months for a female, but five months isn't impossible.  The very sad thing is that it's also possible for female puppies to mate and become pregnant at this age, producing their first litter at just seven or eight months, even while they are still not adults themselves.  We have seen many "teenage mothers" over the years, as any stray female will be guaranteed to mate, and while desexing at such a young age isn't the best option it's still preferable to seeing more unwanted puppies being born to a mother who is still a puppy herself.

One of the new puppies was taken from AFCD just today, and I hope she'll have settled a bit in time for the weekend as she was understandably a bit scared after a week on her own at the kennels.  Another puppy that came to us this week has already been adopted so will be in a new home before ever having experienced a puppy adoption event, lucky boy.

Herbert is a lovely boy, and very easy

Herbert was with me today when I went to AFCD as he's now old enough to be licensed, and like all of his litter he's a great little puppy.  His colouring is slightly different from his siblings in that rather than being black and tan, he's more of a greyish tan than usual, and he has some very distinctive stripes at the top of one leg.  Previously I had wondered if this was from a skin problem but I asked the vet to have a look today, and it's just patterning.