Tues 1st May: The summer starts

We will be holding another "Sai Ying Pun Saturday Puppy Afternoon" this weekend on 5 May at HEAL Animal Wellness and Rehabilitation. Feel free to come along to meet our gorgeous puppies!

Date: 5 May, 2018
Time : 1pm to 4pm
Venue: 10 Second Street, Sai Ying Pun

Eliza (left) and Ivory at Tai Po

We have two puppy afternoons this weekend, with Saturday at Heal and Sunday at Whiskers N Paws, but there are also puppies available to meet every single day of the week now at both our Ap Lei Chau and Tai Po Homing Centres.  Lyra, Pebble, Bertie and his sister Anna are staying at Ap Lei Chau while there is quite a collection at the big Homing Centre these days.  Five new recruits joined the gang on Monday after having been sent over from Lamma for socialisation, something that is so important for puppies and unfortunately something I can't provide at my home. 

There are also new small-sized dogs due to come to our Ap Lei Chau Homing Centre, in addition to those mentioned yesterday, and knowing who and how they are is really a case of watching our Facebook page or reading my blog.  The younger small dogs are so often in and out before we have time to publicise them, and keeping the website pages fully up to date is not always possible although we try our best.

Now that it's May and we can pretty much rely on it being hot every day, it's time to remind everyone once again about the dangers of the summer months when it comes to our dogs.  Heatstroke is guaranteed to kill every year, so watch for signs of overheating like heavy panting and make sure you don't walk in the full sun during the hottest time of the day.  Carry water with you for your dog as well as yourself, and think about exercise locations where your dog can swim to stay cool.

Ticks and mosquitoes are constant enemies and both of them carry life-threatening diseases. Many cases of tick fever are now resistant to the drugs commonly used, so if you are concerned about the potential toxicity of tick prevention you need to weigh up the (in my opinion minimal) health risk of spot-on drops or tick collars and the disease itself.  I would always choose prevention after having dealt with a procession of cases of tick fever in puppies which drags on and on before finally being cured, and also in adults.  The drugs used have to be so strong that they must affect the health of the dog in themselves.

Heartworm is undetectable until it is already advanced, and only by having a dog tested would you know that spaghetti-like worms are clogging the heart.  Don't take risks and give a monthly tablet to make sure your dog is protected.