Mon 22nd Oct: A special outing and Nigel's story

A groups of dogs and volunteers at Petfield today

When I went to the Ap Lei Chau Homing Centre today it was unusually quiet, and looking inside I saw nothing but empty spaces.  At first I assumed all of the dogs were at the dog park, but then I was told someone had sponsored a day's outing to Petfield in the New Territories, and twelve dogs had joined: Nancy, Cookie, Cello, Carlo, Jack, Asher, Dimple, Frisbee, Bitsy, Toto, Tibs and Meg.  

Bitsy had a lovely day out at Petfield

I was especially happy to see best friends Toto and Bitsy included as they are two of our Special Needs puppies, although Toto has improved so much that he is now just special and not really needy in the health sense at all.  His video was posted on Facebook yesterday and we have since had a lot of enquiries, so now it's a question of choosing the home that we think would be best for Toto.  He is a typically playful (and mischievous) poodle puppy and he has a best friend in Bitsy, the bichon frise pup with paralysed back legs.  These two friends play endlessly, so if we had an offer of a home for both of them together we would obviously be thrilled.  It would be hard to find another friend for Bitsy who could give him the kind of full life he enjoys now, because being paralysed doesn't mean he's not a normal, smart and happy boy in every other sense.  When he's fully grown and can be fitted with wheels he will enjoy going for walks the same as any other young dog. 

Bitsy and Toto play all the time 

Monty is our shiba inu puppy with special needs but also improving

While some of our smaller puppies have varying physical problems, husky puppy Nigel has a different kind of health issue which may well be the reason he is small for his breed.  He was one of the thirty-plus dogs we took from a breeder, and he came with persistent breathlessness.  After antibiotics failed to treat the pneumonia, tests showed that his problem was resistant to almost all drugs except one type that needed to be specially ordered.  This antibiotic is only injectable and it has to be given every eight hours, and that means a Tai Po staff member being on site to be able to administer the injection as required.  Nigel appears to be more lively after ten days of treatment but he will need a month's course at a cost of $300 a day, as well as regular blood tests.  We really need a foster home for this lovely boy, and one that is able to give the injections without fail and take Nigel to Acorn for his blood checks as needed. I should mention that we are looking for a home without children as technically any bacterial infection could be contagious.
Please contact Cindy at foster@hongkongdogrescue.com if you can offer a foster home to Nigel, thank you. 

Nigel is a small-sized husky puppy

We would also very much appreciate donations towards covering the cost of Nigel's treatment, just one of the many dogs who come to us with varying health issues that require expensive veterinary care.  Our bank account is HSBC 502-423825-001 (Hong Kong Dog Rescue) and of course we are happy to issue receipts for all donations over $100.