Mon 8th Aug: The truth about breeders, again

I assume you will all have read today's story about the one hundred and twenty six kittens and puppies intercepted on their way to local Hong Kong buyers from China.  I suppose it's true these are lucky animals in that they weren't thrown overboard from the speedboat, the usual way smugglers get rid of the evidence, however whichever way you look at it the immediate future for these puppies and kittens is at least four months in quarantine before being released.  I say four months minimum, because if there's a court case then they have to be held as evidence, and that could be as long as a year.

Dylan's foster home is right on the beach

I  recently asked AFCD what is happening with all of the now-hundreds of other smuggled animals, no longer really puppies and kittens but now young adults. I can't imagine how they have space to hold so many, and even if they have such space there's no real life for these puppies.  They are probably caged, with no training whatsoever in any shape or form.  I'm sure they're not badly treated in the sense that they will have food, water and vaccinations, but we know from the three dogs (two pugs and a Doberman) that were released to HKDR for re-homing that they have no idea about toilet training, or anything else come to that.  All three are very sweet dogs, indicating that the have been kindly handled, but a young adult that has been deprived of play as a puppy will make up for it when the opportunity comes along.  The pugs were lucky to be homed together, and to a very understanding and tolerant family, but they're little rascals with their non-stop play, and the toilet training had to start from scratch.  The Doberman is in a lovely foster home and enjoying his new life, but again he's not toilet trained (but learning), and is also desperate to play. 

Ginny

This story about breeders and their complete lack of compassion for the animals brings me back to the two schnauzers and two poodles we got from AFCD last week.  I can now say with absolute certainty that they came from a breeder, because not only did Ginny have to undergo emergency surgery, today the second schnauzer, Grace, went to ALCVC for desexing and a dental.  

For a start, Grace has been de-barked, a truly horrendous procedure that prevents dogs from barking (and giving away the location of the illegal breeder). She has severe scarring of the larynx, as well as having undergone multiple abdominal surgeries, we assume caesarians, which were crudely carried out and resulted in internal scarring.  There was a large hernia with uterus, fat and abdominal content all adhered together.  As much as possible was done to repair all of this damage, but the outcome really depends on how well everything heals.  Luckily Grace has a foster home to go to for this vital period, when great care must be taken to see that the wound stays clean and dry and there's minimal activity that might open anything up. 

Hudson

While Grace was undergoing life-changing (actually life saving) surgery at ALCVC, puppy Hudson was at Concordia Pet Care in Happy Valley being operated on by Dr Elaine.  Hudson is a very cute puppy, a really adorable terrier type, but he came to us unable to use his back legs.  Initial X-rays indicated that the knees were really bad, meaning completely out of alignment, so today's surgery was to try to fix that problem by creating a new groove for the patellas (kneecaps) to sit in so they could move up and down without slipping out (luxating).  Normally this type of surgery wouldn't be done until the puppy was a bit older, but with the situation being so severe and Hudson being unable to use his back legs at all, the hope is that by correcting the knees at this stage the rest if the hindquarters may strengthen and grow relatively normally.  Realistically Hudson will never be 100%, but the hope is that he will at least have some use of his back legs, and as he grows muscle and strength, who knows. 

I want to know something else, and that is when will something be done about these breeders?  The laws that exist are obviously totally ineffective, and the problem is as bad as it ever was.  I need to add, once again, that there would be no breeders, and no smuggled puppies, if there weren't any buyers for these poor animals. The buyers are as guilty of cruelty as the breeders themselves, and with all of the recent publicity about the rescued smuggled animals there's no "I didn't know" excuse any more. 

Finally, I want to thank the vet clinics, their vets and staff,  that we work with, for their support and help in all of the many cases they treat on a daily basis.  These are mainly ALCVC (Ap Lei Chau), Acorn in Sai Ying Pun, and Concordia Pet Care in Happy Valley.  However, nothing in life comes for free, and the monthly vet bills run into hundreds of thousands of dollars.  This takes into account not only the complicated surgeries I've just mentioned, but also the heartworm treatment that almost every single dog that comes from the New Territories is infected with (including the ex-breeder schnauzers and poodles), and even the basic vaccinations and health checks. 

If you can help with these unavoidable costs, every donation helps.  Please visit our website at www.hongkongdogrescue.com/donate/ to see how you can support.  Thank you.