Fri 18th March: Finding the culprit

Sophie leads her friends

Making up for my working-from-home day on Thursday, today was non-stop, back and forth between Ap Lei Chau, Pokfulam and Sai Ying Pun as I was preparing the large group of five month-old puppies for Sunday's Whiskers N Paws adoption afternoon.

This is the time when all puppies must by law be licensed, and that means having a rabies vaccination too.   There are several youngsters of the same age at our Ap Lei Chau Homing Centre, including Banjo (big and very beautiful), pretty Jill (whose brother Jack was adopted as soon as he came to us), sweet blackie friends Fluffy and Donna, and lovely Athena.  They are all very happy and friendly pups, having either been in foster homes for some time, or well-socialised at the Homing Centre as well as having learned how to walk nicely on a leash.  That really helps when they are taken home, especially if the adopters aren't experienced.

Fluffy

In addition, the two girls who have been staying at Whiskers N Paws, Sophie and Babette, are also five months old now and ready to be made official.  That made seven pups, all big enough to need their own crates, and I also had two to add from Lamma.

Robbie is one of the sharpei-cross brothers, but he has never been seen in public (Whiskers N Paws) because he has had tick fever, and is only now ready for his first vaccination (at five months).

The other dog was Mercy, a very timid girl who was never suitable for homing and who has been with me for a few years now.  She's one of the kitchen gang, all dogs being very particular about where they hang out, and with whom. For whatever reason she is very fat, I can't deny it, and it was this and the fact that she won't let me touch her even though she is quite happy to lie right next to me when I'm in the kitchen, that hid the stomach wound from being noticed.   It was only the smell that gave it away, and even then it was sporadic because when she lay with her stomach against the ground, the fat on her sides acted as a barrier.  When it was finally established where the awful on-and-off smell was coming from, I knew I had to get Mercy over to see a vet.  Not easy with a dog the size of a small elephant, and very timid too, but at least she's not at all aggressive and allowed herself to be pushed into a large travel crate.

With so many dogs and not that much van space (we are still without a driver for our new vehicle), making repeat trips was necessary.  The first batch to go to AFCD were the Ap Lei Chau puppies (along with Robbie and Mercy), and once they had had their rabies shots we turned back to the Homing Centre to drop them off and to pick up the two girls at Whiskers N Paws.

As if that wasn't enough, two dogs had been surrendered to AFCD from the same home, and one of these was a poodle cross that had been adopted from HKDR a very long time ago, before we had any kind of computerised record-keeping system.  The other dog was around the same age, eleven years now, and a very lovely medium-sized shaggy dog, more terrier-like than anything else. I had to take them of course, especially as the poodle was in a pretty shocking state, with rotten teeth and, as I later found out, heartworm.  I still have a file of adopted dogs dating right back to the early days of HKDR, and if it takes me all day to find it I will dig out the name of the horrible people or person that did this.

The next stop was Acorn Vet Hospital, and after Robbie, Mercy and the two new dogs had been off-loaded, the van took Sophie and Babette back to Whiskers N Paws before coming back to Acorn again.

I called the new dogs Dandy and Beano (after comics from my childhood days), and they are now at our Homing Centre.  Beano the poodly boy, will have a week of antibiotics to prepare him for his heartworm treatment, as well as help with his stinking mouth, while shaggy Dandy seems to be in good health.  They don't seem to be particularly "sticky" given that they were surrendered (dumped, abandoned) together, so there is no problem separating them.

Fat lump Mercy was mercifully compliant when it was her turn to be examined, and as expected she has screw-worm infection.  That foul smell is unmistakeable.  She had a shot of Ivomec to kill the disgusting maggots, and will have to return in a week to see if she will need surgery to close the gaping wound.  Maybe this unfortunate episode will turn out to have a silver lining if it results in Mercy being more amenable to being touched, and it won't be the first time that a visit to the vet has changed a shy dog this way.