Thurs 17th March: Money well spent

I ended up staying at home to work today, delaying vet and AFCD visits until Friday as there is still so much "paperwork" to do (on the computer).  The Flag Day information is about to be launched, along with the stickers which can be bought in advance.  Ideally we would pre-sell almost all of them, which would mean we wouldn't miss anyone who didn't happen to be out on the actual day, and if you are interested in buying a sheet you can email andrea.chung@hongkongdogrescue.com for information even earlier that our official pre-Flag Day launch.

What do we do with the money raised by donations?  Well the most important "people" at HKDR are the dogs, all six hundred of them, and they need feeding and their monthly tick and heartworm prevention as the absolute minimum.  All dogs also need to be vaccinated against infectious diseases as well as being licensed when they have their rabies shot.  Any dog that stays with us longer than three years has to have their licenses updated, and that's what I'm busy doing with many of my Lamma dogs at the moment.  To make things easy (that means so I don't forget), I do a whole bunch of dogs in one go, so now it's all dogs that are due a rabies vaccination in 2016.

Many of our "staff" are volunteers but among those who are paid are the cleaners at Tai Po, because keeping the site clean and water/food bowls filled is an absolute necessity, especially when there are so many dogs to be taken care of.  It's physically a very demanding job, especially in the summer and with the hundreds of steps leading up to the higher enclosures.

Vet bills are one of our biggest outlays, and there isn't a single dog or puppy who hasn't seen a vet for one reason or another.  Hopefully it's for nothing more important than vaccinations and desexing, but there is so much tick fever around that many pups have to be treated for that potentially fatal disease before they can be homed.  At the other end of a dog's life come the old-age problems such as arthritis, kidney failure and cancer, as well as everything else that can happen at any time such as injury.  I currently have one of my Lamma dogs in hospital with a very nasty leg wound which at first needed dressing changes every day, then every other day and now every third day, but he is still not able to come home due to the severity of the injury.  Luckily Fatty (one of a Chinese New Year litter called Kung, Hay, Fatty and Joy) seems to enjoy her little hotel room (cage) and jumps back inside by herself after having been taken out.  Still, there are daily charges racking up and nothing to be done but pay whatever is necessary.

Many of the small dogs in particular need surgery when they come to us, which includes common problems like luxating patellas or mammary masses on females that haven't been desexed.  Almost all small dogs have bad teeth that need cleaning and/or extractions, and full dental work isn't cheap (as many dog owners are shocked to find out).  Skin problems are also very common, and that means special diets as well as medicine.

Patella luxation (slipping kneecaps) is also a large-dog problem, as well as hip dysplaysia, both of which need surgery to repair.  Joint problems on large dogs can be genetic or develop as a result of over-exercising during puppyhood. The bigger the dog the more careful you need to be about not taking it for long walks at too early an age when the bones are still growing, and holding off on desexing males to allow their leg muscles to properly develop.  In fact unless there is a good reason for doing so, such as aggression or over-sexualised behaviour, eight months is  the minimum recommended age for neutering.  As females can come into season and mate as young as six months, they need to be spayed (desexed) at that age.  Preventing unwanted litters is a priority consideration.

I could go on for a few more pages explaining how donations are used, but I think you get the picture on the dog front.   The next big outlay, which could still come under the "For the Dogs" banner, is the renovation work needed at the Tai Po Homing Centre, as it will include much-improved accommodation for the dog guests.  I'm still working on the design plans for that, but it will happen very soon.