Sat 16th April: A Tale of Two Brothers

Neither of the new brothers will be at Whiskers N Paws this Sunday, but for very different reasons

When I went to AFCD during the week I picked up two young puppies that had been surrendered, clearly brothers although different colours.  I called the cream-and-white one Titus and the other black-and-white boy Atlas, and even before Dr Tony noticed that Titus already had a shaved neck, both he and I had spotted the paleness of his gums.  It seemed that whoever had left the pair of pups at AFCD had discovered that one of them was anaemic, most usually due to tick fever, because blood had obviously just recently been  taken.  Although Atlas seemed to be pink-gummed and much fatter than his scrawny brother, his blood was also tested just to be sure, and he was perfectly healthy. Titus, however, had a low red cell count and needed an injection of Berenil and to stay in hospital for observation.  Although very rare, some dogs and puppies have a bad reaction to the parasite-killing drug, and unfortunately I had already had one fatality, my first ever, only last year.  Nobody was expecting it to happen again, but it did, and little Titus started to suffer seizures and had to be euthanised.

It's an unfair world and there is no better example than these two baby boys, because as the call came from Dr Tony letting me know the bad news about Titus, his brother Atlas was just being adopted at our Ap Lei Chau Homing Centre.  We all seem to have forgotten to take photos these days so there are no pictures to share of either of the pups, although the family who took Atlas home have promised to send one very soon.

There was good news for the little cocker spaniel boy, now called Nathaniel, as he also left the Homing Centre after a very short stay, although because he's not formally available for adoption yet he was taken on a foster basis.

What a great setting for a yoga class

I was delighted to see the sun's rays when I got up in the morning, a very welcome change from the previous gloomy  starts to the day especially as there were two outdoor events taking place.  The first was Marcus Wong's yoga class (https://www.facebook.com/marcuswongyoga) at Central Ferry Piers, and there was a great turnout resulting in an almost $4,000 donation being made to HKDR.  So many thanks to Marcus, and to the participants for being there.

Thanks to both 2 and 4-legged volunteers for impeccable behaviour

The second event was the Inter-School Equestrian Challenge which HKDR was once again invited to attend.  The two four-legged volunteers this year were Oprah and Muesli, and as always they behaved like the brilliant stars they are.