Mon 20th June: Cooling down

Minty, whose adoption was confirmed yesterday

I made the discovery that a second air conditioner had died when I went downstairs in the morning, and the ground floor room where so many dogs sleep was stinking hot.  With the high temperatures inevitably around for some months to come, one of my "must do" tasks for today was to buy a new air conditioner and to get it installed as quickly as possible.  With that in mind, but with other things that also needed to be done such as dropping puppy Jonny off at the Ap Lei Chau Homing Centre, I decided to shop locally rather than go to Aberdeen as I usually do. It turned out to be a very good choice, as not only did a shop round the corner have a unit in stock which I could take away on the spot, but it was a lot cheaper than I expected to have to pay.  Driver Michael came with me and together we got the air conditioner onto a sampan, and it was installed and blowing out nice cool air by the time I got home in the evening.

Lucky Tim moved from a foster to a forever home

Jonny was going to the foster home who had been taking care of his brother Tim, as Tim was off to his forever home and Jonny had been offered his place.  In fact Jonny could have - would have - been going home too if not for the fact that he has tick fever, as do the other two brothers in the litter of four.  Only Tim was lucky enough to have escaped it, and that won him a home.  It's very frustrating that so many puppies these days have to wait for months sometimes until they are well enough to be put up for adoption.

Cargo is a very sweet rottie boy

Once the air conditioner had been sent off to Lamma and Jonny was dropped off, I was free to go to Acorn to see Gershwin (who is recovering from his wild boar injury) but stopped off at AFCD in Pokfulam on the way to see if there were any urgent cases.  The vet was in the kennel block checking the new dogs, including a rottweiler who had been there on Friday when I last visited.  The dog's eyes were infected, probably from the quite common curled-in eyelid condition called entropian, and as the vet had assessed him as being suitable for re-homing I took him out straight away so he could get his eyes properly checked and treated.  There was no microchip or corresponding license to tell me how old the rottie was, but I could tell he was young and in good body condition so registered him as being two years.  He could well be younger but there is no real way of knowing. He is a very nice boy, calm, friendly and easy to handle, so I hope there are some fans of this breed who will offer (now-called) Cargo a home very soon.

First things first, I had to get him to see a vet to have everything checked out, as we do with all of our new dogs.  The eyes were an obvious problem and he does seem to have entropian , but a blood test showed that he also has heartworm.  It's a huge blow when the test comes back positive and we're facing the time and cost of treating the disease.  Still, it was hardly surprising that Cargo hadn't been on any heartworm prevention given that he didn't even have a microchip.

I went to the back room at Acorn to say hello to Gershwin and he was obviously very pleased to see me.  His neck is bandaged so he looks as though he's wearing a neck brace for whiplash injury, and although he's going to be fine he's unhappy and not eating.  Even when I tried to offer him something tasty from a little can of food I picked from the shelf he turned his head away.  I wanted to take him home there and then, but when I asked Dr Hazel about it she suggested I leave him there for a few days.

After I got home and was thinking about Gershwin and his situation, and knowing that my long-term Lamma dogs are very stressed being away from the only place they have ever known I decided that coming back was the best thing for him, at least so he would start eating again.   I remembered how much I absolutely hated being is hospital and how I couldn't wait to be back in my own bed and familiar surroundings, and I think it's the same with dogs only perhaps  even more so and my plan is to bring Gershwin back home on Tuesday and to nurse him myself.

A few people have mentioned helping out with the vet charges for Gershwin, as well as for poor dachshund Hans who is still in hospital following expensive surgery on his spine. Now there is the cost of heartworm treatment for rottie Cargo to add to the bill, so if you are able to donate to our high monthly invoices we are always very grateful.  Our bank account is HSBC 502-423825-001 Hong Kong Dog Rescue (HKDR), and you can ask for a tax receipt if required.

I have to say a big thank you to donors of the gazebos I asked for last week to provide shade and shelter for my Lamma dogs, because whether it's pouring with rain or blazing hot sunshine they are invaluable.  I'll take some photos when I'm able to so you can see what happy dogs look like as they lie in the shade.  It's not quite air-conditioning but it's good enough.