Sat 23rd July: Hilton's story continues

I had an appointment arranged in Sham Shui Po at the Hong Kong Veterinary Imaging Centre -HKVIC (check out their Facebook page for details and interesting cases) for Hilton to have an MRI to see if there was anything that could be done for him and his sudden hind leg paralysis.  The day was made better by having a Tai Po volunteer helping out, as well as a lovely van driver who was himself an adopter and dog lover.  These little things can make such a huge difference when you are trying to deal with a difficult situation as well as a heavy dog who can't walk, so thank you to both.

This is going to be a fantastic event!

The MRI took a couple of hours so I was left to wander the streets of Sham Shui Po which, as every Hong Kong resident knows, is where everyone heads for if you want to get the best price for all sorts of things.  I had been planning on going there anyway as I'm already thinking about what I'm going to wear for the "Game of Bones" Gala event on Saturday 1st October, and I needed to buy various bits and pieces that  I knew I would only find in the markets.   I was happy to get just what I was looking for before heading back to the clinic to pick Hilton up, and that was my day in a nutshell.  Now I will wait for Dr Tony's call to see what the MRI results were, but the vet at the Imaging Centre told me that I should help Hilton to empty his bladder as he was unable to do so himself.  Obviously I'm very upset about the whole situation, especially as it happened so suddenly and I wasn't at all prepared.

Tosca wouldn't sit still for a photo

The new poodle girl Tosca wasn't adopted as expected, due to the fact that her patellas on both sides are slightly luxated (out of alignment) and surgery is recommended, although not absolutely necessary at this point.  However it's always better to do these things at a young age to prevent future deterioration, and of course the older a dog is the riskier any surgical procedure will be.

The fact is that a large majority of small dogs have luxating patellas to a certain degree, and even some larger dogs, so you would be lucky to find any tiny poodle, chihuahua etc that had both knees absolutely perfect.  Tosca is a lovely and happy character, and well worth the cost of any surgery.

I'm anxiously waiting for some good news from Tai Po as we have had quite a few interviews with potential adopters and now those "maybes" need to be converted into "absolutely yes".  I know that the team up at our huge Homing Centre work incredibly hard and under very challenging circumstances, and the biggest reward is seeing dogs going to their new homes.

We open every single day of the year, no exceptions

For me and the Sunday volunteers it's the same for the puppies, and every week that we turn up at Whiskers N Paws we share the same hope that this week will be a good one.