Fri 28th Oct: Goodbye Perry

Sadie (front) is much older than Chrissie

 The two "collies" that were surrendered to our Tai Po Homing Centre turned out to be Shelties (Shetland sheepdogs) who, although very similar in looks, are much smaller.  From what I had initially understood the dogs were the same age, but when I went to pick them up from Acorn to take them to Ap Lei Chau, while one was happily bouncing around the second was having trouble even standing let alone walking and jumping, and is clearly much older.   It's very sad to see an old dog like this suddenly wrenched from its lifetime home and wondering what on earth has happened, and I hope after a good clean and grooming session she will feel a lot more comfortable.

Bibs by Marco

Following on from my post the other day about our Ap Lei Chau "Red" dogs, new volunteer Marco Lam has been busy taking some lovely photos of the smaller dogs, not all "red"ones, and I hope they will persuade potential adopters to come and take a look.  Although a lot of them are initially wary of strangers and won't instantly jump into your arms, they are all fine once they know you.

Momo is a very sweet "Green" dog

Pom Ginger by Marco

In contrast all of our current puppies are very loving, sweet and confident, and having now been in foster for two weeks I'm sure they will adjust to new homes very easily.

Sweet puppy April in foster

We had to say goodbye to Perry today

There was some very sad news from Acorn about Perry the basenji after he had been in hospital for a few days after refusing to eat.  His weight was dropping quite drastically, and when it got to the point that he couldn't even keep water down and was obviously very ill I agreed it was time to let him go.  We are all extremely sad about losing this lovely little boy so suddenly, but after a lifetime of no veterinary care at all it's not really surprising that we see so many older dogs in unnecessarily poor condition, and even being poisoned by rotting teeth and gums.  If nothing else it's really worth getting your senior dog's teeth checked and cleaned, and a routine blood test to make sure that organ function is normal.  Catching kidney problems at an early stage, for example, can make the difference between life and death as it's something that can be treated.