Fri 4th Nov: Puppy overload

Xena's adoption is confirmed

It was just the right time to receive the great news that puppy Xena's adoption had been confirmed while Lizzie also moved on from her foster home, because twelve new pups arrived today, eight from Sheung Shui AFCD and four from Pokfulam.  It would be so much easier if they came in regular groups of, say, four but life is never that uncomplicated or easy.  Cindy, who incidentally also has a "real" job in addition to volunteering as our Foster Coordinator, was working overtime trying to find foster homes for the eight youngsters, and they needed to be able to pick them up by the end of the day.  With a bit of juggling we managed to get six moved leaving two having to stay overnight at Acorn, which isn't ideal and not really nice for the puppies either.

Most of the new puppies look like this

Lizzie moved on from her foster home

It's also not as if the frantic messaging stopped once the puppies had moved into their temporary homes as they had had the most stressful of days, including having been given both rabies vaccinations (yes, I know, far too early but that's another story) as well as their standard shots against infectious diseases, been fed worming tablets and had been sitting in crates since early morning.  The result was that they all had diarrhoea by the evening and Cindy was having to reply to concerned foster parents' questions. The fact is that puppies are very sensitive to stress and upset stomachs are common until they have settled, and rushing them to a vet only adds even more stress to both animals and humans.  Unless the diarrhoea is consistently bad and the puppy is lethargic and not eating, a bland diet of chicken and rice and some peaceful rest almost always sorts the problem out.  The eight babies had been observed while staying at AFCD so we can assume they were in good health before they left, and we're never unduly worried about the first day.

The odd one out

The four puppies I took from AFCD in Pokfulam were slightly older, and having nowhere else to put them they had to double up with a very shy dog I have to keep separate on Lamma, as she is too nervous around other dogs.   She came to me from one of the New Territories AFCD Centres with her own four very young puppies, and while they went on to find homes she has remained completely terrified of everything and everyone except puppies.

I also took two more Stanley Barracks dogs too, both of whom seem to be related to Justine and Biba, now Stella and Coco, as they are all also black and look quite similar.  The two new ones are also very sweet but had never had a collar round their necks let alone be attached to a leash, and although after some sweet talk and coaxing they calmed down and started walking nicely, the female of the two really didn't want to have anything stuck into her back (like the rabies injection or microchip). I tried every trick in my very thick book to get it done so we could leave, but it took a whole team of us to finally achieve it and get the dog into a crate for the drive to Acorn.  Strangely the male had walked straight into his crate as if it was a perfectly normal and everyday thing to do.

The new lady pug was happy to be in a soft bed

As if that wasn't enough to deal with for the day we also got a young German shepherd from Sheung Shui AFCD (probably under a year old) and a sweet pug girl.

I also took a rabbit but thankfully we have already had offers of a home for this little beauty.