Mon 5th Dec: It should not have been me.

Bali is almost 13 now and can't stand like this any more

We have old dogs at both of our Homing Centres, as well as on Lamma, many of whom have been with us since they were puppies and have spent their entire lives as Hong Kong Dog Rescue dogs. Those that are with me could be considered as "adopted" in a sense as they live in a house and have soft beds to lie on (all donated, thank you), and the older ones who haven't yet left for the Great Kennel in the Sky are getting towards the end of their lives.

The same applies to the Tai Po dogs who have been with us since our early Pokfulam days and who consider the Homing Centre to be their home.  Some have already gone, including Alexander just last week and probably Angel before too long, as she has relapsed after two surgeries and then tick fever and is not looking good.

The thing is we take care of our dogs until the very end, when there is no hope at all and only suffering, or when death comes naturally.  That is our promise and commitment as a No Kill Organisation.

I was at AFCD today when a woman arrived carrying a small bag containing the dog she wanted to surrender.  She told me it was a shih tzu and she was nineteen years old, and she had to give her up because she (the dog) couldn't control her poo.  She didn't open the bag to say goodbye after I had given her a piece of my mind and told her she was shameful, just waved to it and left.  Not a tear was shed, no remorse shown, even after I told her I would have her dog put to sleep.

Ottilie is almost 12 years old now

I had other dogs with me, including a gorgeous new puppy and my old dog Ottilie who has damaged her cruciate ligament and was in a lot of pain.  Being of a certain age she had to have a blood test before painkillers could be prescribed, and fortunately she's fine.  I'm never quite sure what these tests will show, especially with a dog like Ottilie who has been close to death twice before, once after being bitten by a cobra and a second time with tick fever, but it seems neither had any long-lasting effect.

The shih tzu was the last dog to be checked and I was hoping she would be in such a decrepit state that having her euthanised would be relatively easy.  I hadn't even seen her at that stage and didn't know she would be such a pretty little dog with a still-wagging tail.  I don't know how long she had been in that small bag but she had dirtied herself, and I was so incredibly torn about what to do.  I knew at nineteen she was very old but at the same time she seemed to be happy, and I think in better overall condition than my own little girl Sandy had been when I finally let her go.   If she had been my dog I would almost certainly not have been standing there at a vet clinic asking that she be euthanised, but I also knew she could not have long and, as Dr Andy pointed out, she was painfully thin under her coat indicating probable kidney disease.  I did let her go, but it should not have been me standing there with her in her final moments, it should have been the person she had been with during her life.