Weds 12th Dec: Puppies and more puppies

Jessica wasn't even an old dog, too young to die

The cycle of life is always evident in animal rescue, and it's not always just the old dogs that die.  We had to say goodbye to sweet rottweiler girl Jessica today as she succumbed to acute renal failure, and baby Dylan was getting weaker by the day with even a feeding tube making no difference.  Dylan came to us as one of a litter of three week-olds, and while the others have thrived such babies should really still be with their mothers and drinking her milk.

Baby Dylan the day he went to hospital

As Dylan left, I got a message from AFCD letting me know that there was yet another new litter of babies at the Pokfulam Animal Management Centre, so volunteer Harryn went to pick them up (Wednesday being van driver Ming's day off).  The six pups are all black and female except for one brown one, now called Pudding.  I have given them a birth date of 21st November which will now be officially recorded as such, although it could be a day or so off.   The litters that are being born now are the second season babies, with the poor mothers giving birth to two litters a year and having to feed so many when barely surviving themselves.

These babies have been give the birthdate of 21st November

It's a tragic situation as it's so avoidable simply by having dogs desexed before they can start reproducing, and for females that's as young as six months.   Trap, Neuter and Return, which involves stray dogs being desexed and put back to where they came from, stops that terrible cycle of unwanted pups being born and then going on to have litters themselves.  The life span of these mother dogs is short due to constant reproduction which drains them of food and nutrients they need for themselves, but by the time the die they may have had several litters of six to eight pups, sometimes even more.

The previous litter of 6 were given Nov 18th as their birthday

I'm constantly asked what can be done about the stray dogs that are seen pitifully searching for food, and if at all possible the best thing is to get those dogs desexed. At least then there will be no more hungry mouths to feed, and no more unwanted puppies born.

For now we have so many puppies needing foster homes, or of course adoption, and many of our adults dogs are those who came to us just like this, as babies, and were never chosen.  It's usually just a matter of luck and timing, catching those who are ready to give a dog a home at just the right time.

You can come to our Ap Lei Chau Homing Centre, 5 Wai Fung Street, any day of the week to meet the puppies, and hopefully take a pair home (if they are still very young), or visit Whiskers N Paws any Sunday afternoon from 2pm to 5pm for the pups that are ready for adoption.  Email Cindy for fostering information at foster@hongkongdogrescue.com, or complete the Adoption Questionnaire on our website www.hongkongdogrescue.com (under Adopt) if you can save a life for ever.

One thing that needs to be said every year is that puppies should never be given as Christmas gifts, whether to others outside the family, or to your own children as a lovely suprise along with all of the other toys.  A dog is a life, and a family member for ever  not only until the novelty wears off.  Holidays are a perfect time to adopt a puppy because everyone is at home to share in the joy of a new life,  and we are happy to let puppies be adopted at Christmas, but only to those who fully understand that there's a promise and a commitment of around fifteen years to be made.