Fri 10th Jan: The right time for adoption

Usually when I have to warn a vet about a dog or puppy it's to let them know that they're nervous or scared and might bite, but today before I took the puppies out of their crate to be examined and vaccinated my warning was that these babies were too cute for words, which they are.    I know for sure that there will be lots of interest in them especially as they're small-sized, but we won't let them go for adoption quite yet, at least unless they can go in pairs. 

If there's ever a problem with puppies after they're adopted, it's almost certain that it will be as a result of them not having another puppy to play and sleep with, and more importantly to bite on. It's not natural for very young puppies to be alone, and even worse if they are completely abandoned when owners go to work and leave them for the whole day.   If I get an adoption enquiry for a puppy that's calm, quiet and independent then I know that home isn't suitable, because a calm and quiet puppy is a sick one and there's no such thing as an independent baby.

These pups have doubled in size and weight since these photos

If I could choose I wouldn't allow any puppy under three months to be adopted, because that's really the youngest age that is reasonable to expect a puppy to be able to cope with being a singleton.  If there's another dog in the home that the puppy can be with that's fine, but unless you can give full-time care and companionship then at least have a pair.  In any case there are so many puppies that are just that little bit older, and I'm talking a matter of a couple of weeks, so there's always lots to choose from, including the "Boat Litter".  Along with the four new babies, I also took Canoe and Paddle for their second vaccinations today, and they have doubled in weight since their first ones.  Unfortunately sibling Tiller will be coming back from his foster home on Saturday too, as well as the younger litter of Emmy, Oscar, Hazel, Spud and Wilf.  They will all be at Whiskers N Paws on Sunday, 2pm to 5pm as always, so you can meet them all there.

Gorgeous Nancy is just the right age for adoption 

Emmy is in foster with other dogs that provide companionship

One of the many things that working with dogs for so many years has taught me is that you can never take life for granted, and that animals are really quite amazing in their fortitude and tolerance for pain.  Puppies die, which is heartbreaking, and some dogs live extraordinarily long lives, but whenever and however it comes one thing is for sure, at some time you will have to deal with the death of your dog.  Sometimes it can be sudden and completely unexpected, maybe an accident,  or a fatal seizure as happened just the other week to one of my Lamma dogs, India.

Today I took another one of my dogs to Acorn, knowing that she probably had a tumour and likely malignant, but never expecting that she would need to be put to sleep while under sedation for X-rays which showed very large metastatic growths.  At first I'd said to Dr Andy that Kelly had been perfectly normal, eating and behaving the same, but when I woke this morning having obviously had Kelly on mind mind throughout the night, I realised that she had actually not been the same, I'd just missed the small signs.   Kelly had always been hyper in a way that was quite annoying, as she'd always bob and dance around behind me as I was going downstairs, pushing me from behind in her excitement and it was hard to stop myself from tripping.  It was only today that I realised this had stopped and that Kelly's craziness had been missing, and having seen what was happening inside her I think she must have been in some pain, or at the very least discomfort.  She never said a word, and I don't mean verbally of course, I mean that she carried on with her everyday life, never showing anything but those subtle signs that something wasn't right.

I could have asked for Kelly to be woken from sedation and taken her home, but after seeing the X-rays and talking to Dr Andy I knew her remaining time would be short and the pain would get worse. I personally don't believe that keeping an animal alive at whatever cost is the right thing to do, and that when there is suffering or no quality of life left then euthanasia is the right option, however hard it is.