Sat 25th Jan: Business as usual as Year of the Rat arrives

Kung Hei Fat Choy! I wish you all happiness and an abundance of good things in the Year of the Rat!

And welcome to the typical Chinese New Year weather, being suddenly cold, wet and pretty miserable after the strangely warm and sunny previous days. It may have been thanks to the summer-like temperature that we've been really busy with visitors over the holiday period, at least at Ap Lei Chau where there was pretty much a constant stream of potential adopters and new foster parents.

Nutty had his bad eye removed today

Thankfully Acorn vets were also working, as the new poodle Nutty had to be sent for emergency eye enucleation (removal) to relieve him if the pain of glaucoma.  He's blind anyway so it didn't affect his eyesight, and he'll be a lot more comfortable now that the source of the pain has gone, along with quite a few rotten teeth.  It's upsetting to know the poor dog was being held at AFCD for a long time due to paperwork, as the eye should have been seen to a long time ago.   The inflexibility of the system has always been a frustration, and upsetting when it affects the health of dogs involved and results in suffering.

Mikki (and Rennie) the day she arrived

Another one of our dogs had to have an eye removed the other day when Mikki was suspected of having a tumour after she arrived with what looked like an infection which didn't improve with treatment.   Dr Tony said he could have  proper look once Mikki was under anaesthetic and decide then whether the eye would have to come out, which it obviously did.  It takes a few days for a dog to adjust to having only one eye but it doesn't really affect them at all, as we know from another young dog we had not too long ago.  Ruthie already had only one eye when she came to us, but it didn't make any difference to the way she enjoyed life.

We had hoped the redness was infection

Mikki is the sweetest of dogs, smaller sized (like a corgi), only three years old and calm, easy and very friendly with everyone. She would really make the best family member if anyone is looking for a dog that would be good with children, and almost certainly with cats too.

Ruthie also had only one eye

After all the visitors had come and gone, it was poodle Scarlet who was today's lucky dog, and she was in a foster home after having had, and lost, two babies born just a few days after she came to us.  So as sad as her loss was, at least it meant she could move on with her life and start afresh, and she's already booked in for the desexing surgery she was suppposed to have the day we found out she was pregnant. 

At first we suspected Nando was the father, but it wasn't him

The friend Scarlet came with, Nando, is still at our Ap Lei Chau Homing Centre in case you're looking for a poodle. Please complete the adoption questionnaire at www.hongkongdogrescue.com/adopt/adoption-questionnaire/ as a first step if you're looking to adopt any kind of dog or puppy.