Weds 17th March: Things happen

 As a dog rescue organisation we take in as many adult dogs and puppies that need help as we can accommodate, with the only exception being that we can't accept any that are large and aggressive. Adult dogs tend to come in one by one, and other than almost inevitable heartworm if they're from the New Territories, at least they won't have the dreaded infectious parvovirus or canine distemper virus. These are diseases that come in waves and tend to affect young puppies, so if there's one litter that's infected you can expect to find others.  Both are often fatal, but if I had to choose one over the other I'd say distemper was far worse as it stays in the system and reappears after it seems the puppy has recovered, but parvovirus can also be devastating and can kill very quickly.

It's impossible to know when a puppy is infected with a virus during the incubation period, that is from the time of contact with an infected dog or even environment, and when the symptoms start to show.  The litter we took in the other day were "warehouse" puppies, a situation I've talked about before as being a major source of unwanted litters.   They had obviously been taken straight from their mother so they were chubby and appeared to be healthy, and we sent them to their respective foster homes in pairs within a day of their arrival.  However one of the fosters reported that one puppy didn't want to eat, so the pair were taken for testing and were found to be infected with parvovirus.  We immediately contacted the other foster parent and although seeming to be fine, her pair also tested positive. Both sets are now hospitalised in isolation, which is horrible for a baby pup but the only safe thing to do, and hopefully they will all recover.  The only good thing about this situation is that assuming they all get over it, the four pups will have immunity to future infection from parvovirus. 

The popular Sugerbabes will be held back

Now we are left with the dilemma of not knowing if any of our other puppies have been infected, because even with one vaccination having been given that's not enough to protect against either of the viruses.  I spoke with the Ap Lei Chau Homing Centre Manager, Iris, about what we should do to both keep the puppies safe and to ensure that adopters didn't take home a puppy that might become sick. We agreed that we should try to find foster homes for the youngest Homing Centre puppies, and to hold the others back even if they were chosen for adoption.  That means waiting two weeks to be sure that a puppy isn't showing any signs of sickness.  Here are some of the current puppies https://www.facebook.com/HKDR.DOGGIES

If you can foster any of the puppies for two weeks please email Cindy at foster@hongkongdogrescue.com.  Hopefully the puppies will remain healthy and unaffected, and at least we will have caught the outbreak in the very early stage.