Tues 4th Oct: Two chihuahuas, two stories

I finally made it off Lamma to start the week, and made my traditional AFCD visit to check the weekend’s  intake.  Even though there has been a definite slowdown in puppies being born, there was a new litter of eight, not real babies but ones that need to find homes pretty quickly.  They are very friendly so must have been around people, something that’s always helpful, but still eight in one go is a lot.  I ended up taking four, and will “re-stock” after Sunday’s puppy adoption day, when I’m sure at least some of these newbies will find homes.

Another impulsive pet shop purchase gone wrong

Just as I was about to leave, one of the AFCD staff brought out a tiny chihuahua who was appropriately making a definite “wah wah wah!” sound of protest.  She had been surrendered but was really still a puppy, and as she was wailing with her mouth wide open it was a perfect opportunity to check her teeth (to estimate the age).  One of the Acorn vet nurses was there at the time and she guessed seven months, good enough for me.  I took a photo and shot it off to someone I knew had been waiting for a chihuahua to turn up, and even if he doesn’t take her I know there won’t be a problem with finding her a home very quickly.

At the same time that this tiny tot was being surrendered to AFCD, we had another one arriving at Tai Po.  Pumpkin had been adopted two years ago, and the owner just turned up without any notice or warning, said her flight was leaving in the afternoon, and here’s the dog back.  This sort of behaviour just leaves you speechless, even though you think there’s nothing that can shock you any more.  So now we have two chihuahuas, although Pumpkin is probably around seven years old by now (if I remember correctly).

I had to take puppy boy Rafi back to Acorn, as the very strong medication he’d been taking for pneumonia just wasn’t doing the trick and his breathing was becoming more and more laboured.  He had another chest X-ray which showed definite congestion in his lungs, but there was obviously something else that was making him so ill.  Rafi is such a sweet puppy, and throughout every examination and procedure his tail was still wagging.  As we all agree, it’s always the really lovely ones that seem to get sick (and die).  Life is really so unfair.   I had to leave Rafi in hospital in the oxygen box, but will bring him home again if there’s nothing that can be done.  I’d feel better knowing his last days or hours were with me rather than in a hospital cage.

Sweet, sick little Rafi

Tomorrow is yet another holiday and while that means a day off for most working folk, our Tai Po and Ap Lei Chau Centres remain open every day of the year for adoptions and volunteers.  Talking of which, I know that there are a lot of would-be volunteers waiting for the new training sessions to start, and apologies to all for the delay.  As everyone who organises and runs the volunteer intake and orientations are themselves volunteers, it’s taken rather longer than anticipated to get the new system up and running, but it will be starting up any day now.  We’re looking forward to welcoming fresh recruits to our HKDR family, and I hope I will meet everyone over the coming months on my (irregular) visits to Tai Po.