Coffee Pups For Dog Addicts

Adoption Drive

Date: 3 September 2011, Saturday

Time: 3 - 5pm

Venue: Doggie Style Café (NEX Shopping Mall, #04R-72)

Feel like a cuppa? You're in luck! We've got Café, Latte and Cocoa. Mocha has found a family who is addicted to her and now her siblings need families of their own too.

Come on down to Doggie Style Café this Saturday (Sept 3), 3pm to 5pm and have a cuppa - you can sit and sip real coffee at the café while you meet our 3 gorgeous pups who are available for adoption. If you would like to just come by and say Hi to the pups or our volunteers, please do come!

The puppies are due for their sterilizations soon and if you would like to help with that cost, please let us know. It would be greatly appreciated.

At a tender age of 5 months, The Coffee Pups  have lived their lives in a forested area with no food, water or shelter, and having to fend for themselves and look out for each other. Not a life for 5 month old pups, but they survived; despite two going missing and were found by our volunteers who sacrificed their Sunday to search for them.

This is what they called "Home"...

They have been plucked from danger and they truly deserve to enjoy their puppyhood, have a family to love them and behave like a. . . .  pet.

So come on down if you are considering having a loyal companion for life.

The Coffee Pups are looking forward to meeting you this Saturday.

* They are not HDB approved.

* Adoption terms and conditions apply.

Puppy Rescue

Volunteers don't get paid, not because they're worthless, but because they're priceless. With that, I would like to thank the entire team of volunteers, all eight of them, who sacrificed their precious rest day. Instead of spending their Sunday sleeping in or spending the day with their own dogs, they chose to spend the entire day searching for the two missing puppies, Café and Latte. Assembling early in the morning, breaking into teams, they braved the heavily forested area, snakes and many hungry mosquitoes, to spend hours searching and combing the vicinity, asking workers if they had seen the two puppies.

After the first hour of searching, we first found Café (male puppy), who was extremely dirty, tired, hungry and injured. He was immediately taken to the vet for a thorough check up.

Café (taken a few days before he went missing)

Latte (also taken a few days before she went missing)

Almost 4 hours later, the sister, Latte, was found. Thank God she was not hurt, although equally tired, hungry and dirty.


By this time, the vet was closed and she could not be taken to the vet for a check. She will be going the following day.

Removing a yellow string round his neck when we found him

Little Café too tired to move and relieved to be saved

Stay tuned for the full story; a day filled with drama, excitement, happiness and sometimes pain and sadness, of seeing the little ones injured, especially Café. Read how they had to fend for themselves at this tender age in the jungle out there and how they protected each other and looked out for one another. It’s amazing how someone so small can already show so much strength, courage and loyalty. Their love and bond for each other melted our hearts and perhaps this was the reason why the entire team of volunteers willingly spent their Sunday in search of them.


We were hoping to find at least one of them but miraculously we found both within the day and I thank the volunteers for helping in the search. Without their insistence and persistence, we may never have found the two missing pups. I am indeed grateful for having such a loving and caring team of volunteers; dedicated and compassionate. The doglets are blessed to have them.


Should you wish to adopt, foster, help with their medical bills, please email me at pops_snaps@singnet.com.sg

Mocha has been adopted by Karen, Royston and Cheryl and we thank them for loving her and making her a part of their lives.


Coffee anyone? Café? Latte? Cocoa? 

With Gratitude

Fiona

Puppies In Danger

Someone alerted us to four little puppies living dangerously by the side of the road next to heavy vehicles and speeding traffic. We immediately went down to investigate the situation and see how best we could help.


True enough – upon arrival, we saw four extremely adorable long-coated puppies, approximately 4+ months old, playing happily by the side of a busy road, with not a care in the world and not knowing they didn’t have a home. It broke our hearts to see them playing so contentedly, oblivious to all the cars and trucks zooming by just a few feet away. As they are teething, their chew toys have been discarded cardboard boxes, sticks and branches, empty water bottles, etc. Should they get excited or decide to play catch and stumble onto the road, they would be dead in an instant and will never live to see and experience the world they now live in.

Living dangerously

This is where they live

Video showing where the puppies stay and sleep

After our visit, two volunteers were immediately assigned to feed the puppies regularly in order to gain their trust and friendship, and of course, to ensure they have regular meals. We could not find their mommy at all. We asked around to see if anyone had seen her, but sadly, no one did. It’s just them and them alone. Could mommy have been killed in an accident leaving her 4 young pups to fend for themselves? Or did they belong to someone who eventually abandoned them, perhaps having gotten tired of them? No matter what the reason may be, they are much too young to be living alone and in such a dangerous situation.

Befriending the puppies in order to sterilize them

Our volunteers feeding the little pups

Having their meal

We soon learned that they only came out to play in the day. During the night, they would huddle close together in the forested area beside the road, braving the chilly night winds. Our volunteers went in to recce their living area; there is absolutely no shelter from the storm or sun. It pains us tremendously to think that these puppies live out there at night, all alone, with the possibility of snakes lurking – but we can’t imagine how cold they would get when it pours. There they are, shivering their little paws off while we snuggle up in our warm comfy beds.

Mocha

CoCo

Cafe, the only male out of the four

Latte

With no proper food, no clean water, no shelter from sun or storm and no parents; they have nothing but each other.


This is where HOPE comes in. We can help them find forever homes, where they will never have to live dangerously by the roads, or struggle through cold and windy nights.


Ever since we began circulating our adoption poster, many people have offered to sponsor kennel space for them. We appreciate their kind offer but boarding is never a long-term solution. What if the puppies do not get rehomed after some months - will they be caged up 24/7 for the rest if their lives, for the next 10 years? Rehoming is our preference. Fostering is another option.

If you have a space in your home and heart for a little furkid, please contact us immediately. Be it adopting or fostering – you’ll be bringing hope to those puppies.


Even if you are unable to take any of them in, please help to spread the word about their plight. If everyone shares this with all their friends either by word of mouth, Facebook or email, news of the puppies will go a long way and somewhere along the road, someone would be able to save a little puppy’s life.

Cute as pie!

Sleepy after a hearty meal

These gorgeous pups aren't more than 5 months old

They pass their days playing on the sidewalk

This week, we took the (only) male for sterilization, his first vaccination and deworming. Frontline has also been applied on all the puppies to prevent them from being tick infested. Sterilization is very important to us - it prevents the puppies from breeding and producing more unwanted puppies once they are of age.  We wouldn’t want more litters of puppies living by the road, getting crushed by passing vehicles or going through everyday wondering where their next meal is coming from.

Strays are ear tipped after sterilization, for easy identification

Sterilized, vaccinated, dewormed  and ready to be discharged

A sterilized male puppy

After sterilization, all ready to go back to his playground by the roadside

We are raising funds to sterilize the remaining three female puppies. Sterilization of each dog costs around $100 - $150 depending on their weight, and while at the vet, they are also dewormed and vaccinated. If you wish to contribute to theirs and other streets dogs sterilization, please email Fiona at pops_snaps@singnet.com.sg to offer your help. All contributions will go directly to the vet.

The Lonesome Four

Please help us Spay It Forward!

Latest Update : 26 August 2011, 3pm

Volunteers (Patrick, Ann and Miao Li) had gone to check on the puppies and feed them, only to discover that two puppies were missing - Cafe and Latte (the two white pups). For two hours, they searched the area and asked around but no one had seen the two white puppies. While the volunteers were there, the two remaining pups ventured onto the road and almost had a tyre roll over them!

Fearing for their safety, they have been immediately removed from their home in the forested area and is safely with our volunteer.

The two puppies with us, Coco and Mocha, have been bathed and fed. Mocha's leg seems injured and she is not bearing weight on it. We will take both the puppies to the vet.

Friends and volunteers, Patrick, Ann and Jen will continue to comb the area where the puppies were last seen, hoping and praying that they will reappear.

There will be an adoption drive tomorrow, Saturday (27 August 2011) for those interested in adopting Mocha and Coco. The details are as follows:

Adoption Drive

Saturday, 27 August 2011

4 - 6pm

Ericsson Pet Farm

16 Pasir Ris Farmway 2

Do let your friends and family know of this adoption drive. You'll never know -  a puppy might find true love.

For more details, please contact Fiona  or Jo . Please save our contact numbers in case you get lost or are unable to locate us tomorrow. In case of poor weather, do give us a call too to check if the adoption drive is discontinued.

Thank you.

HOPE for Harry

Mul and I have been visiting Harry, to ensure that he is happy and well. It’s been three days at his foster home and Harry seems to have settled in slightly, no longer sticking his nose at the main gate or trying to claw it open. In fact, he actually went into the living room while we were there, beckoning us to go in and sit with him.

Harry at his foster home

For years, Harry lived his life in a fight or flight mode and I don’t think he ever known love in his life. To witness the effects of love and care on a formerly uncared for dog has been a great joy for our volunteers. He actually wags his tail when he sees us and he goes to his foster, Hailey, when he feels he has had enough pats from us!

 Mul gave Harry some Reiki while we were chatting with Hailey and Hailey observed that Harry loves putting his face into her plants – which was the same observation our volunteers had when they took Harry to the vet. For years, he had missed and longed for this. His sadness seems to be lifting and there is a little more life in his eyes. He now spends his days catching up on lost sleep.

Harry communicated to Mul, an animal communicator, that he is still very tired and sleepy, his head heavy from the years of not having a good night’s sleep. He has taken a liking for his foster, Hailey, and likes the family dogs too. He does like his foster home and doesn’t miss his factory. Most of all, Harry LOVES his walks. He loves the sun on his back and watching the trees sway in the wind. He does feel some slight pain in his stomach and his hind legs are a little arthritic, which upsets him because he can’t seem to be able to do the things he used to do.

I used to feel sad to think that Harry had lived all of his life without a human to appreciate his value. Today, I am thankful to Hailey for loving Harry and giving him the love he has longed for all his life. He deserves no less.

Written by Fiona

Harry Smiles A Little

After a night's rest at the vet's office, brave Harry was discharged on Sunday. As promised, volunteers came to bring him to East Coast Park to play on the beach and swim. Harry loved the sand, but didn't know what to do or how to play in it as he had never been to the beach before. He didn't roll around like other dogs love to, but he enjoyed himself on the sand nonetheless, and was even curious enough to venture into the water. He was so brave wallowing in the water, and only jumped a little when a big wave came. He seemed to love the sea, and enjoyed just standing still in the shallows and letting the waves wash around his body

Harry's first ever experience walking on sand

When it was time to eat, Harry enjoyed some yummy char siew rice during the picnic lunch with the volunteers. However, he didn't seem to be able to relax and was always on the alert. Volunteers had to carry and coax Harry into lying on the picnic mat to rest, and all the while someone had to hold him to let him know and assure him that he was safe. But as soon as there was a car zooming by, or a car door slamming shut, poor Harry would once again jump to his feet in panic.

Harry enjoying his very first picnic by the sea

After all the excitement, Harry had his favourite char siew rice on the picnic mat

Taking a stroll on his own, enjoying the freedom and experiencing many firsts

A face of contentment you say? Actually it was too glaring!
After going to the beach, Harry was brought to his new foster home, where he will stay for one week. Volunteers gave him his bath and were ready to say goodbye. It would take a while for Harry to get used to his new environment and to open up, but our volunteers will be going to visit him every night to assure him that we're still here for him and he hasn't been forgotten. Through animal communication, we found out that Harry really enjoyed his day out in the sun, though he didn't swim and only felt the water at his feet. He knows that he is now in a safe place at the foster home, but does still feel a little apprehensive as it is all so new for him. After all, it is the first time he has ever had a real home!

In a week (on 28 Aug), Harry will be going for his next chemotherapeutic jab. The weekly injections seem to be working and swelling in his groin area has subsided. The only setback of this injection is that it causes lost of appetite and weight loss. We are grateful to Hailey and Bryan for opening their hearts and home to Harry, and we hope Harry enjoys his time with them. Also, we would like to thank everyone for being there for Harry; we wouldn't have been able to help him if not for you. Thank you for making a difference in Harry's life! To read about Harry's journey, please click here. Written by Elena Lin

Harry - He's Simply Amazing!

Harry had his surgery on Saturday morning, to extract his canine (tooth). When I visited him at 2pm, he was still a little drowsy from being under GA but he wagged his tail hard in the cage and wanted to come out. I then took him out for a walk and for the next two hours, Harry had a steady stream of visitors. Even Kenneth, Harry’s care-giver, came to see if he was alright.

The extracted tooth

Fussing over Harry and fitting on his collar

Friends and our blog readers came to meet Harry. He was a good host and brought all his visitors round the block many times!  Despite being hot, tired and in slight pain, he wanted to keep walking and he enjoyed the outdoors.

Ai Wei, Delphine and Lisa cleaning Harry's ears

Volunteers had promised Harry that if he survived the surgery, they would take him to the beach for a walk – so when Harry is discharged this morning, he will be heading straight to the beach, for the first time in his life!

Harry having a meeting with his fans.

Cindy and Hailey giving Harry lots of pats!

After the beach, Harry will be going to a foster home where he will receive lots of TLC and recover. He needs to put on quite a bit of weight. He is now clear of hookworms!

When he has fully recovered, Harry will resume his weekly chemotherapeutic drugs.

We will continue to give updates on Harry and would like to thank everyone who has contributed to making the world a better place for Harry. Thank You!

Harry - Our Hero

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When I learnt about Harry and how he had been chained up for years, I thought to myself that it was no way for an elderly dog like him to live. When I'm old, I want to be out on a balcony soaking up the sun, surrounded by loved ones. Poor Harry had no one to love, and no one to love him. He spent his days alone, lying under a lorry on the sixth floor of a factory building. Then I found out he had all sorts of illnesses as well - heart murmur, water in his lungs, bad legs, and even cancer. Anyone dealing with so much pain needs some serious loving in their life to make things better. When Fiona told us we could visit poor Harry after his dental surgery, I just had to go down to show him some love.


Elena walking Harry

Harry was sitting outside the vet's office on the grass when I arrived. He had several volunteers looking after him, cleaning him, and patting him. I could tell he was glad that he was being showered with attention, but he was also quiet and reserved. It seemed like he had suffered too much in his life to know how to truly be happy. The volunteers took turns taking him for walks, and although his legs aren't too good, he was so excited to be out on the grass that he just kept going and going non-stop for a good 2 hours! He loves bushes, and would keep going in and out of them. He is such a curious dog.



One thing that struck me was that Harry never once wagged his tail, and there was no spark in his eyes. It seemed to me like he was really happy to be out, surrounded by people who cared for him, but yet he didn't dare to enjoy himself too much. No matter how many pats or how many walks he got, we couldn't elicit a single tail wag or a joyful bark out of him. It was as if he couldn't trust that this would last, and that he would soon have to once again return to a life of loneliness living under a lorry.

Poor Harry deserves someone to love him forever, to take care of him for the rest of his life. He shouldn't be living out his last days alone, hiding in a factory. He needs to know that there's someone who will always be there to care for him. I hope that one day soon, he will be able to find someone who can take away the pain in his eyes and give him the hope and happiness that he never had. 

The above was written by Elena Lin, a young student volunteer who has been a volunteer in animal welfare for some years, mainly helping with computer related work. Harry moved her so much that she had to make a trip down to visit him today, her very first time visiting a rescued dog.

Harry – Life Just Keeps Getting Tougher

A few volunteers visited Harry on Wednesday night, bringing with us his favourite food - roast duck and fried chicken. Ever since Harry started on his weekly chemotherapeutic injections two weeks ago, we had decided to visit him a few times throughout the week to check if he was alright, to let him know we care a great deal for him and that he wasn’t alone in this journey.


When we arrived at his factory, there was no sign of Harry. I walked around and called out but he didn’t come stumbling out like he usually did. I asked a few workers if they had seen “the dog” and finally one worker told me Harry was lying inside his factory and has not been eating. He pointed to where Harry lay.


I went into the workshop and Harry didn’t get up to greet me; he just lay, listless, tail not even wagging. I sensed that he wasn’t feeling too well and knelt beside him to stroke his head. I offered him his favourite roast duck but he was totally uninterested in it. He did however have two fried chicken wings, before turning his head away. The workers were hovering around, watching this crazy lady care so much for a stray dog. Over the years, I have gotten used to these stares and if I start talking to the dogs, they usually will leave me alone!


These workers have seen a lot of me and the volunteers these past few weeks and seem nicer towards Harry, allowing him to wander into their workshops to rest.

Harry lying listless in the workshop

I sat with Harry for a while, stroked and talked to him. I told him we would take him to the beach this Sunday and that we were looking forward to spending time with him again. His eyes looked up at me and I knew he understood what I had just told him. We then had to leave to go to the industrial estates to feed the 50+ strays who were waiting for us to deliver their meals. This was the fateful night that one of our dogs, Tang Tang, was savagely beaten to death.


Today I received a call from Kenneth, the person who first informed us of Harry’s plight. Kenneth informed me that Harry seemed to be sleeping a lot these past 2 days but in the afternoon, he had found Harry on the ground floor of the building, instead of the usual 6th floor, where he lived. He mentioned that Harry seemed tired and unable to walk up to the 6th floor, so Kenneth took him back up in the lift. Kenneth also mentioned that Harry had left his food untouched for the past two days and was worried that Harry wasn’t feeling too good.


I called Dr Ang to seek her advice on Harry’s condition and she advised me to bring him to the clinic to put him on a drip immediately as he may suffer a loss of appetite and weight loss because of his chemotherapeutic injections, so we headed down to Harry’s factory after work.


Harry was again inside the same workshop.


I knelt beside him and told him that I was there to take him to the vet and he would feel better after that. As I stroked his head, I noticed that he had a tear on his right ear with the blood stains almost drying up. It looked like it was torn in a dog fight. As I was checking his ear, I saw that there were cuts on his nose and the right side of his mouth was terribly swollen. I opened his mouth to check and my hands were stained with blood, although I couldn’t see any open wounds in his mouth. With Kenneth’s help, we put Harry in a pet carrier and carried it to the car. As we walked to the car, Kenneth mentioned that he had seen Harry walking on the road earlier on in the day, and he suspected a female dog was on heat. That made sense because Harry hardly ever left his 6th floor workshop and the tear on his ear had indicated that he might have been involved in a dog fight. We drove around looking for the female dog, to see if she too was injured. We found her in the next lane, guarded by a young male dog, perhaps 2 to 3 years of age. Harry and the male dog may have fought for the female dog and Harry would obviously have lost the fight.

I felt sorry for the female dog. She was sitting in the middle of the road, exhausted from running from the males. Her eyes pleaded for help but as I went closer, the male dog that was guarding her, growled and warned me not to go any nearer. I had no choice but to leave some food for the both of them and left.

An extremely exhausted female dog (black) rests in the middle of the road, 

with a male dog guarding her

Harry was extremely happy to go to the vet and walked really quickly to the main entrance. We took his weight and found out he had lost more weight. Carey, the vet tech, cleaned Harry’s wound while we waited for Dr Ang to see us. Dr Ang checked Harry’s ear and said that it could be left to heal on its own and didn’t need to be stitched up. 

Poor Harry has lost a lot of weight

Cleaning his wound

Tear in Harry's ear

Dr Ang then checked his mouth / gums and found a cut on his gums. In the midst of the dog fight, his canine (tooth) had also been pushed out causing his gums to bleed. Dr Ang mentioned that this would have really hurt Harry, and perhaps this was the reason why he had not been eating. It was simply too painful to eat. Saline was used to flush his mouth and rinse away the blood.

Harry's canine needs to be removed

Flushing his mouth with saline

An extremely swollen mouth

Look at the angle that his tooth juts out!

Dr Ang said that Harry needed a surgery the following day, to extract the tooth before infection sets in. If the tooth is not removed, Harry would be in pain and not eat anyway, so there was no escaping the surgery.


Although a rather simple procedure to extract the tooth, given Harry’s poor health, old age, heart murmur and water in his lungs, this surgery becomes an extreme high risk for Harry and there is a high possibility that he may not survive the procedure.

A painkiller jab to help him get through the night

We left the clinic with a heavy heart, worried about poor old Harry and our cumulating vet bills.

Harry has had such a hard, sad life. One setback after another. I wish I could take away all his pain, suffering and sadness and make him the happiest dog on earth.


Should you wish to visit Harry at the vet, bring him food or help contribute to his vet bills, you may visit him only on Saturday (20 August) between 2pm to 4pm. Please SMS / call me (9839 1308) before heading down to the vet.


We know Harry is scared and in pain. We have told him to be strong and brave, like he has always been. We will be here for him and he must pull through. There is lots for him to look forward to once he survives this surgery.


Stay tuned to our blog for more updates on Harry.

Special thanks to Mandy for being Harry's personal pet transporter.


Written by Fiona